Tioman as a Sustainable Tourism Destination

This paper deals with Tioman Island and the possible environmental effects of infrastructure development on the island.

About Reef Check Malaysia

Reef Check Malaysia (RCM) was registered in Malaysia as a non-profit company in 2007, and since then has established an annual survey programme to assess the health of coral reefs around Malaysia. In the last twelve years RCM has trained over 900 divers to conduct reef surveys at over 200 permanent monitoring sites on coral reefs around Malaysia. RCM is also active in education and awareness programmes, and has a long term education programme for schools. Since 2010, RCM has established several Reef Rehabilitation programmes.

In 2014, RCM initiated its first community programme, the Cintai Tioman Campaign in Tioman, with funding from Yayasan Sime Darby. The goal of the programme is to build ecological and social resilience on the island, with particular emphasis on involving the local community in managing the islands’ reefs. In 2016, RCM started two new community-based projects. A project in Mantanani Island brings all the stakeholders together to establish a community-led marine managed area, leading to sustainable economic development on the island. We also joined Department of Marine Parks Malaysia as a project partner in The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund and UNEP-GEF grant to operationalise the Malaysian National Plan of Action for Dugong in Pulau Sibu and Pulau Tinggi, Johor.