Earth Matters

It's hazy again - the air is smoky, visibility is down, and in some parts of the country, the air quality has reached dangerous levels. Fires across Indonesia, particularly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, are sending smoke across Southeast Asia once again. What's doubly worrying is that they are burning through one of the world's largest tropical peatland ecosystems. We've been living through and talking about Southeast Asia’s haze problem since the 1990s, we’ve had agreements, action plans, firefighting operations and repeated promises to tackle the problem at its source. Yet here we are again. Back in 2015, during one of the region’s worst haze episodes, environmental researcher Dr Teckwyn Lim sent a memo to Indonesia’s then-president Joko Widodo. Its title was simple: “Block the Drains, Stop the Haze.” The argument was that we need to look beyond the fires themselves, and ask why these landscapes are able to burn in the first place. So, eleven years on, what have we learned? And are we still dealing with the same underlying problem? Teckwyn, who has worked in the peatlands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, joins us to share more. 

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A plan to protect one of Sarawak’s remaining rainforest landscapes has instead ended with a major timber concession over the same forests, according to a new report about the Upper Baram. For years, Penan and other Indigenous communities in the region have pushed for their forests to be protected through what began as the Penan Peace Park and later became the Baram Peace Park. The idea eventually became a government-backed project with international support. But the report, Plundering the Baram Peace Park, says that while this conservation project was being developed, a major timber concession was granted over the same forests, and the project was eventually cancelled. So how did a community-led conservation vision reach this point, and what happens to the forests and the people who depend on them now? We explore this with Lerroy Lemen, a Penan representative from Long Lamai in Baram and a member of the grassroots organisation Keruan, and Tanja Meier, a campaigner with the Bruno Manser Fonds, which is behind the report.

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For August 2026's episode of Nature Reads, we speak to wildlife photographer, author, conservationist and Head of Outreach at Roots & Shoots Malaysia, Peter Ong. Together with co-host Surin Suksuwan, co-founder of Sunda Shelves, we explore the books and people that shaped Peter's interest in nature and conservation, including the influence of renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall, before diving into his own books: Wang Kelian, Perlis – The Forgotten Valley, Primus – The Primates of Peninsular Malaysia and his latest work, Nakawan – The Living Soul of Perlis. We also chat about the relationship between photography and writing, the role of storytelling in conservation, and how books can help us see Malaysia's natural world in new ways.

Nature Reads on Earth Matters is a monthly show where we explore the stories behind books that bring us closer to nature and the world around us, done in collaboration with independent bookstore Sunda Shelves.

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The haze is back. For the past few days, many of us have been waking up to that familiar smell, hazier skies and air that we're really not supposed to be breathing. While the immediate question is where the smoke is coming from, there's a bigger question here: why, after decades of haze crises, are we still dealing with this? We look at what's driving this latest haze episode, revisit some of Malaysia's worst haze years, and ask whether we've actually learned anything from them with Heng Kiah Chun, Country Representative of Greenpeace Malaysia, who's been following and campaigning on this issue for years. 

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Across Southeast Asia, there's a familiar tension between economic development and environmental protection. Governments talk about growth, companies talk about investment, while communities often find themselves fighting to protect the forests, rivers and land they've depended on for generations. A new Human Rights Watch report, Grabbed Land, Silenced Justice, looks at what happens when those communities push back. Drawing on more than 50 cases from across Indonesia, it argues that Indigenous leaders and environmental defenders have increasingly found themselves facing criminal investigations and prosecutions after raising concerns about land rights and environmental harm. As Indonesia marks 81 years of independence on the 17th of August 2026, we explore the report, the people at the centre of it, and what lessons it holds for the wider region, with the report’s co-author, Andreas Harsono, who is also a Researcher with Human Rights Watch.

Image Credit: © 2024 Andreas Harsono/Human Rights Watch

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Rice is a staple food for millions of Malaysians, but a proposed field trial in Perak is raising questions about how we grow it, and who bears the risks when new technologies are introduced. The trial involves genetically modified MR219 rice that has been engineered to tolerate glyphosate, as well as resist certain bacterial and fungal diseases. But 61 organisations representing farmers, consumers and environmental groups are objecting to the trial, citing concerns about the increased use of herbicides, possible genetic contamination of conventional and wild rice, and the lack of clear legal protection for farmers if their crops are contaminated. They also point to concerns about potential impacts on soil and paddy biodiversity, as well as the fact that some toxicological data for this particular GM rice is still unavailable. So, how serious are these concerns, and what could this field trial mean for Malaysia's farmers, food system and food sovereignty? We get Nurfitri Amir Muhammad, a trained microbiologist who is doing his own rice farming, and who is also the coordinator of the Malaysia Food Sovereignty Forum, to help break it down for us. 

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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We marked International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on the 9th of August, a day to recognise Indigenous cultures, communities and their ongoing struggles for rights and recognition. In Sarawak, few issues are more fundamental to those struggles than land. The documentary Long Moh takes us to the Kenyah Lepu Tau community in Ulu Baram, where people are defending their ancestral forest from logging while creating their own community-led approach to conservation. But aside from one village's story and struggle, it's also about who gets to decide what happens to ancestral land, and what Indigenous-led conservation and development can look like. We catch up with filmmaker Albert Bansa to discuss his own story and roots in Sarawak, what led him to tell stories about Indigenous communities and their relationship with the land, and also to dissect his film “Long Moh” and the bigger questions behind it.

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Eight years ago, two neglected riverside dumpsites along the Klang River became the starting point for an ambitious experiment. The idea was simple: if people came together consistently to care for these places, could nature recover? Today, those spaces have become thriving community parks teeming with biodiversity, and what started as a grassroots restoration effort has grown into GREduAction!, a weekly initiative that combines ecological restoration, environmental education and community action. Spearheaded by Alliance of River Three or ART! we speak to co-founders Kennedy Michael and Syuen Toh, to explore what eight years of working alongside nature has taught them, and to share the challenges of sustaining a grassroots environmental movement over the long term.

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It's easy to imagine that the climate crisis is still years away, but for many young Malaysians, it's already shaping everyday life, from getting to school safely and dealing with extreme heat, to worrying about floods, their wellbeing and what the future might hold. A new National Youth Climate Change Survey by UNICEF Malaysia and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability paints a sobering picture of how climate change is affecting young people today, but it also highlights their resilience, their hopes and their desire to be part of the solution. Joining us to unpack the findings are two youth activists in their early 20's, Athirah Azlan, Youth Participation and Advocacy Coordinator at UNICEF Malaysia, and Chok Jia Xuan, Field Liaison & Community Engagements Officer at MARECET.

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Every year, Global Tiger Day reminds us of the urgent need to protect one of Malaysia's most iconic and critically endangered animals, the Malayan tiger. But protecting tigers isn't just about saving a single species, it's about protecting entire forests that are home to countless other plants and animals, many of which we still know surprisingly little about. That's exactly what researchers have discovered in the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve in Pahang. A scientific expedition has uncovered a potentially new species of stream toad, rediscovered a frog not seen in over a century, and documented an extraordinary range of biodiversity that's helping scientists better understand one of Peninsular Malaysia's newest protected landscapes. We find out more from Dr. Ahmad Zafir, Programme Director at The Habitat Foundation and Scientific Expedition Lead for the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve, together with Mohd Abdul Muin Md Akil, Lead Researcher from Universiti Sains Malaysia, whose discoveries during the expedition include the rediscovery of the Robinson's sticky frog and a potentially new species of stream toad.

Image Credit: Gunung Aais © Ahmad Amir - The Habitat Foundation

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