Malaysia is one of the world’s megadiverse countries, meaning it is one of the top biodiversity-rich countries. Its marine protected areas represent a wide range of habitats including, coral reefs, sea grasses and mangrove forests.
Malaysia is a signatory to the Convention of Biological Diversity. To assist in achieving the Aichi Targets, Malaysia has developed a National Policy on Biological Diversity (2016 – 2025), and one of the workstreams is to have 20% terrestrial and 10% marine protected areas by 2025. As of 2019, terrestrial protected areas in Malaysia stand at roughly 14% and marine parks at 5%.
A National Framework for Protected Areas is currently being set up to facilitate the identification, recognition and management of protected and conserved areas effectively. The implementing partner and secretariat for the IUCN Green List in Malaysia is WWF-Malaysia, their strategy encompasses Federal- and State-level advocacy actions to strengthen biodiversity conservation through mainstreaming protected areas.
| Site Name | WDPA ID | Country | Region | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danum Valley Conservation Area | 10279 | Malaysia | South East Asia | Candidate |
| Jagoi Heritage Forest | -- | Malaysia | South East Asia | Candidate |
| Sook Lake Forest Reserve | -- | Malaysia | South East Asia | Candidate |
| Sugud Islands Marine Conservation Area | 555697546 | Malaysia | South East Asia | Candidate |
| Tun Mustapha Park | 555705603 | Malaysia | South East Asia | Candidate |
Marine biodiversity and conservation, climate change adaptation, conservation finance, protected areas management, project design, monitoring and evaluation, community or indigenous people engagement, OECMs, wildlife management, patrolling and enforcement
Economics, environmental management and statistics, conservation finance, green economy, project design, monitoring and evaluation.
Bee Hong is an environmental economist with a multi-disciplinary background in economics, environmental management and statistics. She has over 20 years of experience providing strategic solutions in the areas of conservation finance, economic valuation of natural capital, protected areas management, and project design, monitoring and evaluation. Bee Hong has previously held senior positions in WorldFish, an international research organization that harnesses fisheries and aquaculture to reduce hunger and poverty and in WWF-Malaysia. Bee Hong graduated with a M.Sc. in Environmental Resource Economics from University College London, UK, MA in Statistics from University Malaya and B.Sc. (Hons.) in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management from the University of York, UK. She is a founding member of the Malaysian EAGL and elected as Chair for 2020/2021
Marine Biodiversity and Conservation; Biodiversity and Conservation; Physical Oceanography; Coastal Erosion; Estuaries and Coasts; Coastal Erosion; Education and Awareness of Coastal Communities; Marine Social, Education and Awareness
Dr Aazani has experience and network with local coastal and riverine communities in Sarawak on national and international initiatives within the field of marine biodiversity and conservation; climate change adaptation; and education and awareness of coastal communities. She works towards engaging the local government, community based practitioners, academia, local industry partnerships and local media. As part of CTI-CFF Women’s Leaders Forum, she in committed to project prioritizing gender issues, and on various projects pressing the important Role of Women and engaging with the youth in marginalized villages previously identified as vulnerable to climate change and land use changes.
Wildlife management; environmental education, protected area management; patrolling and enforcement
I oversee all wildlife conservation activities run by the department in the state. It varies from handling wildlife conflicts, enforcing the Wildlife Conservation Act 716, 2010; managing protected area, save the Malayan Tiger campaign, border patrol between Malaysia and Thailand and other administrative work. I am also involved in the development and training for the Effective Protected Area Management Course (EPAM) host by PERHILITAN with support from UNDP. My passion is towards Protected Areas Managements, not on-site management but at a policy level, where all the planning is been done towards a better PA management. Looking with a birds eye view help to plan better and integrate other possibilities from outside.
Environmental anthropology; Government ministries or PA agencies; Community or economic development; Sustainable development or environmental issues; Community or indigenous stakeholder organizations
Agnes is an environmental anthropologist based in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, where she has been working at the nexus of people, protected areas and conservation for many years. She is Co-Director of the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP), a long-term research programme headquartered at Danum Valley that supports, manages and facilitates world-class science in the rainforests of Sabah, where she leads a programme of work that translates science to impacts in policy formulation, development of best practice guidelines and in the training of the next generation of environmental leaders in Sabah. Agnes has served as a subject specialist in the preparation of several of Malaysia’s key conservation polices and plans and is the founding chair of the Malaysian National Expert Assessment Group for the IUCN Green List.
Environment sustainability issues; community-based
conservation; protected area management, wetland conservation; ecotourism; scientific research coordination and multi-country workshop organization; project planning and management
She holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Forestry from University Putra Malaysia (UPM) and a Masters of Science in Conservation Biology from University of Kent, United Kingdom. She has 20 years working experiences in conservation especially protected area and High Conservation Value Areas (forest, peat swamp and mangroves), community-based conservation, environment awareness programmes, plantation conservation, etc in collaboration with various government agencies, plantation companies, NGOs and local communities. She has extensive experience in providing training and technical inputs to the agencies and local communities on conservation issues, habitat management, protected areas financing and livelihood options. She strongly believes that conservation goal can only be achieved via pragmatic approach and working together with multi-stakeholders by looking at the wider perspective through sustainable management of natural resource.
Wildlife ecology, hunting patterns and wildlife abundances, community engagement for conservation, environmental education, forest management certification, high conservation values, environmental policies, protected area management.
Cynthia Chin received her BSc. (Env.Sci)(Hon.) from Murdoch University in Western Australia; and her MSc.(Conservation Biology) from UNIMAS in Sarawak. Currently she is Project Manager at WWF-Malaysia (Sarawak Programme) and oversees:
Cynthia has over 20 years’ experience in the field of conservation, and has worked within government as well as in NGOs in all this time. She carried out studies on hunting patterns and hunting pressure on wildlife in timber extraction areas in the Ulu Baram region of Sarawak, and has worked with different communities on co-management of natural resources throughout Sarawak.
Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs), international and environmental law
Based in Sabah, Malaysia, Harry is an international lawyer and co-founder at Future Law. Harry co-chairs the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Task Forceon Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures, which is promoting recognition and support for areas of ecological value outside of protected areas. He also coordinates Forever Sabah’s work on marine conservation (sharks and rays). His publications include: The Right to Responsibility, The Living Convention and Conservation Standards. He is an Ashoka Fellowand a Legal Research Fellow at the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law.
Protected Areas, wildlife enforcement, habitat and species conservation, High Conservation Values (HCVs)
I started working in protected area and conservation related work in 1988, conducting environmental education programme in national parks aimed at students, teachers and people living within and adjacent to protected areas. Other works include interpretation, wildlife enforcement, promotion of tourism protected areas and developing park products. Currently, my work deals with habitat and species conservation. Amongst the work on species management, I work on the management of estuarine crocodile, being a member of Crocodile Specialist Group, and established Bako Buntal Bay as a East Asia Australasia Flyway Network Site. I also have some experience working on the assessment of High Conservation Value and involve in related working groups. I have a deep interest in cave explorations, exploring the great caves in Gunong Mulu National Park since 1996.
Plant ecology, protected areas, habitat and species conservation, High Conservation Values (HCVs) forest conservation and rehabilitation
Dr Reuben Nilus holds a D.Phil. from Aberdeen University on Tropical Plant Ecology. He has been active as a researcher, conducting ecological research mainly in forest conservation, biodiversity monitoring and rehabilitation of degraded high conservation value habitats since 1995 in the Forest Research Centre of the Sabah Forestry Department. Beside being authors and co-authors in research papers, articles and reports, he has also contributed to numerous applied forestry and conservation area activities in a number of forest management units, protected areas and oil palm estate’s conservation area in Sabah.
Marine science, marine protected area management, natural resource management and resource planning, coastal resource management, fisheries, community consultation
Robecca Jumin is currently leading the Sabah Terrestrial Conservation Programme of WWF-Malaysia, working on habitat (forest, freshwater and mangroves) conservation, species protection (Orangutan, elephants, commercially targeted species) and footprints reduction (oil palm). Previously she led the Marine Programme of WWF-Malaysia, working on three strategies to sustain fisheries and seafood, conserve and effectively manage coastal and marine ecosystem, and protect marine turtles as a flagship species for endangered species. She completed her Ph.D. in 2015 in Marine Science (Environmental and Resource Management Plan for the Proposed Tun Mustapha Park) from the University Malaysia Sabah. She completed her Ph.D. while working with WWF-Malaysia, facilitating and building support for the establishment of the Tun Mustapha Park, the first multiple use park in Malaysia. Her Ph.D. focused on natural resource management and spatial planning.
Protected area mangement, environmental engineering, landscape financing
Siti Zuraidah Abidin is the Protected Areas Lead for Peninsular Malaysia at WWF-Malaysia. She manages projects in two of WWF-Malaysia’s priority conservation areas, namely Ulu Muda Forest Complex in Kedah and Fraser’s Hill Forest Complex in Pahang. Her role includes leading the advocacy in improving protection of these two areas from the aspects of legal and policy engagement, building scientific justification and engaging with various stakeholders. Currently, she and her team are designing a landscape finance approach in Kedah in partnership with the state government and WWF Landscape Finance Lab. She was also pivotal in the development of the A Master List of Protected Areas in Malaysia, a report published by the Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources, in a national effort to compile Malaysia’s terrestrial and marine protected areas. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University, USA and has a keen interest in biomimicry.
Protected area management, hydrologic and geomorphic processes, eco-tourism and conservation of nature, carbon offsets and other GHG issues, forest restoration and rehabilitation, environmental and resource management
Dr. Waidi Sinun holds a PhD from Manchester University, studying the impact of montane forest destruction on streams in the highlands of Kinabalu, Sabah. He has more than 20 years of experience in establishing and managing protected areas under the auspices of Sabah Foundation, including the world famous Danum Valley Conservation Area. He also oversaw two of the largest tropical forest rehabilitation projects in Sabah, and has been critical in initiating many collaborations with local and international organisations to further research and conservation in the conservation areas he oversaw.
