Malaysia, Partners Move Ahead on Climate Work

The CTI-CFF National Secretariat of Malaysia (CTI-Malaysia), its Sabah Branch, and their partners successfully trained 43 trainers on climate change adaptation (CCA) last January.

The workshop, held on January 27-28 in Putrajaya, utilized a CCA toolkit that includes the Coastal Integrity Vulnerability Assessment Tool (CIVAT) and the Tool for Understanding Resilience in Fisheries (TURF).

CIVAT is used to assess the vulnerability of coastal areas to climate impacts such as beach erosion and sea level rise, while TURF determines the climate vulnerability of coastal fisheries in the tropics. Both tools were developed by the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute with support from the U.S. Government as part of its assistance to the CTI-CFF.

Twenty-six agencies participated in the workshop, which was funded by Malaysia’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to support Goal 4 on CCA of the CTI-CFF Regional Plan of Action.

Malaysia’s CCA Technical Working Group (TWG) plans to conduct similar workshops at the state level later this year, followed by a seminar at the national level to share experiences in applying the toolkits more broadly.

In a related development, the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Borneo Marine Research Institute and Sabah Parks led the application of a CCA guide developed under CTI-CFF in workshops assessing the climate vulnerability of communities in Tun Sakaran Marine Park and the proposed Tun Mustapha Park in Sabah, Malaysia.

Called “Climate Change Adaptation for Coral Triangle Communities: Guide for Vulnerability Assessment and Local Early Action Planning,” the guide was developed under the direction of the CTI-CFF CCA Technical Working Group and piloted in 2012 in communities throughout the Coral Triangle.

UMS and Sabah Parks, working with various partners, conducted two workshops involving communities and government agencies in Semporna, and another workshop in Kota Marudu.

The first workshop, held in September 2013, included 11 participants from agencies managing Tun Sakaran Marine Park and surrounding small islands. It was organized by UMS, CTI-Malaysia, and WWF-Malaysia to generate preliminary information on community climate vulnerability in the Semporna Priority Conservation Area.

The second workshop, held in November 2013, was a community-level event with villagers from Selakan Island, one of eight islands in Tun Sakaran Marine Park. It was jointly organized by Sabah Parks, UMS, WWF-Malaysia, and partners including Ni Jaga KoK Pahika and Semporna Islands Project.

The third workshop, held in December 2013, involved 27 participants from villages around Marudu Bay in the proposed Tun Mustapha Park. It was organized by UMS and Sabah Parks in cooperation with CTI-Malaysia, the Sabah State Government, Asian Development Bank, and MOSTI.

The outputs of these workshops will be used to develop early action plans on CCA for Semporna and Kota Marudu, and the guide will also inform similar plans for other areas in Sabah.

Also in December, UMS and Sabah Parks collaborated with ADB (RETA 7813), CTI-Malaysia, MOSTI, and the Kota Marudu District Office on a public awareness campaign to support the inclusion of Marudu Bay in the proposed Tun Mustapha Park. About 160 villagers participated in a beach cleanup, while 36 marine science students joined a field trip on marine pollution and coastal processes. (Reporting by Ejria Saleh, UMS/CTI-Sabah)