SEMPORNA, June 29 — Transparency is of utmost importance throughout the process of approving development projects in extremely vulnerable and valuable areas such as Mabul Island here, says WWF Malaysa.
Its head of Marine, Monique Sumampouw said an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) should be carried out to ensure a proper mitigation plan was in place and to avoid marine destruction due to negligence in sensitive areas such as the recent incident in the world-famous dive sites, Paradise I and II, at Mabul Island.
“A barge heavily loaded with construction materials has brought devastating damage there to years of marine conservation work done together with the local communities besides partner organisations, as the coral reefs that took decades to thrive were destroyed within seconds,” she said in a statement today.
“An EIA also allows and promotes consultation from stakeholders, such as local communities and governmental departments, which will ensure a holistic approach in delivering development projects,” she said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, Monique also called for thorough investigation into the barge incident, besides support for the relevant government agencies and the district officer in taking steps to avoid such devastating cases from happening again in the nation’s paradises.
“Losing essential parts of the marine environment such as coral reefs will generate ripple effects that cause much broader depletion to fisheries, tourism and the social economy,” she said, adding that witnesses of similar incidents or fish bombing, also needed to report to the local authorities.
“Mabul Island is undeniably an important place for the world’s biodiversity, for it is part of the Coral Triangle Region - a marine region that spans those parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.
“That place with abundant biodiversity contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals, of which 76 per cent (605) of the world’s coral species (798) are found in the Coral Triangle, the highest coral diversity in the world,” she said. — Bernama
