Sabah beaches cleaned up to make a stand on climate change

KOTA KINABALU: At the stroke of 10.10am people from all walks of life stormed two beaches in Sabah to mark a global commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emission. They cleaned up the popular Tanjung Aru beach here and the beach of Kampung Sinakut in east coast Lahad Datu, as part of a worldwide event yesterday aimed at creating awareness on issues pertaining to climate change. The rubbish collected was arranged to form the number ‘350’ to signify the campaign’s objective of calling for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from its current unsafe level of 390 parts per million to 350ppm – or less. The trash was later taken to recycling plants.

The two beaches were chosen as venues for the event to highlight their vulnerability to rising sea levels resulting from climate change. Kampung Sinakut is also the site of a planned 300MW coal-fired power plant. Organisers of the Malaysian event rallied under the banner of Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future) to join some 7,000 global work parties across 175 nations to state their stand at precisely 10.10am on Oct 10, 2010. Green SURF – comprising five NGOs – was the only Malaysian environmental group that registered with the international network 350.org to hold the global event.

Green SURF is made up of Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP), WWF Malaysia, Sabah Environmental Protection Asso­ciation (Sepa), the Sabah branch of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and Partners of Community Organisations (Pacos). The five NGOs came together after the Federal Government announced the construction of the coal plant at Kampung Sinakut on the shores of a famous coral triangle. In mid-August, the federal Department of Environ­ment rejected the de­­tailed environmental impact as­ses­s­­ment for the proposed project.

Green SURF spokesman Cythia Ong deemed the Sabah event a success as it gathered people with the common hope of creating greater awareness about the importance of the environment and the climate issue. “We decided to sign up for it (the global work party) as our coalition was formed to oppose the proposed Kampung Sinakut coal-fired power plant. “Reducing carbon emissions is very much part of our agenda,” Ong said. “We have not let our guard down, we are still watching development over the matter,” she said, adding that Green SURF would continue to bring awareness among the people about environmental issues.
-thestar online.