KOTA KINABALU: The implementation of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) can minimise the degradation of natural system, provides a framework for the management of multi-sectoral activities and maintain options for future uses of resources.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said when coastal states such as Sabah implemented the integrated management of coastal resources, local and national benefits were expected, including enhanced economic development and improved quality of life.
“These benefits are achieved through protection of the environment such as water quality, biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and adaptation to climate change,” he said.
According to Masidi, strengthening resilience of marine ecosystem had assumed special significance because of the stress that the climate change was producing and ?while we cannot prevent natural hazards from originating in the oceans, we need to do everything possible to minimise their impact to save life and property’.
“A resilient marine ecosystem, with healthy coral reefs and mangroves, can absorb the impact of natural hazards to lessen their disastrous consequences for humans and infrastructure in our rapidly growing region,” he said.
Masidi said this in a speech read by Assistant Minister Bolkiah Ismail during the launching of the Brunei Bay expedition report entitled ?Coastal Environmental Profile of Brunei Bay, Sabah’.
The report was a cooperation between the Borneo Marine Research Institute of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and the Environment Protection Department of Sabah, which aimed to provide guidelines for professionals, policymakers and managers involved in the development and implementation of integrated coastal and marine areas management programmes.
According to Masidi, the report had become so important at a time when oceans were greatly affected by climate change, and marine resources that had been supporting seafood supplies and socio-economic development were facing a serious threat as never before.
“Coastal fisheries of the Brunei Bay form an important economic activity that supports the livelihood of a sizeable section of the local community and its marine biodiversity supports living resources that constitute the fisheries.
“Like other coastal zones, the bay is an area of intense activity known for interchange within and between physical, biological, social, cultural and economic processes and any changes can generate chain reactions far from their point of origin that alters the environmental conditions,” he said.
Therefore, managing such complex system required an integrated approach capable of bringing together the multiple, interlinked and often overlapping interests of the coastal areas in a coordinated and rational manner, harnessing coastal resources for optimum social and economic benefits for the present and future generations without prejudicing the resource base itself and maintaining the ecological processes, Masidi said.
Meanwhile, UMS vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon said that in an area as complex as Brunei Bay, the sectoral interdependencies are so strongly interlinked that a plan could not be successfully implemented without integration of such activities.
“The report represents a flexible approach consisting of alternative options serving the same goal and the choice and application of the most suitable option in a given situation will depend on the size, nature and actual circumstances of the area to be covered by the ICZM,” he said.
Also present during the event were Sabah Environmental Protection Department Director Datuk Eric Juin and Borneo Marine Research Institute Director Professor Dr Saleem Mustafa.
Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said when coastal states such as Sabah implemented the integrated management of coastal resources, local and national benefits were expected, including enhanced economic development and improved quality of life.
“These benefits are achieved through protection of the environment such as water quality, biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and adaptation to climate change,” he said.
According to Masidi, strengthening resilience of marine ecosystem had assumed special significance because of the stress that the climate change was producing and ?while we cannot prevent natural hazards from originating in the oceans, we need to do everything possible to minimise their impact to save life and property’.
“A resilient marine ecosystem, with healthy coral reefs and mangroves, can absorb the impact of natural hazards to lessen their disastrous consequences for humans and infrastructure in our rapidly growing region,” he said.
Masidi said this in a speech read by Assistant Minister Bolkiah Ismail during the launching of the Brunei Bay expedition report entitled ?Coastal Environmental Profile of Brunei Bay, Sabah’.
The report was a cooperation between the Borneo Marine Research Institute of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and the Environment Protection Department of Sabah, which aimed to provide guidelines for professionals, policymakers and managers involved in the development and implementation of integrated coastal and marine areas management programmes.
According to Masidi, the report had become so important at a time when oceans were greatly affected by climate change, and marine resources that had been supporting seafood supplies and socio-economic development were facing a serious threat as never before.
“Coastal fisheries of the Brunei Bay form an important economic activity that supports the livelihood of a sizeable section of the local community and its marine biodiversity supports living resources that constitute the fisheries.
“Like other coastal zones, the bay is an area of intense activity known for interchange within and between physical, biological, social, cultural and economic processes and any changes can generate chain reactions far from their point of origin that alters the environmental conditions,” he said.
Therefore, managing such complex system required an integrated approach capable of bringing together the multiple, interlinked and often overlapping interests of the coastal areas in a coordinated and rational manner, harnessing coastal resources for optimum social and economic benefits for the present and future generations without prejudicing the resource base itself and maintaining the ecological processes, Masidi said.
Meanwhile, UMS vice-chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Kamaruzaman Ampon said that in an area as complex as Brunei Bay, the sectoral interdependencies are so strongly interlinked that a plan could not be successfully implemented without integration of such activities.
“The report represents a flexible approach consisting of alternative options serving the same goal and the choice and application of the most suitable option in a given situation will depend on the size, nature and actual circumstances of the area to be covered by the ICZM,” he said.
Also present during the event were Sabah Environmental Protection Department Director Datuk Eric Juin and Borneo Marine Research Institute Director Professor Dr Saleem Mustafa.
The Borneo Post, June 24, 2008