Sungai Sugut villagers to photograph river under conservation project

1 A group photo of Water Voice participants with WWF-Malaysia officers and HSBC volunteers.2 Water Voice participants comparing photos with each other during the practice session.3 Kasinin Basir sharing his photos with fellow Water Voice participants.

KOTA KINABALU: Over the next three months, some 16 villagers from 13 villages along Sungai Sugut in the Ranau district will be recording how important the waterway is to them.

Using loaned digital cameras, the volunteer photographers will document how the villagers use river and tributaries in their daily lives as part of the World Wide Fund for Nature – Malaysia (WWF-Malaysia)’s Water Voice event.

WWF Sabah Conservation head Bernard Tai said the initiative was part of an effort to understand local communities’ perspective on rivers.

“This is the key to forming cohesive collaboration for freshwater conservation,” he added.

Speaking at the launch of Water Voice event in Kampung Singgaron Baru in Ranau on Thursday, Tai also said that the participatory photography programme was a good method to capture and document the villagers’ dependency on the river and its tributaries.

“These communities that live next to the river and depend on it for everyday use volunteered as participants.

“Pictures speak volumes. Photographs captured and compiled by local communities will be used for community consultation on freshwater conservation strategies with policymakers,” Tai said.

Water Voice was sponsored by HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd through its Corporate Sustainability programme.

The volunteers, using digital cameras, were taught basic photography skills by a WWF-Malaysia expert prior to capturing photos on their own.

HSBC Corporate Sustainability head Jessica Tang said the bank had partnered WWF-Malaysia for over a decade on various initiatives.

“We believe that all of us have the responsibility to protect and conserve our rivers because our lives depend on these waterways,” she said.

“Participation of local communities is vital in ensuring the success of any of our initiatives for improving the management of our rivers,” Tang said.

Prior to its launch in Ranau, Water Voice has been tried and tested in the Universiti Malaysia Sabah campus by its students in March.

The public will have a chance to view the images captured by UMS student volunteers and Ranau communities in a coffeetable book and at a photography exhibition at the end of this programme.

The Water Voice programme is part of a three-year freshwater ecosystem conservation project by WWF-Malaysia in Sabah.

This project aims to promote and support improved management of freshwater habitats within key river basins in Sabah’s terrestrial landscape, as well as to create awareness among civil society.