Posted on July, 27 2016

It covers almost a million hectares, sprawling off the coast of northern Borneo, and including the three districts of Kudat, Kota Marudu, and Pitas. It encompasses more than 50 islands and some of the country’s most productive and important fisheries, making it a globally important conservation site.

Tun Mustapha Park (TMP) was officially gazetted and established last May 19, 2016, making it the biggest natural park and the first multi-use park in Malaysia. For the people behind the campaign—Sabah Parks, collaborating with various government agencies, local communities, international partners, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as WWF-Malaysia—it has been a remarkable 13-year journey.

It began with the proposal of gazettement by the Sabah State Government in 2003, followed by a TMP road-mapping workshop in 2006. Community consultations were conducted by WWF-Malaysia and Sabah Parks in 2007, and the land application submitted by Sabah Parks to specify the area required. A TMP Interim Steering Committee was established in 2011; the TMP Integrated Mapping and Zoning Plan was drafted, endorsed, and shared with stakeholders in 2012, and the public hearing was held in 2014, which led to the final gazettement on the 19th of May 2016.

“I feel proud of WWF-Malaysia’s role, together with other stakeholders, in supporting the Sabah State Government’s journey to gazettement of TMP,” said WWF-Malaysia Executive Director/CEO Dato’ Dr Dionysius Sharma in a statement. “In particular, WWF-Malaysia is privileged to have been able to engage and work closely with various local community leaders and groups within TMP in building support for its establishment.”

TMP sits within the Coral Triangle, the important marine ecosystem that includes the waters of Malaysia and five other countries. Its value as important fisheries for food security, a passageway for migratory species, a home for endangered species, and a haven for biodiversity is incalculable, as it harbours more than 250 species of hard corals, around 430 species of fish, charismatic species like green turtles and dugong, and mangroves and seagrass beds.

The declaration of gazettement comes at the perfect time, however, as TMP is increasingly threatened by overfishing, destructive fishing, and pollution.

Goals of gazettement

“Indeed, it has been a long journey—but it was worth it, as we can now put in place a management system that will ensure that TMP will be effective in achieving the goals of its gazettement,” says Dr Robecca Jumin, Head of the Marine Programme of WWF-Malaysia. These goals are sustainable development, the protection of biodiversity (habitat and species), and the alleviation of poverty, says Jumin.

Many issues had to be dealt with, adds Dr Jumin, explaining the lengthy undertaking from an insider’s perspective. “The TMP is a large and complex area, and required a complex process.”

First, the proposal for TMP required a “paradigm shift” for park management in Sabah, she notes. Whereas parks in Sabah were generally classified as no-take areas, open only for tourism, TMP was envisioned for sustainable development and multiple use. “The gazettement process had to ensure buy-in from the various stakeholders, from the commercial fishermen operating large fishing vessels, to small-scale traditional fishermen,” Jumin says. Consultation was also necessary to formulate a truly representative management plan, while considering existing laws.

Second, there was the issue of funding. Because Sabah Parks could not receive government funding while not gazetted, financial support had to come from NGOs like WWF and the Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP). “WWF initiated significant support for TMP in 2006 with the establishment of an office in Kudat, and the formation of a team to build stakeholder support for the gazettement of TMP. From 2010 to 2013, funding from CTSP enabled the hiring of a secretariat for the Interim Steering Committee for TMP, which critically organised and sped up the gazettement.”

Third, there was the scarcity of scientific information and lack of technical expertise. Local knowledge proved critical to supplement whatever little scientific data was available, boosted further by a scientific expedition in 2012.

Contentious issue

Fourth, there was the “contentious issue” of land use, Jumin says. The original proposed area of approximately 1.02 million hectares meant the resolution of land applications and claims from various stakeholders, while allocating enough for future community developments. “This was resolved in 2013, when it was agreed that the boundaries of TMP would exclude land areas to avoid delays.” This has led to the reduction of the TMP’s area to the current 898,762.76 hectares.

The Land Office needed to produce a survey demarcation (SD) map before the work could proceed, Jumin says—an essential document in publicly disseminating the intention to gazette the area during the public hearing. This was published in the government gazette in 2014, and six months of public hearings followed in late 2014 to early 2015. On hindsight, Jumin considers the land issue “the biggest challenge” in the process, as formal gazettement could not proceed without the SD plan.

Finally, there had to be a surge of political will to finally see the campaign through, Jumin says. WWF also named the Sabah State government a Leader for a Living Planet in April 2016, to recognise the leadership of the state government in the gazettement of TMP.

TMP will now be an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)-Category VI Park, where sustainable activities will be allowed within designated zones. After all, more than 80,000 people live in the area, where some 100 tonnes of fish—worth about US$200,000—are caught each day.

There were countless memorable experiences for the WWF staff on the journey, Jumin recounts. “When we started, I would go with the team to many places that would be difficult to reach, to meet communities and inspiring community leaders.” There were physically challenging moments, as well, from being caught during storms at sea or stranded during the tail-end of a typhoon, with no means of communication, to “being warned off by people wielding machetes, as we did not observe protocol in entering their village!” says Jumin.

The most important lessons learned, Jumin says, were these: “We need both stakeholder buy-in and political will; we need funding in place, we need an enabling environment—and we need dedicated champions to move the process along.”

As they celebrate the hard-earned fruits of their labors, the team from WWF-Malaysia has clear ideas of what they want to see in TMP’s future. “I'd like to see TMP well managed and effective in protecting biodiversity, and providing for the communities that are dependent on it,” says Dr Jumin, “and the communities within and around it able to live in harmony with nature, without resorting to destructive practises.”