AWAKENING TO THE BEAUTY AROUND
A young Sabahan is riding the big waves of international conservation to bring attention to the state of our marine ecosystem, writes Kerry-Ann Augustin
HE’S a difficult young man to track down. Most days, Muhd Adzmin Ab Fatta is on remote islands with little or no Internet access. While having such a feeble connection to cyberspace may be equivalent to death itself for other 23-year-olds, Adzmin is having the time of his life.
If he isn’t in his diving gear studying the underwater world off the coast of his native Sabah, you’ll catch him giving talks on marine conservation to schoolchildren, taking part in eco projects and doing paperwork in Reef Check Malaysia’s office. But for two whole weeks in September this year, Adzmin was neither in the water nor in the office or in schools.
The Semporna-born-and-bred environmental activist was travelling across the United States representing Malaysia as Youth Ambassador in the country’s Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), which focused on oceans.
YOUNG VOICES
“It was super awesome!” Adzmin says excitedly, recalling moments during the IVLP. “It was very inspiring to see all these other young people from different parts of the world come together to find out how we can change the fate of our oceans.”
The Sabahan was one of 25 youths from around the globe handpicked by the Institute of Environmental Education (IEE) and the US Department of State to join the programme, which brings together outstanding individuals in the field to discuss and address issues related to marine conservation.
The programme saw participants visit sites from Washington to California as well as meeting both governmental and non-governmental organisations involved in policies concerning wildlife protection and protected areas.
“It was a very important experience for me to build networks and relationships for a cause. It gave me so much motivation to work even harder,” he explains.
The highlight of his trip there, he adds, was attending the Our Oceans Leadership Summit, where academicians, environmentalists and policy makers, including the US Secretary of State John Kerry, were present. “Sometimes when you fight for a cause, it can feel very lonely. But meeting so many people who were championing the ocean gave a sense of belonging and hope that things can change for the better.”
LATE BLOOMER
His selection — to represent Malaysia on such a huge global stage — comes as no surprise. Adzmin had already proven himself a worthy candidate by representing our country at this year’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) for Generation Ocean in Jakarta and the Sea Earth Advocates (SEA) Camp in the Philippines.
“I wasn’t interested in marine conservation till I started volunteering after my STPM (Sixth Form exams),” Adzmin admits, adding that his first volunteering job was with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), where, as an assistant marine biologist, he brought divers out to look at marine life in Semporna. It was then that he came to realise how rich Sabah’s waters were in its marine biodiversity.
At the same time, however, he witnessed the destruction of the beauty he saw. “We have such amazing marine life here in Semporna but so much of it was also corals which were ruined by fish bombing. All around you could also see marine debris and rubbish ...bottles and plastic bags, everywhere!”
Adzmin, who grew up in Kampung Selamat within the Semporna Settlements in Tawau, begun to notice that the younger generation in his hometown were not aware or involved in any marine conservation movements.
“I felt it was a shame because there aren’t many places like Semporna in this world with this kind of biodiversity. Seeing all the marine pollution and dead corals made me realise that there was no ownership of what belonged to our generation,” he notes.
SEA WARRIORS
Barely a year after that life-changing experience and at age 20, Adzmin and his friend Rina Ismail founded Green Semporna, a community-based organisation dedicated to raising awareness on marine conservation among schoolchildren.
“When I think about it, there was no subject in school which taught us about the richness of our oceans,” he recalls. “There was no emphasis on why we have to take care of our ocean or how the health of our oceans has such a big impact on our daily lives, even though we grew up here,” he says, in reference to Semporna, a coastal town.
The duo targeted schoolgoing children as they felt younger people were more open to listening. “We want to mobilise them to learn about the importance of the ocean and how we, as the inhabitants, have to have a greater sense of responsibility to take care of our oceans,” he says, adding that he also saw a lot of potential to develop leadership skills among the youth in his community.
Since its inception in early 2013, Green Semporna has recruited many young volunteers who have been involved in talks, beach clean-ups and other projects, including the Borneo Eco Film Festival and the most recent, Project RAW: Mangrove4U, an initiative which aims to educate the public on protecting mangroves.
BETTER TOMORROW
By now, the quality of the phone call to Adzmin is fast deteriorating as he attempts to find a stronger signal on the island of Mantanani, where he has been based for the past month.
His eloquent sentences are reduced to staccato-like sound bites because of the static and on occasions, the crackling noise makes it impossible for us to hear each other. But he pushes through.
“People from all over the world come to Malaysia just to see our beautiful and diverse marine life. But many of us who grew up here take all this for granted,” he says, sighing heavily.
“The combination of that and the lack of environmental education are perhaps the biggest reasons why many youth are uninterested in conserving the ocean. This is why we need to start raising awareness among the children and young people first.”
The line may have been poor but his passion and enthusiasm for what he does was definitely the most audible part of the conversation. Kerry.ann@nst.com.my
“Seeing all the marine pollution and dead corals made me realise that there was no ownership of what belonged to our generation.”
Muhd Adzmin