Money actually does not solve problems in river rehabilitation. Instead, continuity, consistency and persistence matter, writes ecosystem restoration activist Kennedy Michael.
RIVER degradation is a persistent challenge in rapidly urbanising Malaysia. Governance fragmentation, public disengagement, and infrastructural bias keep undermining ecosystem health. But long-term, community-driven, volunteer-led river ecosystem restoration and sustainability education provide a solution.
For over 390 consecutive weeks since 2018, the Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur, communities have looked after the 5km stretch of Klang River in their area.
(Feature pic: Community power matters more than money in river rehabilitation | ART!)
Anchored by the Alliance of River Three (ART!) and operated by Community Action Nexus Berhad (CANB), these regular rather than episodic interventions, saw biodiversity return and governance start to be enacted through presence, repetition, and trust.
This approach recognises rivers as socio-ecological systems requiring not only technical intervention but also cultural, educational and behavioural transformation.
It also reduces, if not eliminates the potential for corruption to affect and influence the outcomes of the effort. We observe that corruption or the suspicion of corruption in governance has a substantial impact on the destruction of river ecosystems and their remediation.
This is also a different approach from conventional river rehabilitation programmes which have largely prioritised engineering and beautification. As a result, many interventions deliver short-term aesthetic gains without systemic change.
We have found that social processes, ecological complexity, and long-term stewardship are the foundation of effective and successful urbanised river ecosystem restoration.
Headstream protection
This is critical for the stretch of the Klang River in Taman Melawati as it is where the headstream is, lying as it does in the upper reaches of the river catchment.
Ecological degradation here has cascading downstream impacts, including sedimentation, pollution and flooding in central Kuala Lumpur.
The area has itself also experienced multiple flood events in recent years. This has intensified community awareness of river-street connectivity.
Beyond simple clean-ups
What is interesting about volunteer participation in the ART!/CANB model is that it transcends conventional clean-up activities.
Weekly Gotong Royong Education by Action (GREduAction!) sessions integrate physical interventions at the river with group reflection, knowledge exchange and community building. This reframes volunteerism as civic learning and co-governance, rather than altruism.
In fact, volunteers function as citizen scientists, environmental monitors, community educators, and restoration actors. This blurs the boundary between expert and layperson, fostering ecological literacy and local ownership.
Collaboration with SMK Taman Melawati embeds Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within formal schooling, enabling students to apply curricular knowledge in real environmental contexts.
Beyond the formal education system, the annual Little River Festival operationalises ESD through place-based learning.
Participants engage with real-world systems such as hydrology and flood dynamics, biodiversity and ecosystem services, waste flows and circular economy principles, and the arts as a tool to teach science.
Why separate?
For the Festival rejects the separation of art and science.
Murals, installations, sketching, and performances translate scientific data into visual and emotional narratives. By situating art along riverbanks and streets, ecological knowledge becomes public pedagogy—accessible beyond academic or institutional boundaries.
Last year’s (2025) theme, ‘From the River to the Streets’, explicitly visualises the connectivity between drainage systems, daily behaviour, and river health.
What’s more, the Little River Festival operates as a platform, not a single-actor programme. Collaboration spans communities, businesses, schools and educational institutions, artists, scientists, local authorities and governments, and international organisations.
Youth participation is structured through leadership pathways rather than token engagement. The Youth Enablement for the Sustainable Development Goals (YESDG) Rangers model at SMK Taman Melawati positions young people as Sustainable Development Goal implementers, communicators, and organisers.
This contributes to intergenerational continuity and long-term movement sustainability. The vision for the YESDG Rangers is that this year’s pioneer cohort will form and lead the Kelab Alam Sekitar/ Kemampanan/ Tindakan Iklim.
They would be trained as Peer-to-Peer Educators for their juniors and students from other schools in the Gombak District. This will continue over the next 4 years into 2030 where Form 1 Students this year will graduate as full fledged YESDGs Activists, Educators and Enablers.
Where ecosystem health is concerned, long-term observation shows the persistence and gradual return of biodiversity within the Taman Melawati river corridor, challenging assumptions that urban rivers lack ecological value.
The discovery of terubol and sebarau at the midstream last October is a testament to the slow pushback by native species to re-habituate the local river. Encouraging line fishing to remove alien and invasive fish species over the last 5 years has resulted in this. This is coupled with the persistent prevention of illegal release of alien and invasive fish.
Riparian vegetation, aquatic organisms, and habitat complexity are framed as functional infrastructure providing flood mitigation, water filtration and thermal regulation.
This reframing strengthens public and policy support. However, there are pockets of ignorance and selfishness at both public and government level that contradict our restoration efforts.
Zero-waste township
At the same time, the long-term objective developed and implemented by ART! of transforming Taman Melawati into a zero-waste, sustainable township by 2030 positions river restoration as a catalyst for broader urban transformation.
As part of this project, participants are introduced to self-regulation actions that include setting a zero food waste target for the project and upcycling soft plastics.
This serves to overcome the myth that soft plastics and potato crisp wrapping foil packaging cannot be upcycled.
How Other Communities Can Use The Art!/CANB Model
Step 1: Start with one place, one day a week
Step 2: Combine action with learning
Step 3: Build informal governance first
Step 4: Use art to translate science
Step 5: Engage youth as leaders
Step 6: Align with the SDGs pragmatically
Step 7: Grow partnerships organically
Step 8: Mark milestones with public events
The ART!/CANB model demonstrates that river ecosystem restoration can serve as a powerful integrative platform for sustainability education, climate action, and community transformation.
By embedding art, science, and volunteerism within long-term governance structures, this model is replicable when grounded in persistence, creativity, and collaboration.
From the river to the streets—and from local action to global relevance—this case affirms that sustainable futures are built not only through policy and infrastructure, but through communities learning, creating, and acting together.
Kennedy Michael is an ecosystem restoration activist and founder of Alliance of River Three and Community Action Nexus Berhad, as well as founding member of Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia. The Little River Festival thanks Persatuan Swadaya, Lorong Seni@Jalan Negara Kita, KL SketchNation, Jakob Van Klang, Adrenaline Multimedia Productions Sdn Bhd, SMK Taman Melawati, Dr. Jagdave Singh a/l Avtar Singh, Port Cetak, MPAJ, The Habitat Foundation, Justine Vaz, Patrick Lee, Dr. Azlinda Saadon, Dr. Nor Faiza, Michelle Tan and Syuen Toh.
[Edited by SL Wong]
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