Earth Matters

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP27 - has concluded. Were there wins from this set of climate negotiations, or were they just another set of never-ending theoretical discussions? We speak to Malaysian activist Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar, the chairperson of Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY), who was in Sharm el-Sheikh for the talks, to get a youth perspective of what went down at the negotiations, and to also discuss the civil society demands and collective COP27 demands from the Indigenous People of Malaysia, that were delivered to the official  Malaysian delegation. 

Image Credit: Instagram/Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar & Shutterstock

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Research shows that the environment and climate change is a top issue for young people around the world, as youths will be the most affected by climate change and biodiversity loss. With many young, first time voters heading to the polls this GE15, how can youths concerned about climate change drive both their activism and their participation at the ballot box? We discuss this and more with Natasha Zulaikha, a Conservation Scientist and the Co-founder of Coralku.

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Greenpeace Malaysia recently conducted a study ahead of GE15, scraping Malaysia's Parliamentary Hansard from 2018-2022, and using more than 100 environmental keywords.  The results showed that questions with environmental keywords only surfaced about 8.4% of times over the last four years - clearly showing our leaders are not prioritising a holistic and meaningful approach to dealing with environmental crises. We speak to Thing Siew Shuen (Senior Program Manager, Greenpeace Southeast Asia) and Margo Prebenda (Regional Research and Investigation Coordinator , Greenpeace Southeast Asia) about the findings of this study, and how Malaysians can use this information to vote for the environment in GE15.

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Come December, The UN Biodiversity Conference, the Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will take place, and the main objective of the Conference is to adopt the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Since March this year, we've been collaborating with the good folks from Reef Check Malaysia on this series called Biodiversity for Malaysia, a monthly segment which aimed to get everyone on the same page when it comes to all things biodiversity-related, especially on issues surrounding the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 framework process, the 30X30 target, and more. On this penultimate episode, we do a recap of everything we've spoken about over the last few months, to remind folks about what's at stake, and why we should care when it comes to protecting and preserving our rich terrestrial and marine biodiversity. Helping us to do that are Julian Hyde (General Manager, Reef Check Malaysia) and Jasmin Mohd Saad (Policy Consultant, Reef Check Malaysia).

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Methane emissions account for roughly 25 percent of current global warming, and contribute to climate-related threats including more intense and frequent heat waves and flooding, food insecurity, and poor air quality. According to Malaysia’s third biennial update report to the United Nations, methane emissions contributed 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016, with its major source being fugitive emissions from the oil and gas industry. Where does Malaysia’s biggest opportunities for tackling methane emissions lie in, and why is it crucial to reduce these emissions? We discuss this and more with Dr Shareen Yawanarajah (Director, Global Energy Transition, Environmental Defense Fund), Dr Stefan Schwietzke (International Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund) and Dr Helena Varkkey (Project Lead, "COP26 Global Climate Pledges: Promoting Transparency, Public Engagement and Progress on Methane Emissions in Malaysia").

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Current estimates put the global tiger population at around 4,500 individuals, having plummeted from the 100,000 tigers estimated at the start of the 20th century, and they are currently found in less than 6% of its historical range. The situation doesn't seem to be getting any better, as detailed in the recently released report titled, Skin and Bones: Tiger Trafficking Analysis from January 2000 – June 2022, which points to no let-up in tiger trafficking in the last couple of decades. This new study by TRAFFIC revealed that authorities worldwide have seized tigers and parts equal to an average of 150 tigers a year over almost 23 years, with seizures in the first half of this year signalling the relentless pursuit of remaining wild tigers. We speak to Kanitha Krishnasamy, a co-author of the report and the Director for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia, who sheds more light on the findings of this study, and expands on the issues contributing to this illegal trade of tigers and tiger parts.

Image Credit: TRAFFIC

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Recent revelations of licences issued for rock quarrying within the Bukit Lagong Forest Reserve (BLFR) have raised more than just eyebrows among environmental conservation groups and the public alike. Many have called on the Selangor state government to address concerns surrounding the establishment of 27 quarries in the Bukit Lagong Forest Reserve, but already across the Rawang/Kuang area, quarries have greatly scarred the landscape in many places leaving no trees. So how could these constitute parts of the forest reserve, and what is really going on here? We find out more from Peter Leong, a researcher/activist for various green conservation causes, and Rosli Omar, a wildlife photographer and former lecturer at the University of Malaya. Both are long-time environmental activists and members of Friends of Bukit Kiara, and they also share how these new quarrying projects will impact this ecologically sensitive area with both high conservation and high biodiversity value.

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It's that time of the month, where we catch up with the good people from environmental journalism portal Macaranga, for a round-up of the top environmental news of the month past. For October's round-up, we speak to Macaranga co-founder Law Yao Hua, and discuss three main topics - firstly, the many issues surrounding quarrying plans for the Bukit Lagong forest reserve, secondly, the Central Forest Spine public outreach exhibition that was organised by the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia together with the state Forestry Departments of Johor, Pahang and Perak that was held last week, and finally some pre-elections talk on whether the green agenda is on the list of candidates and parties contesting in GE-15.

Image Credit: Shutterstock and Wikimedia / Creative Commons

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Ambassador Ken O’Flaherty is the COP26 Regional Ambassador for Asia-Pacific, Caribbean and Small Island Developing States. He worked closely with governments, business and civil society across the region to boost climate action ahead of the COP26 Leaders’ Summit which took place in Glasgow last year, and continues to do so, ahead of the upcoming COP27. He joins us to share more about his reflections of the outcomes of COP26 from last year, his hopes for the upcoming talks in Sharm El Sheikh, and also the main priorities and challenges in Asia and the Pacific, with regard to climate action.

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It's a familiar tale here in Malaysia: a sprawling, thriving rainforest, cleared for development or plantations. Despite pledges to protect our intact forests made on the international stage, back home, we still keep hearing of more forests being degazetted or earmarked for development. In this case, the site in question used to be part of a forest reserve in the Chini-Bera forest complex, home to Orang Asli communities, and a wide array of wildlife too, cleared and developed for a new palm oil plantation. But now, as environmental journalist Law Yao Hua puts it - all that remains are silty logging roads, winding across the shrubby landscape. With many questions surrounding this new palm oil plantation being raised - including the likelihood it would fail Malaysia’s mandatory sustainability certification for oil palm - who is this project set to benefit, really? We speak to Yao Hua about this three-part story that he produced and published on Macaranga, done in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network.

Image Credit: Macaranga

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