One of the most fascinating things to me about my work at RCM has been the way that the organisation has evolved over the years – both in size and in the work that it does. A young me, with a mission and vision to save Malaysia’s coral reefs. Photo credit: Going Places In the beginning… Conceived as a “citizen science” approach to coral reef monitoring, Reef Check started life in 1996 as a means to involve interested divers in reef monitoring. Reef Check Foundation was established in 1997, and a coordinator was appointed in Malaysia in 2001. Reef Check Malaysia was registered as a “Company Li ..read more

2024 marks the second year since RCM began working in Redang Island. Let’s look back and some of our achievements on the island in 2023: 6 Redang Marine Conservation Group (RMCG) members received their Open Water Dive license 5 RMCG members are now EcoDivers and are able to assist with Reef Check Surveys RMCG EcoDivers successfully conducted Reef Check surveys and collected data from 18 survey sites around Redang Island RMCG members successfully removed 90 Crown of Thorns starfish (COT), and also removed a whooping  274kg ghost nets from 8 locations around Redang Island reef r ..read more

kota kinabalu “wanis” at sabah (sustainable development goals) SDG Conference In January, the ‘Pertubuhan Wanita Kampung Song-Song’ (WANIS) attended the Sabah Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit, where they presented their successful initiatives in empowering women within their village to enhance their quality of life. These efforts were acknowledged and appreciated by the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA), highlighting the organization's impactful contributions to sustainable development and women's empowerment in the region. WANIS has been actively empowering ..read more

Mooring buoys to protect reefs We have successfully installed an additional eight mooring buoys at various snorkeling sites in Mersing islands’ which includes Pulau Harimau, Pulau Tengah and Pulau Besar. This activity was conducted in collaboration with Mersing District Council, local island community, and boat operators. The installation of mooring buoys offers a more environmentally friendly alternative as compared to the usage of anchors which can be damaging to marine habitats such as coral reefs, seagrass beds and other underwater ecosystems. Additionally, the mooring buoys also help to f ..read more

The battle against ghost nets Ghost nets are a serious threat to marine life such as turtles, fish, crabs and even dolphins, as it can cause death due to entanglement. Tioman Island has seen a fair share of these nets in the last few years. In the first quarter of 2024, there was a slight decrease in the number of complaints of ghost nets around the waters of Tioman. However, our Tioman Marine Conservation Group (TMCG) was still able to remove ghost nets weighing a total of 1,215kg from four locations across the island. We’re fortunate to continuously have the support of the Tioman community i ..read more

So pretty much everyone agrees: we need to conserve biodiversity Everybody is talking about biodiversity and the need to conserve it. But who is going to pay??? The Sustainable Development Goals talk about it; the Malaysian National Policy on Biological Diversity is all about it…as is the recently signed Global Biodiversity Framework. So pretty much everyone agrees: we need to conserve biodiversity. We seem to understand how. But the question no one can answer yet is: who is going to pay for it?  The History of Paying for BiodiversityIn 2021, the British Government published what has bec ..read more

Resilience? Again? Yes, those of you who have read my posts before will notice that I have talked about resilience before (here and here). So why am I speaking about it again? Because I believe that ensuring our reefs – and other marine ecosystems – are resilient is critical to protecting their long-term health and productivity. And our recently released annual survey report suggests that we are not paying sufficient attention to looking after these important marine resources. What is resilience? A brief recap. Ecological resilience refers to the ability of an ecosystem (such as a coral reef ..read more

Tourism is in the news again. It’s Global Tourism Resilience Day on Saturday (more below), which is a nice juxtaposition to recent local happenings. Just a few days ago (11th February), the Malay Mail carried an article with the headline, “Tourism Malaysia confident of achieving the target of 27.3 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2024, says DG”. I think we’ve had this discussion before!! Sustainable tourism can contribute to the three dimensions of sustainable development and the achievement of the SDGs. The problem with that number of tourists First, we need to look very carefully at thos ..read more

Our vision remains the same: sustainably managed coral reefs in Malaysia. If 2023 ended with a flurry of activity, 2024 has started with a bang! Some years come to a quiet end as programmes are put on hold during the monsoon season. Not so 2023! All our teams, in their various locations, continued to be busy right to the end of the year. Ground-truthing surveys for a new remote sensing system in Semporna; capacity building for the new Redang Marine Conservation Group (RMCG); and seagrass monitoring in Johor – all continued well after the end of the usual “season” marked by the onset of the No ..read more

CINTAI MANTANANI Our “Homestays Improvement Program” that we began in Mantanani has been progressing rather well. After several training sessions with the local homestay owners, they were equipped with better skills to run their business. The two-year project called “Establishing Community-Based Eco-Tourism in Mantanani”, funded by GEF SGP UNDP Malaysia, ended in 2022. Since then, the businesses have been running and generating quite good income for the local owners. The total income in 2023 alone was close to RM60,000, which is almost three times more than the income in 2021! The total number ..read more