Earth Matters

The folks at Zero Waste Malaysia continue to work towards building a waste-free future for Malaysia, with a mission to drive social and systemic change for our country. The group has been keeping busy, and just last month - which was Plastic Free July- saw the team collaborating with Hara Makers where they launched a 10-metre-tall installation made with 3 tonnes of plastic bags at community space, Parc @Subang Ria. They are also busy working on The Trashpedia Outreach Programme, an immersive recycling collection activity which encourages clean and proper waste segregation, where they invite the public to bring their clean and dry recyclables to learn as a community, and foster a powerful catalyst for action. We find out more about it from Khor Sue Yee, the Co-founder and Director of Zero Waste Malaysia. 

Image Credit: Zero Waste Malaysia

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Though they registered officially in 2020, the Gibbon Conservation Society or GCS has been running since 2013, marking 10 years of hard work to rescue and rehabilitate gibbons in Malaysia. Gibbons are an endangered species and are threatened primarily by loss of their forest habitat, but also other factors like the illegal wildlife trade, the use of their body parts in Chinese medicines, and poaching. The group have had many exciting developments this past year, including the historic birth of Axel, the first-ever gibbon baby born at a rehabilitation project in Malaysia, in July 2023. We catch up with Mariani Ramli aka Bam, the President and Founder of GCS, who started the project in 2013 with her own savings, and also Dr. Susan M. Cheyne, the Co-Director of Borneo Nature Foundation International, the Vice-Chair for the IUCN Primate Specialist Group Section on Small Apes, and an advisor to Gibbon Conservation Society. Susan will also share more about her work in protecting endangered gibbons through the IUCN, and also the importance of multi stakeholder collaboration in conservation.

Image Credit: Stephanie Theresa, Infinim Creative Productions / Gibbon Conservation Society

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Earlier in May 2023, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned us that we were leaving an "exceptionally long La Niña weather phenomenon that intensified drought and flooding" and that El Niño, its warming opposite in the cycle, would likely be on the cards for 2023. That indeed happened in July, and while these are natural phenomenons, it is also taking place against a background of human-induced climate change, which is increasing global temperatures, affecting seasonal rainfall patterns, and making our weather more extreme. So what lies in store for Malaysia? Past occurrences of El Niño here brought hotter and drier weather, causing dams to dry up, and subsequent water rationing exercises for the public. Are we headed for a water crisis, or are we better prepared now? We discuss this and more with Aznie Rahim, the Principal Assistant Secretary for Water Resources, at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC), and Law Yao Hua, the Co-Founder of Macaranga.

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State elections are just around the corner, and #UndIklim-Selangor 2023 is a campaign to present to voters the direct stand of each candidate on matters pertaining to climate action, conservation of natural resources, good governance and more. A joint effort between Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia (GDIMY) and Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM), it is part of a citizen education series to encourage Malaysians towards mature democratic action and thinking. We speak to Kennedy Michael, the Co-Founder and Communications Coordinator Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia (GDIMY) and Lead Coordinator of #UndIklim-Selangor 2023, to find out more.

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With state elections just around the corner, we catch up with Adam Farhan, the co-founder and director of environmental watchdog RimbaWatch, to suss out how the six states that are heading to the polls have been doing on the environment-front - with a special focus on deforestation - and what voters should consider when choosing their state representatives. Adam also sheds light on a recent report RimbaWatch released that highlighted gaps in PETRONAS's Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050 (NZCE 2050) pathway towards achieving net zero future ambitions.

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TRAFFIC - the wildlife trade monitoring network - have been working with Pos Malaysia for the past four years to help the postal service better detect wildlife in the mail, which is a massive problem worldwide, with people and businesses using mail and courier services to send live wild animals and their parts and products to customers. We speak to Renee Yee, a Training and Capacity Building Officer with TRAFFIC, to find out more about this illicit trade, and some of the crazy smuggling methods people use, but also how the training with the postal and courier services provided by TRAFFIC has helped tackle the illegal trade of wildlife.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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For our monthly roundup of environmental news from the month of July, we tackle Ecological Fiscal Transfers, ship-source pollution and its impacts on our maritime environments, and the illegal trade of wildlife, with the co-founders of environmental journalism portal Macaranga, Law Yao Hua and Wong Siew Lyn.

Image Credit: Afrianto Silalahi / Shutterstock

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Tak Kenal Maka Tak Cinta is our monthly tourism-themed series on Earth Matters, which aims to highlight lesser-known ecotourism spots right here in Malaysia. Done in collaboration with the Ecotourism & Conservation Society Malaysia (ECOMY), we want to take you back to the great outdoors, and experience the many off-the-beaten-track nature spots our country has to offer. This month, we're heading to Kedah, to visit places like Taman Eko Rimba Bukit Wang, Air Terjun Bukit Perangin, Pedu Lake, Ulu Muda and more, with our guide, Andrew Sebastian, the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of ECOMY.

Listen to our previous episodes in the series:

Episode 1: Kuala Tahan

Episode 2: Pulau Bangau in Teluk Intan

Episode 3: Bukit Batu Putih in Port Dickson

Episode 4: The Sultan Iskandar Marine Park & More

Episode 5: Merapoh

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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It's International Tiger Day on the 29th of July, celebrated annually to raise awareness for tiger conservation. In Malaysia, we are still fighting tooth and nail to protect the critically endangered Malayan Tiger, our symbol of national pride, and the apex predator in our forests. With stats putting their numbers at less than 150 left in the wild, what more can we do to keep them in the wild, for generations to come? We discuss this and more with Christopher Wong, the Tiger Lead for WWF-Malaysia, while also discussing recent cases of Human-Tiger Conflict (HTC) and what more can be done to foster coexistence instead. 

Image Credit: WWF-Malaysia

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Rising more than 1000m above sea level on the Titiwangsa Range, and straddling the Pahang-Selangor border, Fraser’s Hill is a highland rainforest area that is a popular ecotourism getaway for many, and affectionately known as the little England of Malaysia. There are rumblings that Fraser's Hill might be turned into a state park - though the idea is very early in the development stage - and to brand around 83,000 hectares of land as the Fraser's Hill Forest Complex. What are the pro's and con's of turning the area into a state park, and what considerations must be taken into account before this idea is executed? Two concerned and long-time residents of Fraser's Hill, Nik Jassmin Hew and Sean Yap, who are also the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson respectively of Persatuan Alam dan Warisan Bukit Fraser (PAWBF), join us to share their concerns and ideas.

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