Kota Kinabalu: Malaysia is strengthening the management of its marine protected areas through a national network aimed at improving coordination, sharing expertise and building management capacity across the country.
Sabah Parks Director Datuk Dr Maklarin Lakim said the National Marine Protected Area (MPA) Managers Network would connect managers in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak to facilitate technical cooperation and the sharing of effective conservation practices.
“Gazettement is only the beginning; the true value of a protected area depends on how effectively it is managed,” he said at the Workshop on the Establishment and Coordination of the National MPA Managers Network 2026, here, on Tuesday.
The initiative aligns with the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF) National Plan of Action 2.0 for 2025 to 2030. It would also establish links with the regional CTI-CFF MPA Managers Network.
Maklarin said marine conservation faced increasingly complex challenges involving enforcement, research, visitor management, community engagement and capacity building, while marine wildlife and environmental threats often crossed administrative and legal boundaries.
“Marine protected areas cannot be managed in isolation,” he said, adding that the network would respect the mandates of individual management agencies while enabling them to address shared challenges more systematically.
He identified a lack of coordination between jurisdictions as a key challenge, with each managing its marine protected areas under separate systems and policies.
“The CTI-CFF National Plan of Action 2.0 could serve as a common reference for MPA management in Malaysia, while allowing each jurisdiction to retain its existing policies and laws.
“Sabah, for instance, has its own Sabah Biodiversity Policy, whereas Peninsular Malaysia has the National Policy on Biological Diversity,” he said.
He stressed that stronger coordination would not replace existing state legislation or customary laws, but would instead align management efforts and create synergies between jurisdictions.
Maklarin also highlighted growing pressure on marine parks from climate change, including rising sea temperatures, coral bleaching, changing weather patterns and coastal erosion.
Citing Pulau Selingan in Sandakan as an example, he said coastal erosion had significantly reduced the island’s beach over the past 30 years, while warmer seas and increasing ocean acidity threatened coral ecosystems.
The workshop focused on refining the network’s terms of reference and structure, introducing the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT-4), identifying capacity gaps and developing a multi-year capacity-building plan.
The workshop was chaired by Maklarin in his capacity as chairman of the CTI-CFF Marine Protected Area Thematic Working Group for 2026 and co-chairman of the Asia Protected Areas Partnership, in collaboration with WWF-Malaysia and CTI Sabah.
He said a coordinated approach would ultimately be more effective than allowing marine park managers to operate independently.
“We are better off synergising than operating in silos,” he said.
Highlighting Sabah’s marine conservation experience, Maklarin said Tunku Abdul Rahman Park was gazetted in 1974 as Malaysia’s first marine park, marking an important milestone in the state’s conservation efforts.
Sabah Parks manages nine parks, six of which are marine parks, including Tun Mustapha Park, which covers nearly one million hectares, and Turtle Islands Park, an important turtle conservation site.
“Previous generations took steps to protect these areas. The challenge for our generation is to ensure that the areas already protected truly function,” he said.
