Introduction

In order to address requirements of the Law of the Sea Convention Chap.17 of Agenda 21, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) should be practiced to ensure sustainable development. The Coastal Zone Management group hopes to assist and develop implementation protocols and application strategies to implement ICZM in this important Straits used for international navigation.

Objectives

The overall goal of the group is developing tools for the solution of management issues of the Straits of Malacca through Integrated Coastal Zone Management. Specific objectives to be addressed by the group include developing informatiom on the pollution sources, levels and pathways in a major river basin, developing GIS of the Straits of Malacca for oceanographic data, pollution, and development and land use pattern of the littoral states. Application of remote sensing techniques to update oceanographic, natural resource and pollution load both land and sea-based data. Develop GIS model on hazard and risk analysis oil spill and pollution dispersal information for managers of the Straits of Malacca. This group will also manage the databases generated by the other groups of the JICA-UPM Aquatic resources and Environment of the Straits of Malacca project so that the data can be readily available for planning and management applications.

Activities

The pollution control group is actively pursuing research into watershed land use pattern, development impact and pollution of the Klang River Basin. This study generate much needed information on land based pollution, sources of pollution and model the pollution pathways as the river meets the sea. A smaller study on the effects of pig farming to the coastal environment of Negri Sembilan has been completed. Information gathered during field survey will be fed into a model that will assist in the appreciation of the pollution process in the watershed, the river basin and the estuary as it empties into the coastal areas. For the Coastal Zone Management group, although the project is scheduled for third year of implementation, activities on collection and collation of land based pollution, river water quality and output to the coastal areas, ship borne oil and grease pollution detection, oceanographic data from the WDC and NODC’s, as well as historical datasets and through our marine scientific cruise. The group now have access to several computers operating several GIS softwares such as ArcInfo, Arc-View, SPANS, and other public domain software. The remote sensing facilities include ENVI, PCI software, printers, plotters, digitizers, scanners and a slide maker. A local area networking system is presently being developed to link all the systems together with a view of full connectivity to the world wide web in the very near future. This development of capability is with the view in the long term to develop a real time capability of dealing with pollution, response and management solutions to the issues of sustainable management of the Straits of Malacca.

Expected Output

Researcher