Co-developing Riparian Buffer Planning: Insights from a Community Mini-Workshop in Sabah

On 6 May 2026, we conducted a focused mini workshop with local communities in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to gather input on the Riparian Decision Tree (RiTREE), a planning tool designed to guide decisions on riparian buffer widths. This session marked an important step in ensuring that community perspectives are meaningfully integrated into the tool.

Between 2016 and 2021, a series of meetings, multi-stakeholder workshops, and collaborative discussions brought together scientists, government departments, the oil palm industry, and civil society organizations. These efforts led to the development of the RiTREE, which provides standardized guidance for determining riparian buffer widths. The tool builds existing regulations and is underpinned by scientific evidence, offering recommendations that go beyond minimum requirements set by the Sabah Water Resources Enactment (SWRE) 1998.

The study was conducted in close collaboration with Sabah government agencies, including the Sabah Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) and the Sabah Environmental Protection Department (EPD), alongside the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP), the University of Kent, and academics involved in systematic conservation planning analyses. For the community and domestic-use aspects of the project, we collaborated closely with PACOS Trust, whose experience working with local communities provided important context and perspectives for the workshop discussions. This project was funded by the Newton-Ungku Omar Fund, and delivered by the British Council and the Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT).

Bringing Community Voices into RiTREE

This mini-workshop focused specifically on community-related and domestic use within the RiTREE. We took a more direct and participatory approach, inviting communities to engage with the tool itself and provide targeted feedback.

Participatory mapping exercise, where the participants indicate preferred buffer widths in different contexts. Photo: Chiew Li Yuen, 2026

Participants worked through a series of interactive activities, including interpreting landscape scenarios and reviewing the RiTREE framework. Using a custom-designed map, participants explored how riparian buffers might be applied across different land uses and determining the priority of rivers. A key outcome of the workshop was the recognition that community knowledge is essential for making RiTREE practical and applicable on the ground. These insights will directly inform revisions to the community-related components of the RiTREE, ensuring that the tool is not only scientifically robust, but also socially relevant and implementable.

This workshop represents one step in an ongoing process to refine the RiTREE and strengthen riparian buffer planning in Sabah. By bridging scientific research with local knowledge, we aim to support more effective and sustainable approaches to managing riparian ecosystems in Sabah.