MyIMCA : Malaysia's Important Coastal and Marine Areas

Sammanfattning

Blessed with rich biodiversity, the coastal and marine waters of Malaysia form part of the Coral Triangle, the internationally identified Ecological and Biologically Significant marine areas (EBSAs), Important Marine Mammal Areas, Important Bird Areas including Ramsar sites. Despite having many notably highlighted important areas there is still so much more which remains unreported or undocumented.

Maintaining the health of our richly biodiverse marine and coastal environment provides a range of ecosystem services from food resources, climate regulation, economic gain from opportunities created, pharmaceutical use and much more. The need to identify which of these areas is important to better preserve the natural jewels that nature has blessed us with before our coastal seas continue to be overtaken and reclaimed by the unending need for urban expansions. Besides other impending threats from overfishing, habitat loss/destruction/conversion, pollution, climate change, and illegal trade, amongst others. Inclusive conservation efforts need to be stepped up now more than ever.

Malaysia has national as well as global commitments set towards the effective conservation of our coastal and marine environment and biodiversity. The 2016-2025 National Policy on Biological Diversity has set a target of conserving at least 10% of coastal and marine areas by 2025. This 10% target is equally reflected to some extent in our Malaysia Plans and the National Agrofood Policy 2.0 as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. It is worth noting that the 10% target was originally provided for as part of the Aichi targets under the 2011-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, and this target has since been revised under the 2030 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which was globally agreed on in December 2022.

As of 2020, we know that approximately 5% of our coastal and marine waters are legally protected. Ideally, we need to move towards achieving 100% ocean sustainability and this would require a more consultative and comprehensive process.

Publicerad i

Utgivare: WWF Malaysia

SLU författare

• Yong, Jean W.H

  • Institutionen för biosystem och teknologi, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Globala målen (SDG)

SDG15 Ekosystem och biologisk mångfald

UKÄ forskningsämne

Biologisk systematik
Ekologi
Oceanografi, hydrologi, vattenresurser

Publikationens identifierare

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.14148.23689

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/139406