Bridging NGOs, Government and Industry for Biodiversity Conservation - Lessons Learnt in Malaysia

Dato’ Dr Dionysius SharmaExecutive Director/ CEO

WWF- Malaysia

WHY are NGOs IMPORTANT?There are several things that governments around the world are not structurally designed to address. Some of these things are best handled by NGOs that can often circumnavigate the inherent problems that governments, businesses, and individuals are unable to deal with by themselves.

Governments, generally, are bound by a massive set of rules, regulations, and limitations that are set by bureaucracies, statutes, politics, and practical concerns. Governments operate differently and are better at completing different tasks than NGOs.

However, the services provided by NGOs are often complementary to those of government agencies, as far as environmental management is concerned.

Persatuan Wanita Kampung Mangkok Setiu (PEWANIS), Terengganu - Collaboration with Nestlé &

WWF-Malaysia and Jabatan Perikanan

• Key wetland and primary nesting site for the critically endangered Painted terrapin.

• Issue of conservation programme continuity, local buy-in and grassroot involvement.

• Provided an opportunity for a CBO, PEWANIS, to organize and develop a cottage industry business for themselves with funding from Nestle.

• Source of supplementary income

• Mangrove rehabilitation

Ma Daerah Green Turtle Conservation and Community group MEKAR, Terengganu – WWF,

BP and Jabatan PerikananTripartite programme of Jabatan

Perikanan, BP and WWF-Malaysia: > 10 year programme

Oil and gas industry impacts on turtles at Paka-Kertih

Establishment of Ma Daerah Turtle Conservation Trust Fund

Ma Daerah Working Committee, Ma Daerah Steering Committee

Establishment of MEKAR

Shangri La Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, Kota Kinabalu- Dugong Conservation with Berungus community

(Kudat)- Sustainable Seafood Awareness Day, KK (Dec 8 2011)

• A priority conservation area under the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion and Coral Triangle Initiative

• Partnership with resort for marine biodiversity conservation

• Association with Tun Mustapha Marine Park – Sabah Parks and Sabah State Government

• Malaysian Sustainable Seafood Guide 20101 – Save our Seafood

• Guests at resort made aware of sustainable seafood consumption

MARINE FISH FARMERS ASSOCIATION OF MALAYSIA (MFFAM)

• Providing technical assistance through visits to fish farms

• Formalising the partnership at the Coral Triangle Regional Business Forum

• Building capacity to fisher groups

• Assessing preference for wild caught fish, eco-farmed fish and unsustainably farmed fish

TURTLE TOURISM GUIDELINES WITH DOF & ISMAH RESORT MALACCA

• Key nesting site for Hawksbill turtle in Peninsular Malaysia

• Egg poaching, unregulated tourism, coastal development, land reclamation.

• Good example of a Tripartite partnership between Government, private sector and NGO

• Resort implementing guidelines for sustainable ecotourism on hawksbill turtle

• Local villagers hired as turtle watching guides

• Turtle pop. Increasing – 2011: >550 nests.

Tiger Conservation: Our partners and where we work (partially sponsored by Maybank)

WWF-Malaysia

Malaysian Nature Society

Wildlife Department

Wildlife Conservation Society

TRAFFIC

At the Federal level

• WWF-Malaysia was the stakeholder group in developing the National Physical Plan (the plan was approved in April 2006) under the Department of Town and Country Planning (JPBD)

• WWF-Malaysia was also the stakeholder group of the Central Forest Spine Master Plan under the National Physical Plan

• WWF-Malaysia actively advocates for the implementation of both National Physical Plan and the Central Forest Spine Master Plan

At the Federal level

Working closely with PERHILITAN

• In 2008, WWF-Malaysia played an important role in developing the National Tiger Action Plan (NTAP)

• In 2011, WWF-Malaysia reviewed the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010

At the Federal level

• With funding from the Smithsonian Institution (USA), PERHILITAN and WWF-Malaysia are jointly organizing a tiger workshop entitled “Cross-Sectoral Executive Leadership Forum on Mainstreaming Priority Tiger Habitats“ in February 2012

• WWF-Malaysia is part of the consultant team headed by KWA Planners in drafting an Integrated Master Plan (IMP) for Belum-Temengor commissioned by the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA). Targeted completion date is Jan 2012.

Our project site: Belum-Temengor Forest Complex

At the State/District level

• WWF-Malaysia was instrumental in the establishment of Belum-Temengor Joint Enforcement Taskforce (JETF), which was officially formed in 2010 August

In April 2011, a Trust Fund was established by the Hulu Perak District Office (Secretariat of JETF) to facilitate anti-poaching in Belum-Temengor

WWF-Malaysia then channeled RM50,000 to the Trust Fund

WWF-Malaysia’s tiger conservation efforts in BelumTemengor

Land Use and PolicyUnit

Wildlife Monitoring Unit

Anti-poaching unit Ecological LinkagesUnit

Tigers Alive! IIIEducation &Awareness

BMPs

Tigers Alive III: land use and policy unit

Roles• Establishing GIS database on

land use along the Gerik-Jeli Highway that bisected Belum & Temengor Forests

• Monitor changes in land use pattern

Tigers Alive III: ecological linkages unit

Role• Identify suitable

ecological linkages for the construction of wildlife crossings

The Malaysian government is considering to allocate RM60 million to build two viaducts along the Gerik-Jeli Highway in Belum-Temengor

Tigers Alive III: anti-poaching unit

Roles

• Liaise with government enforcement agencies to conduct wildlife patrolling, to deactivate snares, and to deter encroachment

• Working with TRAFFIC to gather information on illegal wildlife trade

Wildlife monitoring:

1. Camera trapping

2. Sign surveys

3. Habitat assessments via GIS

Tigers Alive III: wildlife monitoring unit

Objective

To assess the conservation statis of tigers and their prey in Belum-Temengor Forest Complex

Tigers Alive III: wildlife monitoring unit –evidence of breeding population

Success stories in 2011

• WWF-Malaysia and TRAFFIC jointly produced a 9-minute documentary “On Borrowed Time” that highlights the tremendous poaching threat faced by the wildlife in Belum-Temengor.

Launched on July 2011, “On Borrowed Time” calls for the poaching crisis to be put on the national agenda. It also calls for effective action against poaching and forest encroachment Belum-Temengor.

“On Borrowed Time” video on the poaching crisis at Belum-Temengor won the top prize in the recent Malaysia’s Eco Film Festival 2011.

Peninsular Malaysia: Project successes

• TRAFFIC and WWF-Malaysia passed information to DWNP Gerik of JETF leading to the arrest of two smugglers near Bersia, Gerik on Oct 2011 and 12 pangolins seized

Lessons Learnt

• By working out bottom-up strategies, NGOs can provide more customized services. They can develop a higher degree of specialty for particular types of challenges, too, which government agencies may not be able to.

• NGOs can serve as a "laboratory", in which programs, strategies and approaches can be tried, tested and perfected. The government's administrative departments can then adopt the successful ones for wider implementation.

• Businesses are often the enablers - by providing funds -and can increase awareness of environmental problems through media engagement and provide leadership in their respective sectors

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WWF’s Business & Industry Engagement Approach

AvoidanceAvoidanceAvoidanceReducing

ImpactReducing Reducing

ImpactImpact

Aiming for Zero Impact

Aiming for Zero Aiming for Zero ImpactImpact

Net Positive Net Positive ImpactImpact

Not My Not My problem !problem !

Philanthropy Philanthropy to Offset to Offset ImpactsImpacts

Government Government will Sort it Outwill Sort it Out

Compliance Compliance And BeyondAnd Beyond

Good Good HousekeepingHousekeeping

Strategic Strategic Philanthropy Philanthropy

Global Strategies Global Strategies for Risk for Risk Management and Management and Cost EfficienciesCost Efficiencies

R&D in New R&D in New Business ModelsBusiness Models

Strategic Strategic IntegrationIntegration

Innovation Innovation

New Business New Business ModelsModels

Selling Solutions to Selling Solutions to the World’s the World’s ProblemsProblems

WWF Engagement

Objective

WWF WWF Engagement Engagement

ObjectiveObjective

Business Response to Evolving Corporate

Responsibility

Business Response Business Response to Evolving to Evolving Corporate Corporate

ResponsibilityResponsibility

4 C

Concept Engagement

Sensitive Industry Versus Engagement

24 January 2012 - 24

Cash

Communication

Conservation

Change

2. Arms and Weapons systems

6. Nuclear Power

5. Animal Testing

4. Trade in Flora and Fauna

3. Tobacco

1. Oil & Gas