Environmental Action: Scuba Diving Club and AIESEC unite for beach cleaning initiative

Taking Action for a Cleaner Future - Taylor's Scuba Diving Club (TSDC) and AIESEC forged an innovative partnership to combat beach pollution. Volunteers completed cleaning and restored the original beauty of the coast within half a day.

On World Environment Day, in recognition of the criticality of safeguarding fragile ecosystems, Pantai Kelanang in Selangor served as the exclusive venue for the event held in June. Through this event, the participants aimed to uncover the true extent of shoreline pollution and promptly mitigate the threats it poses to marine life and ecosystems.

Forty-four volunteers gathered to take practical action to clean up the coast and contribute to the broader goal of Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action.

Dive Club President Jason Yap Wan Ern said, "This event can serve as a catalyst."

"The members of the TSDC Club are passionate about nature, mainly the oceans. This collaboration has raised awareness of the need to protect nature, especially the oceans."

Volunteers are cleaning up the garbage

Under the challenge of the scorching sun, the participants were divided into 7 groups to complete the task of taking pictures of the beach, which is popular on social media, to strengthen the connection. The organizers thoughtfully equipped the participants with rubber gloves and garbage bags to facilitate the cleaning effort.

Yap said: "We're really sad when we see the state of the beaches because Malaysians have relatively little awareness of protecting the ocean by reducing pollution to it."

In fact, over 10 bags of trash were collected during the hour-long cleanup, encompassing non-biodegradable plastic products, a significant number of cigarette butts, food packaging, and straws.

Plastic trash found on the beach

Siti Maisarah Binti Mohd Anuwarsani, director of the AIESEC club, said, "Plastic is the main garbage we find. It will affect marine life, especially their habitats and residences."

When talking about how beach cleaning is combined with SDGs, she said: "As we do online research, beach cleaning is one of the options that are aligned with SDG 13."

Garbage can travel across the world's rivers and oceans, accumulating on beaches and in oceans. Only when people are in the situation can they realize the danger is coming.

Yah said, "During our dives, in addition to the garbage gathering due to the direction of the current, we encountered some garbage left by people picnicking and camping on the beach, and we wanted to make a difference."

Promoting environmental protection has become an integral part of the dive club's goals. Yap said, "In addition to beach cleaning, our club organized coral propagation last year. Coral propagation and coral bleaching share a significant connection in addressing climate action."

All volunteers in the sunset group photo

The beach cleanup came to a successful conclusion with the setting sun. Moving forward, the dive club plans to organize coral propagation activities, safeguarding coastal environments through citizen action, driving positive transformations in Malaysia.