KOTA KINABALU: Coastal communities should play a direct role in managing marine protected areas, with Sabah Parks promoting a model that allows villagers to help protect marine resources while benefiting from sustainable tourism.
Its director Datuk Dr Maklarin Lakim said the approach was already being implemented at Tun Mustapha Park in Kudat, where designated zones allow communities to participate in marine resource management.
He said communities could help manage marine areas near their villages, drawing on traditional practices such as the tagal system, which protects rivers and freshwater fish populations.
"When a community is given the right to manage a marine zone around its village, the approach can be effective," he said at the 2026 National Marine Protected Area (MPA) Managers Network Establishment and Coordination Workshop.
Maklarin said healthy marine ecosystems could also create opportunities for community-based tourism and ecotourism, bringing long-term economic benefits to coastal communities.
He also called for stronger coordination among marine park managers in Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, saying differences in laws, policies and management arrangements remained a challenge to conservation efforts.
He said Malaysia's participation in the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF), along with its National Plan of Action 2.0, provided a framework for cooperation. However, marine park governance remained fragmented.
Sabah, for instance, has its own state biodiversity policy, while Peninsular Malaysia follows a national biodiversity policy.
"The regulations and governance of the marine parks we manage are not consolidated. They are fragmented," he said.
Regional and international frameworks could help align conservation efforts without changing the laws governing individual jurisdictions, he added.
Maklarin said greater cooperation would allow agencies to share expertise and successful management practices instead of working independently.
The proposed national network of MPA managers would provide a platform for knowledge-sharing, stronger technical cooperation and more effective management of protected areas.
It would also help address shared challenges, including climate change, marine pollution and the need to strengthen the capacity of those managing protected areas.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd