By
Mr. Gorm Jeppesen
Resident ICZM Project Advisor
The ICZM Project in Sabah is part of the national pilot project in Malaysia and jointly funded by DANCED (Danish Co-operation for Environment and Development) and Sabah State Government. The overall project is designed to prepare an Integrated Coastal Zone Management system in the states of Penang, Sabah and Sarawak, including coastal profiles. Furthermore, it contains a federal component addressing policy and strategy development related to ICZM at national level.
The Danish Co-operation for Environment and Development (DANCED) was established as a follow-up to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro 1992. In 1993 the Danish Parliament allocated funds under the Environment and Disaster Relief Facility (EDRF) to promote transfer of environmental technology and know-how to developing countries through DANCED. The Programme is managed by the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy in co-ordination with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The overall objective is to contribute to the restoring of the global environment in accordance with the recommendations of the UNCED Conference (Agenda 21). The activities of DANCED are at present concentrated in Southeast Asia and Southern Africa. Activities started in Thailand and Malaysia in 1994 and in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana in 1995.
Thematic areas of the DANCED/Malaysia projects include Urban Development and Industrialisation; Sustainable Use of Energy; Agriculture; Water Resources; Forests and Wood Resources; Biological Diversity; and Coastal zones.
Projects already under implementation in Malaysia include: Cleaner technology; Tasek Brea; Capacity building Economic Planning Unit; River rehabilitation; Sabah biodiversity; Coastal Zone Management, Malaysia; Peat swamp forestry; University Malaysia, Sabah; Mangrove forests; Forest residues; Perlis State Park; Pig waste; and Human Resources Development – Department of Environment.
Additional projects are in different stages of preparation. Although projects are located all over Malaysia the DANCED programme has a particular focus on East Malaysia.
Examples of DANCED’s coastal zone management (CZM) projects in other countries are: Songhkla Lake Management in Thailand and Walvis Bay CZM in Namibia.
Management of coastal systems has become the focus of many national and international projects. Coastal systems extend beyond jurisdictional boundaries and are affected by impacts of many local users and by decisions made by different levels of government. The management of coastal systems requires involvement of many agencies at different levels of government. The system is interconnected and no single agency has controls transfer between systems. As a whole, the coastal system is dynamic and complex .
There is a need to improve horizontal integration of separate economic sectors and units of government with planning and management roles and also improve the vertical integration of different levels of planning and management (government and non-government). ICZM’s holistic perspectives combine land and sea processes, and exercises multi-disciplinary approach in analyses and assessments. The approach combines planning, management, education and research.
The management of coastal zones refers to the management of activities with significant impact on the coastal zones. Coastal systems as such, to a large extent, function on their own.
The ICZM project in Malaysia was proposed to the country-programming mission that was fielded by DANCED in 1994. It was intended to consolidate CZM activities in Malaysia carried out in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The project preparation was completed over a period of two years allowing the implementation to start in late 1996. The most important activities and dates leading to the project have been:
The DANCED allocation for the overall project from 1996 to 1999 is approximately 13 million Ringgit.
The background for the ICZM project was a growing awareness of the problems experienced in coastal areas and their linkage to economic development and increasing population pressure. Its approach has been to analyse these problems with the view of establishing cause and effect relationships. The results of these analyses are visualised in the project’s Problem Tree in Figure 1 on page 17. The key problem identified by the project is the unsustainable management of the coastal zone of Sabah as reflected in the increased pollution experienced in coastal areas, in the physical degradation of coastal environments and in the deterioration of coastal habitats and resources. Although Sabah compared to other states of Malaysia still has huge areas of relatively unspoiled coastal areas, pollution is becoming common around the major coastal towns, both on land and in the near shore waters. Significant parts of the coastal zone of Sabah are undergoing physical degradation opening up for loss of areas due to erosion and lowering coastline protection in general. This may be caused by insufficiently planned and uncoordinated reclamation works along the coast changing flow patterns and causing erosion in adjacent areas, it may be due to extensive physical destruction of the coral reefs from fish bombing or it may be due to the encroachment into mangrove areas opening up for wave erosion. Deterioration of for example the coral habitats has been going on at an alarming rate and coastal fisheries is carried out far above sustainable yield levels depleting fisheries resources.
The project considers these environmental problems as symptoms of or effects from unsustainable management and its strategy is to address the causes for insufficient management capacity. The identified causes can be seen in the root of the problem tree in Figure 1 , page 17. The main causes have been grouped as a lack of coherent and integrated management and policies, a lack of awareness and public participation and weak enforcement. The further differentiation of these groups into other causes can be seen form the figure.
The project’s objectives and outputs are best visualised in the objective tree, which is established through a reversal of the project tree discussed earlier. Sabah’s long term interest and goal for the coastal zone is to maintain or increase its sustainable economic and ecological potential. The project will contribute to achieving this by focusing on the management capacity among coastal stakeholders. In consequence the medium term or intermediate objective of the project is Sustainable Management of the Coastal Zone of Sabah. The immediate objectives, which the project pursues within its term, are Coherent and Integrated Management and Policies for the Coastal Zone , Raised Awareness and Increased Public Participation in Coastal Management and Strengthened Enforcement of Regulations for Coastal Zone Development . The relationships between these different level objectives can be seen in the project’s objective tree in Figure 2 on page 18, where the two bottom lines of boxes represent the outputs targeted to reach the objectives.
Focusing on management capacity rather than management plans or products the project has adopted a process oriented strategy in which actors in the existing institutional machinery are identified and activated in the coastal zone management process, i.e. the participatory approach. It is local stakeholders in coastal development that will be carrying out the activities under the project, however supported with technical assistance from foreign advisors and local consultants. The project therefore requires a shift in perception among institutional stakeholders from servicing projects by providing information and dialogue to consultants who then do the work, to, doing the work with advisors providing the enabling environment. Only in this way can it be insured that local experience becomes fully incorporated in the management, that full local ownership is established for the management outcome and that capacity is build up to go through the planning and ensure other aspects of the management of the coastal development..
Figure 1: Problem Tree for the ICZM Project in Sabah.
Figure 2: Objective Tree for the ICZM Project in Sabah
The most important single element in the ICZM project is the Task Force system, which can be considered as the main engine to achieve the immediate objectives of the project. It is a bearing strategy of the project that all key activities related to the preparation of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan will be carried out by Task Forces composed of representatives selected from government agencies and private stakeholders. The approach, which is critical for the sustainability of the project, amongst others serves the following purposes:
The success of the ICZM project relies on how efficiently the Task Force system can be made to operate. The impression gained in the implementation of the project until now is that the Task Force approach is new to most stakeholders,
A number of Task Forces have already been mobilised under the project and others will be activated to carry out the different tasks involved in the ICZM Plan preparation process and to address particular coastal management issues as they emerge.
Task Forces 1, 2 and 3 were mobilised during the first 4 months after the project started in September 1996. Task Force 4 and 5 have started in December 1997. A short outline of Task Force 1 to 4 is provided below. Task Force 5 is dealt with in a separate presentation at the workshop.
Determination of the Coastal Zone in Sabah
The objectives of Task Force 1 were to determine the landward and seaward boundaries for the area to be covered by the Coastal Zone Management Plan Document. The overall recommendations from the Task Force are for the inland boundary to let it be defined by the 60-m contour line, with deviations according to local issues arising (e.g. existing or potential development areas). The seaward boundary recommended is the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone). After having submitted these conceptual recommendations on the boundaries to the ICZM Technical Committee in Sabah the Task Force has stopped its activities. The recommendations as well as supporting material have been submitted to the ICZM Unit.
The composition of Task Force 1 is listed below:
The Director of Town and Regional Planning Department chaired the Task Force.
Task Force No. 2
Environmental Management
The objectives of this task force are to establish a comprehensive overview of the existing environment management system as applied to Sabah, and also to consider strategies for environmental management to be used in development, planning and management in coastal areas. Important elements of environmental management are impact assessments, monitoring, resources accounting, monitoring and environmental auditing. Task Force 2 is expected to continue its work throughout most of the project’s term.
The composition of Task Force 2 is listed below:
The Task Force is chaired by the Director of Department of Environment, Sabah Office.
Task Force No. 3
MIS/GIS
The objectives of Task Force 3 were to establish a comprehensive overview of present MIS/GIS application in Sabah, and to formulate a strategy for implementation of MIS/GIS in support of CZM. The Task Force has recommended that actions be taken towards establishing a GIS Clearing House in Sabah under the auspices of the IT Council with the view of co-ordinating current and coming GIS activities, and ensure data and system compatibility. These recommendations were given, as it became clear that GIS implementation in different institutions was carried out largely uncoordinated. The Task Force stopped its activities after having prepared a strategy paper and after having recommended on the GIS Platform for the ICZM Project.
The composition of Task Force 3 includes:
The Task Force was chaired by Institute of Development Studies, Sabah, who at the time was heavily involved in activities with the IT Council including the drafting of an IT Master Plan for the State.
Task Force No. 4
Application of Environmental & Computerised Tools for Spatial Planning
Task Force 4 is under mobilisation on the West Coast and is liasing with two on-going studies i.e. the Regional EIA and Shoreline Management Plan Study, examining the feasibility of reclaiming a number of man-made islands along the coast, and also the Sungai Moyog Integrated Catchment Management Plan Study. The main objective of Task Force 4 is to assist in the formulation of a spatial plan for the Coastal Zone using GIS/RS and DBMS techniques and environmental management and planning tools.
The Task Force composition is:
The Task Force is chaired by the Director of Town and Regional Planning Department.
The project implementation operates with three phases, not counting the Inception Period which was completed in April 1997, and which served to adjust the project to accommodate the experience gained in the first 7 months of implementation. Phase 1, with a duration of approximately 1 year, focuses on developing and training in various tools required for management purposes, including the initiation of a system to generate coastal profiles. In the end of Phase 1 a Coastal Profile will be prepared based upon existing data and information in Sabah and terms of reference for the preparation of an ICZM Plan will be drafted. The subsequent Phase 2 will be the period were the ICZM Planning Process will be carried out leading to the drafting of the first ICZM Plan for Sabah. Phase 3, with a duration of 3 months, will be used to finalise the ICZM Plan and to consider follow-up activities. Below is an outline of some of the activities in the three Phases as they appeared in the Project Document after the Inception Revision in May 1997. As the project however has experienced delays revised dates have been included in brackets.
First Phase
May 1997 - April 1998 (July 1998)
Preparation of Sabah Coastal Profile
Second Phase
July 1998 - June 1999
ICZM Plan Preparation
Third Phase
July 1999 – September 1999 (November)
ICZM Plan
[1] ICLARM is the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management located in Manila, Philippines. USAID is the US Agency for International Development Assistance. In addition to the project component in Johor five other ASEAN countries participated in the program, each with a pilot site.
[2] Asian Development Bank financed a nation wide study, which identified areas in Malaysia subject to erosion and classified these into three categories according to severity. It was strongly recommended that coastal erosion management activities in Malaysia be carried out within an overall ICZM policy and strategic framework.
