This article is the first of a six-part bi-weekly series culminating in an editorial piece advocating for an integrated ocean policy for Malaysia.
PART 1: SETTING THE SCENE
The Covid-19 pandemic changed almost everything. However, it has shown that large-scale urgent change is possible. The unprecedented level and speed of policy and legislative actions demonstrated our capacity to adapt in the face of profound suffering and loss to our health, livelihoods, economies, and behaviours.
Scientists have warned of ‘perfect storms’ caused by disease spill-over from wildlife to people. We are faced with a rapid decrease in the gap between people and wildlife due to the exploitation of wild species and wild places, deforestation, uncontrolled expansion of agriculture, intensification of farming and infrastructure development. Diseases that originate from animals are more easily transmitted and spread like wildfire due to our hyper-connected global societies and transportation systems.
Covid-19 did not spare ocean-dependent communities and industries.
Despite the reprieve that the environment is enjoying - the rapid decrease in atmospheric pollutants from decreased population and trade movements, cleaner beaches, increase in marine life and reduced noise pollution – still more damage is inflicted on the environment. The pandemic generated more waste - items such as discarded face masks, take-out food containers, food waste and medical waste ended up spilling into the ocean and further degrade the already fragile marine ecosystem. On top of that, recycling efforts have decreased due to movement and travel restrictions.
Tourism is one of the hardest hit by the pandemic. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) declared 2020 was the worst on record for global tourism, with a 74% decrease in international arrivals. This compares to a mere 4% decline recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis. The collapse in international travel represents an estimated loss of USD1.3 trillion in export revenues - more than 11 times the loss recorded during the 2009 global economic crisis. It has put between 100 and 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk, many of them in small and medium-sized enterprises.
Protected and conserved areas such as marine protected areas (or reserves) have also been impacted negatively by the pandemic. Management effectiveness is reduced due to budget and staff cuts. This is especially true for sites that are financially dependent on tourism to finance operational expenses. Many local communities living within and near these protected areas have also been severely impacted, as incomes have been decimated due to the decrease in tourist numbers. In many cases, such communities revert back to traditional activities – such as fishing in Marine Parks – putting still further pressure on already-stressed ecosystems.
In an editorial essay written by prominent experts, it was observed that as governments focus on ways to re-energise economies for a post-Covid-19 world, pressures on biodiversity and ecosystem grows as people turn to alternative sources of subsistence, income, and businesses. Arguments for rolling back environmental protections are gaining traction, including provisions that would authorise new and/or expand extractive industries and infrastructures in protected and conserved areas. Such “emergency” rollbacks provide limited opportunity for public engagement. They are being proposed or enacted in countries including the United States, Greece, Canada, Albania, Brazil, Kenya and Malaysia.
Legal efforts to downgrade the safeguards given to protected areas, to reduce their size or even to de-gazette them entirely will exacerbate fragmentation and ecosystem disruption, resulting in catastrophic consequences, as proven by Covid-19.
Recent proposals to de-gazette Pulau Tioman – removing protected area status from the waters of the Marine Park surrounding the island – bring such issues into sharp and real focus.
Such efforts also contradict the commitments made by the 196 member parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) – of which Malaysia is a signatory – to support the conservation of biodiversity and ensure the sustainable use and equitable sharing of genetic resources. These dangerous manoeuvres go against the targets set under the CBD Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 and the Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14) that by 2020, at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water, and 10% of coastal and marine areas, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative, and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes. We have already missed that target – according to one estimate, only some 2.8% of Malaysia’s marine area has protected status.
Opportunities
Moving forward, we have three options --- (Scenario 1) we return to the normal, business-as-usual approach where the world learns to adapt to Covid-19 and revert to the previous model of economic growth; or (Scenario 2) as the global pandemic lasts longer, global depression sets in and cause a dramatic decline in conservation and protection; or (Scenario 3) we learn and affect change in humanity’s perception of our planet and our relationship with nature. Economic recovery will be based on investments in sustainable solutions. Economies and funding mechanisms are diversified and implemented, prioritising nature-based solutions in response to a range of human challenges.
The EU’s Green Deal supplemented by a Green Recovery Plan in 2020 is an example of moving in the right direction, acknowledging that the business-as-usual approach to reboot the economy is simply unacceptable. Further assessments are needed to evaluate the efficacy of the plan.
This year, at the 15th Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), expectations are high for the adoption of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (to replace the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020) to ensure that by 2030, at least 30% of the planet is protected and conserved through a well connected and effective system of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures.
Economic growth must not be pursued at the expense of the environment. It is time to get this right.
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The next five article pieces shall delve further into recognising how deeply “embedded” we all are in the systems that sustain life on Earth, including the ocean. A change of paradigm and an evolved ocean narrative is required now to help develop new social norms that will, in turn, create new incentives for governments, the private sector, and individuals to practise sustainable behaviour.
#WetlandsDay #Tioman #MarineParks
References:
1. Hockings, Marc & Dudley, Nigel & Ellio, Wendy & Ferreira, Mariana & Mackinnon, Kathy & Pasha, Mks & Phillips, Adrian & Stolton, Sue & Woodley, Stephen & Appleton, Mike & Chassot, Olivier & Fitzsimons, James & Galliers, Chris & Golden Kroner, Rachel & Goodrich, John & Hopkins, Jo & Jackson, William & Jonas, Harry & Long, Barney & Yang, Angela. (2020). COVID-19 and protected and conserved areas. Parks. 26. 7-24. 10.2305/IUCN.CH.2020.PARKS-26-1MH.en. Link: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341823093_COVID-19_and_protected_and_conserved_areas
2. Laffoley, D, Baxter, JM, Amon, DJ, et al. Evolving the narrative for protecting a rapidly changing ocean, post‐COVID‐19. Aquatic Conserv: Mar Freshw Ecosyst. 2020; 1– 23. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3512