How Tanjung Kepah is Bringing Back its Vanishing Coast - and Its Mangroves

A coastal village reverses decades of erosion through science, community involvement, and sustained restoration. Pak Jamil has lived in the coastal village of Tanjung Kepah for most of his 62 years of life. He remembers a time before the erosion, when the shoreline extended much further and the mangrove forest was thick. Restoration efforts came and went, well-intentioned, but ultimately unable to endure. That changed when Wetlands International Malaysia introduced the permeable wave screen. Built from bamboo, the screen mimics the mangrove ecosystem. It tempers incoming waves while allowing sediment accumulation to rebuild the shore. Crucially, rather than importing expertise and moving on, the Tanjung Kepah Mangrove Action Project embedded itself in the community. Local villagers like Pak Jamil are made the primary caretakers of the screen and lead mangrove replanting efforts. In under a year, seedling survival has climbed from nearly zero to almost 70%. For the first time in nearly two decades, the coastline and the mangroves are coming back.