New Policy To Protect Island And Marine Parks On The Cards
According to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid, 40 islands around Malaysia, including Sipadan Island, will be gazetted as marine parks. The new policy will also prevent marine parks and islands from being destroyed by tourism activities.
DUNGUN, Aug 6 (Bernama) — The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry is in the process of formulating a new policy to prevent marine parks and islands from being destroyed by tourism activities.
Its Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said the policy was expected to be tabled in the Parliament early next year for implementation the same year.
“The Marine Parks Department, to be established soon, will be responsible for the formulation of the policy. Once completed, it will determine the direction of tourism development on 40 islands that will be gazetted as marine parks,” he told reporters after launching a book on forest ecology diversity at Bukit Bauk, here Sunday.
He said the policy, among others, would touch on the maximum number of tourists that would be allowed to visit an island at any given time, types of development and construction that can done on these islands, as well as seabed preservation.
“We do not want massive development being carried out on these islands. The tourists are here not for the development but to see the natural beauty and the coral reefs around them,” he said.
He said the policy was needed to prevent incidents like the destruction of coral reefs at Sipadan Island from being repeated.
Source: Bernama