Mabul island's environmental warriors: Fighting back against destruction

 By Olivia Miwil - March 2, 2024 @ 12:57pm

Nur Aina Ghalib said Mabul Island is known for its coral reefs and pristine sea. It used to have abundant coral reefs, but they were destroyed due to human activities such as fish bombing and overfishing.- Courtesy pic (Nur Aina Ghalib)

SEMPORNA: Many might think that Nur Aina Ghalib is fortunate to grow up in Mabul, a beautiful and renowned island that many dream of visiting.

However, the 23-year-old is a living testimony to the impacts of overpopulation, mass tourism, the proliferation of resorts, destructive fishing methods, and climate change.

"Mabul Island is known for its coral reefs and pristine sea. It used to have abundant coral reefs, but they were destroyed due to human activities such as fish bombing and overfishing.

"Climate change has also contributed to the death of these reefs. This phenomenon has also affected the islanders," she said, noting that rising sea levels have affected their water supply.

She said Mabul islanders used to depend on well water for drinking and cooking.

However, they now have water with high salinity, as seawater has seeped into the well, said Nur Aina.

According to an impact survey report by the non-governmental organisation Green Semporna, the local community, most of whom earn less than RM500 monthly, faces a severe shortage of clean water.

They are compelled to purchase water daily from island resellers or mainland sources, incurring monthly costs ranging from RM150 to RM300.

With a growing population of about 4,000 islanders, Nur Aina said the island also witnesses more rubbish being thrown into the sea.

"Perhaps they have no environmental awareness, but it could also be due to the fact that they have no other choice but to discard their waste as the island has no proper waste disposal system."

However, Nur Aina has not given in to these issues but instead chose to be part of the solution providers on the island.

In 2020, she joined Green Semporna's IKLIM project to address climate change adaptation off Mabul Island.

"One of our projects is to install 50 rainwater harvesting tanks for 100 houses.

"Now, we are also putting a lot of effort into looking after our island, especially the threatened coral reefs.

"Some of our youths are trained to scuba dive and have started replanting corals here," she said, with 25 of them involved in the project.

From last year up to last month, the team has deployed hundreds of various forms of artificial reefs and three coral nursery tables to the seabed for coral propagation.

Apart from maintaining those corals, the team also engages in periodic monitoring of the coral bleaching survey on the island.

"We, as members of Pemimpin IKLIM Mabul, play our own roles to adapt to the problems on Mabul Island.

"We would like to thank the support and funding from Reef Check Malaysia, Green Semporna, and CIMB Bank for conducting those programs."