Our work in LKSW

Our work strengthens community agency and practical stewardship by supporting locally led platforms such as village associations and cooperatives that enable inclusive participation (including women and youth), strengthen governance, and coordinate planning, documentation and implementation. Through these platforms, communities and partners advance community-based conservation, sustainable livelihoods and build the enabling systems needed including renewable energy access.

Guided by the Management Plan’s recognition of community use areas around villages, we also support locally legitimate governance through community protocols and conserved-area approaches drawing on Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) and ICCAs/Territories of Life to make customary stewardship visible and strengthen co-management across the wider landscape and seascape.

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The core area of the Ramsar site consist of 78,803 hectares of protected area complex governed by the Sabah Forestry Department and home to diverse and unique forest habitats which serves as critical habitat for several of  Sabah's threatened and endangered species such as Borneo Pygmy Elephants, Orangutan, Proboscis Monkey, Sun Bear, Banteng, Sunda Clouded Leopard, Turtles and Irrawaddy dolphins and birds species. Located between terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystem. The interplay of both ecosystems and internal processes makes the site conditions highly dynamic and very important for the spawning and shelter for marine life and provide ecosystem benefits to over a million people in fishery, agriculture, and tourism across three districts.

The site is also home to indigenous and local communities comprised of eight villages who depend on the resources within the Ramsar site and inherited unique traditional ecological knowledge passed down from their ancestors. With growing global impetus towards collaborative governance and management of natural resources, all stakeholders are co-governing and managing the site to sustain this special places among Sabahans.

Forever Sabah has been facilitating The Lower Kinabatangan Segama Wetlands Programme since 2015 upon mandate from the Sabah Forestry Department to increase community participation and roles in conserving the Ramsar site and using the resources sustainably and promoting highly participatory approach with all stakeholders concerned.

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The programme focuses on the following activities which are in-line with the management plan of the core area namely:

‍Sustainable Livelihoods

In accordance to the management plan, Forever Sabah facilitates the development of sustainable sources of livelihoods to reduce pressure on marine and terrestial resources and diversify sources of income such as community-based tourism, sustainable fisheries, farming and small enterprises to address poverty so that communities can also play their role in supporting conservation of the wetland. Efforts to improve basic necessities such as renewable energy and clean water is an important enabling factor to the improved wellbeing of communities. The programme works with the SabahRe2 project to pilot community managed solar PV system and productive end use of renewable energy through establishing cold storage facility, meeting ice needs for fishermen and diversify income of women households.

‍LMMAs/ICCAs

The management plan of LKSW recognizes that the surrounding areas of the villages within the LKSW Ramsar site are subjected to community use. Hence,community protocols for natural resource governance and management at the community level is necessary to support the overall management of the site. Forever Sabah works with the resident indigenous and local communities in partnership with local and international organizations to strengthen capacity, peer learning, exchanges and grassroots processes to develop protocols around Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMA) and Indigenous Community Conserved Area(ICCA). Both of these approaches is internationally recognized as a key way forward in co-management of natural resources for sustainability and long term well-being for people and nature.

‍LKSW- Ramsar Citizen Science Initiatives

The Ramsar is a very remote and the environmental conditions makes it highly dynamic and somewhat complex to understand. Since the local communities are at the forefront of witnessing environmental change and being the first to be impacted by it, Forever Sabah drives citizen science initiatives for communities to document their local knowledge and equip them with tools to collect field data that can be useful for the community and all stakeholders concerned. 

Supported by various orgnizations, the programme is building capacity and implementing socio-economic studies, water quality and its affects on fisheries, forest restoration in riparian forest, quantifying fisheries resources through a fish catch monitoring programme and co-exsitence greatapes in community forest including inventory of natural resources, community mapping and film-making activities.

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Get involved

We welcome partners who support community-led conservation, practical co-management, renewable energy access, and locally grounded monitoring systems. Contact Forever Sabah to explore collaboration opportunities.

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