Kota Kinabalu: Malaysia renewed its National Plan of Action (NPOA 2.0) to guide marine conservation efforts through 2030 as Kota Kinabalu hosted a gathering of international ocean protection experts.
“The updated plan shows Malaysia’s commitment to protecting the ocean,” said Sabah Parks Director cum Malaysia National Coordinating Committee Chair, Datuk Dr Maklarin Lakim, at the 12th Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and the Coral Triangle (CT) Atlas Technical Regional Exchange opening ceremony, here, Monday.
The event at Le Meridien Hotel saw delegates from the CT6 countries, which refers to the six member nations of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF).
Formally established in 2009, the CT6 countries - Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste - are all signatories to the CTI on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security.
“This gathering is an important milestone for Malaysia as we advance our renewed national commitment under the CTI framework through the launch of the NPOA 2.0,” he said.
“This shows Malaysia’s continued resolve to contribute meaningfully towards regional priorities while reinforcing our national efforts in marine conservation, sustainable ocean governance and biodiversity protection,” he added.
Advertisement
The four-day programme, themed “Road Towards 2030: Resilient and Effective MPAs in the Coral Triangle Region” brought together marine protected area managers, technical experts, policymakers and conservation partners from the CT6 countries.
Maklarin said discussion sessions will focus on strengthening the Coral Triangle Marine Protected Area System, advancing the MPA Managers Network and enhancing the Coral Triangle Atlas as a regional knowledge platform.
“Our region is facing unprecedented pressures. The impacts of climate change, habitat degradation, biodiversity loss, marine pollution and unsustainable utilisation of marine resources continue to intensify, posing serious threats to the resilience and sustainability of our marine ecosystems and coastal communities’ future,” he said.
“These are no longer distant concerns, but are pressing realities that require our immediate and coordinated actions.
“The MPAs have grown increasingly important as strategic instruments but that gazettal alone is not enough,” he said.
He said the realisation of resilient and effective marine protected areas requires sustained political will, strengthened governance, sound scientific and technical approaches.
“There must also be sustainable financing mechanisms, active community participation and continuous investment in institutional and human capacity development,” he said.
CTI-CFF Regional Secretariat Executive Director Dr Frank Keith Griffin said Malaysia’s updated NPOA 2.0 mattered not just to Malaysia but to the entire region, as formalised action plans from member countries directly shaped the regional programme’s activities.
“In the past, activities were placed on the table and agreed upon without any formal grounding. Now with the NPOAs in existence, those activities come directly from each country’s own plan and feed into our regional programme.
“Acting on them means we are helping countries deliver on their commitments while also moving the Regional Plan of Action forward,” he said.
Frank said Malaysia is among three CT6 countries to have now formalised their plans under the renewed framework, alongside Indonesia, which formalised its updated plan in December last year and Papua New Guinea, which did so just last week.
He said the CTI-CFF Secretariat will work closely with the Philippines, Timor-Leste and Solomon Islands to finalise their respective plans.
Additionally, he noted Papua New Guinea’s announcement of its intention to protect the Western Manus Marine Protected Area, a proposed zone spanning around 200,000 square kilometres.
“This is a massive undertaking towards reaching their 30x30 goal,” he said.
Papua New Guinea’s “30x30 plan” is the nation’s commitment to the global Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to effectively conserve and manage at least 30 per cent of its terrestrial, inland water and coastal and marine areas by 2030.
He said the Coral Triangle, often called the Amazon of the Seas, is the world’s most important centre for marine biodiversity and that growing threats made regional cooperation more urgent than ever.
“The MPA Managers Network belongs to the CT6 member countries. It is our network. It is the CTI-CFF’s Managers Network, not anybody else’s network. We have to recognise that because the CTI-CFF is the officially established intergovernmental organisation that coordinates this work,” he said.
