Sabah shoreline management plan (Borneo, Malaysia): Ecosystems and pollution

Abstract

The management of the coastline around Sabah (Borneo, Malaysia) faces numerous conflicting interests from the public, private and industry groups. The public demands socio-economic growth, sustainable development and preservation of natural resources while the private sector and industry demand local coastal protection and often reckless development. Subsequently, there are numerous multi-disciplinary conflicts across user groups, over the use of coastal resources. To resolve these issues the creation of a management plan for Sabah's coastline has been initiated. A baseline was established from historical investigations, data collection and using a combination of visual inspections and photos. Understanding of the physical, chemical and biological processes involved as well as the dynamics of the integrated processes and a holistic impact assessment is also required. To do so numerical models were used to integrate available information and knowledge and to hind-cast and now-cast conditions and predict the consequences of different development scenarios. In some cases the models results needed further detailed analysis in combination with specific knowledge on local habitats to determine the impacts. The focus of the paper is on the integration of information, but some details are also given on the important conflicts and habitat threats.