Malaysia: Marine park in Sabah - committee formalised

Interim Steering Committee For Tun Mustapha Park Formalised
Bernama 2 Feb 11;

KOTA KINABALU, Feb 2 (Bernama) -- The Interim Steering Committee for the Tun Mustapha Park (TMP) was formalised at its inaugural meeting on Tuesday, marking an important milestone towards the gazettement of the proposed marine park in the northern part of Sabah.

In the next three years, the committee and its six working groups will work towards an integrated management plan to achieve the three objectives of the proposed TMP, and outlining the implementation of a multiple use park that is managed through a collaborate management approach, Sabah Parks said in a statement.

The three objectives are to conserve biodiversity, ensure sustainable development and alleviate poverty in the proposed park.

"Sabah Parks with funding support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Coral Triangle Support Partnership organised this first meeting to formally establish the committee.

"Once fully gazetted, the proposed TMP will be the first fully collaboratively managed park established through consultative and participatory process by various stakeholders, including local communities," the statement said.

The Committee is chaired by Permanent Secretary to the State Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry Datuk Suzannah Liaw, with Sabah Parks functioning as the secretary.

The proposed marine park is one million hectare area covering the coastal areas of Kudat, Kota Marudu and Pitas, including 50 islands.

The plan to gazette the park was approved by the state cabinet in 2003.

It has received recognition as one of the priority conservation areas under the Sulu Sulawesi Seas Marine Ecoregion and identified as a priority site under the Coral Triangle Initiative's Malaysian National Plan of Action.

The Coral Triangle Initiative is a six-country plan to conserve the world's epicentre for marine biodiversity.

Last December, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili stated that TMP should be gazetted as soon as possible, saying a further delay would lead to the sensitive areas being further degraded.

Recent studies, said Ongkili, have shown that the proposed TMP was ecologically more diverse than Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef, or the Caribbean.

The statement said ongoing activities to promote the gazettement of the park were being done by various agencies such as Sabah Parks itself, Sabah Fisheries Department, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and World Wildlife Fund for Nature Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA