As we wrote:

"With this project, we’re attempting to explore a few questions: How effective have [conservation] efforts been and what gaps remain? Can Indigenous communities make a greater case for their economic and conservationist roles, so often underestimated and undervalued? How can local communities and conservationists work with the authorities in common cause? What does proactive, not just reactive, stewardship look like?"

https://rainforestjournalismfund.org/projects/sabahs-mangrove-defenders

#Sabah #Malaysia #mangroves #edwrites

Sabah’s Mangrove Defenders

Southeast Asia is home to a third and most of the world’s mangroves; it is also the region that has experienced the most extensive mangrove loss. In Malaysia, which has nearly 5 percent of the world’s...

^{Rainforest Journalism Fund}

Go back to the top of this thread and you'll see one of Wen's stories—a short video on how the indigenous Tombonuo villagers of Kampung Sungai Eloi in Pitas, Kudat, are rehabilitating what's left of the #mangroves around them after a shrimp farm—#Sabah's largest ever—cleared 900 hectares.

She also has an accompanying photo essay for Macaranga:

https://rainforestjournalismfund.org/stories/pitas-villagers-restoring-mangroves-destroyed-failed-shrimp-farm

Pitas Villagers Restoring Mangroves Destroyed by Failed Shrimp Farm

Editor's Note: this story was published by Macaranga in English and Malay. Locals in Pitas, Sabah, suffer the consequences of a huge shrimp farm that destroyed their mangroves and then went out of...

^{Rainforest Journalism Fund}

Here is my multimedia longread for Between The Lines, a Malaysian newsletter run by the indefatigable Darsh Kanda, with edits also by Edward Gomez.

Unlike Wen's, this story explores how we could practice proactive, not just reactive, stewardship. So often, news stories hinge on disasters that have happened, when it is often too late. The Lower #Kinabatangan Segama Wetlands may not be facing an immediately dire threat, but there are threats all the same.

https://betweenthelines.my/sabahs-custodians-of-the-mangrove-forests-between-land-and-sea/

#edwrites

What the future holds: Sabah’s custodians of the forests between land and sea

Writer Emily Ding speaks with fisherfolk along Sabah’s Lower Kinabatangan-Segama Wetlands on climate change, the link between the communities there and Malaysia’s mangrove forest, and why it needs preserving.

^{Emily Ding (Michael Pixl)}

...This is a reminder not to overlook them. Let's recognise the gifts of nature we have before they're on the brink of disappearing.

Also, do wait for the page to finish loading before scrolling through: https://betweenthelines.my/sabahs-custodians-of-the-mangrove-forests-between-land-and-sea/

& Don't forget to subscribe to BTL if you're interested in Malaysian news. The team publishes curated summaries as well as original reportage "specials" like my story. Sign up here: https://betweenthelines.my

#edwrites #journalism #mangroves #Sabah #Malaysia

Home - Between The Lines

FEATURE Between the Lines co-founder Darshini Kandasamy guests on BFM! Listen now. An email that summarises the main Malaysian news you need to know, with context, bite and wit.

^{Michael Pixl}

I'm drawn to places I don’t know much about and on which there isn't too much online. #Sabah has #Malaysia’s largest expanse of #mangroves and the Lower #Kinabatangan-Segama #Wetlands forms the largest contiguous tract in the southern Sulu Sea, but I had never heard of it before. I was only familiar with the Kinabatangan tourists visit for wildlife-spotting river cruises. So my curiosity started from a very basic place: What does this place look like? How do the people there live?

#edwrites

I may yet post some reflections on my newsletter Movable Worlds in the near future—but for now, you can follow https://instagram.com/emilydingwrites to see the photo journal I am sharing of my reporting trip.

Start here: https://instagram.com/p/CrNlh91pa2t

These two photos were taken at my first stop: the village of Mumiang.

#Kinabatangan #Sabah #Malaysia #Borneo #wetlands #mangroves

Travelling in #Sabah, it's struck me how many #conservation initiatives are funded by #palmoil companies, who have been a major source of #deforestation in the state. I had also noticed many conservationists working with palm oil plantations, in part because they need to access them to better study the #wildlife that are increasingly found to be roaming there. This threw up questions that led to my latest published story: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/6/28/can-plantations-value-more-than-profit-some-in-malaysia-think-so

#edwrites #Malaysia

Can plantations value more than profit? Some in Malaysia think so

Plantation owners in the Borneo state of Sabah are setting aside land for conservation but some remain sceptical.

^{Emily Ding (Al Jazeera)}