Tag Archives: indigenous people

In-Depth

Tanjung Manis mangroves reviving thanks to community buy-in

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Tanjung Manis mangroves are reviving thanks to early community buy-in

Rehabilitating mangroves is slow and failure-prone, but in Tanjung Manis, Sarawak, indigenous communities make headway in close cooperation with an NGO. |  Photo: checking growth by Arieff Zafir

Writer: Liani MK  |  Photographer: Arieff Zafir
Editor: SL Wong
Cartographers: Louis Lugas and Irma Garnesia

Published: 23 September, 2026

This is a #BLUECARBON story, part of the Macaranga Project on Climate Disinformation and Indigenous People.

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How Pitas communities replant mangroves to reclaim their heritage

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How Pitas communities replant mangroves to reclaim their heritage

Mangroves are haltingly returning to land devastated by a giant shrimp farm, but for locals, recovering the forest is about more than planting trees; it’s a matter of heritage. |  Photo: a hurt land by Arieff Zafir

Writer: Liani MK  | Photographer: Arieff Zafir
 Editor: SL Wong
Cartographers: Louis Lugas and Irma Garnesia
File photos: Chen Yih Wen

Published: 23 September, 2026

This is a #BLUECARBON story, part of the Macaranga Project on Climate Disinformation and Indigenous People.

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Seletar aquaculture co-exists with, not harms mangroves

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Seletar Aquaculture Co-exists with, not Harms Mangrove

Aquaculture is synonymous with mangrove destruction, but the Seletar Orang Asli not only need the mangroves for their mussel farming, they developed tech based on how mussels lived in the wetlands  |  Photo: harvesting mussels by Aidila Razak

Writer: Aidila Razak  |  Editor: SL Wong
Data visualisation & Cartographers: Irma Garnesia and Louis Lugas

Published: 21 September, 2026

This is a #BLUECARBON story, part of the Macaranga Project on Climate Disinformation and Indigenous People.

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RM71 million spent to replant mangroves; at least half have died

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RM71 million spent on planting mangroves; at least half have died

Planting mangroves to save coasts and counter climate change is deeply flawed in practice, say scientists, though success increases when local communities are involved. | Photo of mangrove seedlings by Arieff Zafir

Writer: Aidila Razak  |  Editor: SL Wong
Cartographers: Irma Garnesia and Louis Lugas

Published: 21 September, 2026

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Read our #BLUECARBON Series

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Mangroves are are much better at combatting the climate crisis than rainforests. Yet they are being cut down faster than rainforests. So we need to protect and restore mangroves. But funding is perpetually short.

Enter blue carbon credits, which allows polluters to pay to maintain these natural carbon sinks. For one, the funding can go towards restoring mangroves that have been degraded and destroyed. But before we get into carbon credits, are current restoration efforts working? 

Read our #BLUECARBON investigation in 4 parts. Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

(Image: Indigenous planters head to a planting site; success rates are higher when communities are involved. | Photo by Arieff Zafir)

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Traditional Fisher-Guardians Test Meaning of Conservation

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Bajau residents of two islands in the Tun Sakaran Marine Park are battling eviction due to the lack of land titles, forefronting the tension between conservation and indigenous communities. Versions of this story were first published in The Star.

BEFORE dawn breaks over Pulau Sebangkat, Sabah, 36-year-old fisherman Mohd Gadafi Ahmad puts on a security vest, climbs into a boat and heads out to sea. His destination is not a fishing ground.

Instead, he patrols the waters around his island home in the Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TSMP), watching for fish bombers and other activities that could damage the coral reefs he has spent years helping to protect.

(Feature image: One last house remains standing on the coast after hundreds of Bajau islanders were evicted from Pulau Bodgaya in 2024; mango orchards were also partly cleared [left]. |  Image by Patrick Mosinoh Jr)

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Can Malaysia expand its busiest port without displacing a cultural icon?

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Malaysia is going full speed ahead with the proposed Carey Island port, suggesting work could start by September. But the island’s Indigenous Mah Meri still do not know how their villages and the mangrove forests which support their world-renowned culture — will be impacted. Story co-published with Eco-Business.

THE EVE of the Hari Moyang festival (Ancestor’s Day) is traditionally a family affair in Kampung Sungai Kurau, a village on the edge of Selangor’s Carey Island.

As twilight falls on 18 March, adults and children of the Indigenous Mah Meri community gather around hand-built wooden shrines in their gardens. They have spent hours weaving nipah palm leaves and gathering fresh flowers to decorate the shrines, no two of which are the same.

(Feature image: Using mangroves bounty, the Mah Meri community worship ancestral spirits on Hari Moyang in sanggar (shrines), both in the sea, with Westport visible, and within mangrove forests.   |  Image by Samantha Ho

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