Project Detail

Turtle Biodiversity Conservation Through the Active Participation of the Ma' Daerah Community

MEKAR's project aims to ensure that local environmental issues that affect the biodiversity and Green Turtle (Chelonia Mydas) of Ma' Daerah are addressed in addition to mitigating the loss of the marine landscape and coastal waters of Ma' Daerah. The project will carry out a capacity building, awareness and education programme through community mobilization and active participation with the overall goal to protect and manage the Green Turtle population of Ma' Daerah and their key habitats, through measures that are socially acceptable and sustainable in the long-term by the local community, other stakeholders as well as the governement. The programmes proposed in this project will equip the local community with the skills to relate turtle conservation to their daily actions (e.g. the ways ecotourism can be developed through turtle conservation, how to reduce by-catch that might result in damage to their nets, the reasons o conserve the biodiversity of their area so that benefits can be reaped, etc.) resulting in the cnservation of the biodiversity of the area to ensure a viable and sustained population of Green Turtles in Ma' Daerah for the future.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Persatuan Khazanah Rakyat Ma' Daerah

Country:

Malaysia

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

Phase 3

Grant Amount:

US$ 50,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 16,042.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 9,205.00

Project Number:

MAL/OP3/2/06/FP-55

Start Date:

11/2006

End Date:

8/2009

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

It is a global concern for the general state of the marine environment and the effects on marine biodiversity. A series of roadshows will increase the awareness of the local communities residing in and around the areas of Paka-Kerteh-Kemasek on the importance of marine conservation, particularly of the marine turtles, while children are quick to adopt good conservation values through such exposures.

Policy Impact

It is hoped that through a concerted voice from local communities, more government effort to protect and conserve turtle nesting sites would be put in place while the collecting and selling of turtle eggs for consumption would cease, for the conservation and future of marine turtles.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The activities and programmes of this project aims to equip the local community with skills to relate turtle conservation to their daily actions. It is an uphill task for this CBO to create an awareness of the need to protect this marine creature as the eggs of the turtle have been a regular item on the local menu since ages ago and for some, collecting and selling them is a source of livelihood. Efforts to change the mind set of the communities by incorporating turtle conservation efforts as a means of sustainable livelihood, ie. sustainable ecotourism based on turtle conservation, reducing number of turtles as by-catch and the importance of marine biodiversity conservation that would eventually affect livelihoods.

Gender Focus

There is a gender balanced composition as the activies include the active participation of both genders, whereby men are the targeted audience in the mosques as well as the fishermen. The women would mainly be from the teaching sector and participating housewives.

Notable Community Participation

This community based organisation, set up as the first marine turtle conservation community interest group in Malaysia comprises of members from all walks of life including teachers, religious leaders, fishermen, civil servants and local business owners, all with a common aim to "create awareness among the local community living within the Paka-Kerteh-Kemasek areas on the importance of marine turtle conservation", in their effort to save marine turtles that nest on the lush, white sands of the Ma' Daerah beaches and to protect this area and its surrounding forested hills of Bukit Labohan as a marine turtle nesting bastion.

Capacity - Building Component

Workshops will be conducted to train local fishermen on ways to reduce turtle by-catch during their fishing rounds which includes 'turtle release and resuscitation techniques' and 'to develop a teaching guide for use in schools by teachers during their daily language lessons to Year 5 students. Via a religious approach, a workshop for mosque officials will be held to incorporate conservation ethics into religious percepts leading to sermons that would emcourage the community to conserve their environment and the marine turtles. A study tour to a national turtle conservation site, Turtle Islands, Sabah will provide exposure on sustainable ecotourism to relate to their own efforts of conservation in Ma' Daerah.

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