Earth Matters

The Macaranga #TanahAir Special Project looked at how governance in Malaysia is impacting humans and nature, as well as the related concerns and actions. Ultimately, the question this series wanted to answer was: Are Malaysia's solutions real, when it comes to tackling issues surrounding the climate, ecosystems and pollution? We speak to Wong Siew Lyn, the co-founder of Macaranga, Affendi Yang Amri, a coral reef ecologist from the University of Malaya, and Dr Ng Shin Wei, the Project Manager of the Penang Green Council, about these three interlinked environmental issues, focussing on how it impacts our survival, and whether our decision makers are actually making decisions that serve the rakyat.

Image credit: Macaranga and Shutterstock

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Plastic plastic everywhere - it's in practically all the packaging we normally use, from household cleaning products to food packaging, and everything in between. Though the BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) movement has gained traction, most Malaysians still have a long way to go, in terms of living up to the Reuse Refill and Reduce principles. One small company that has been helping Malaysians reduce their plastic waste is KitaRefill, a refill station which sells everything from environmentally-friendly laundry detergents to insect repellent in bulk - all you need to do is bring your used containers, and fill up what you need from their store. We speak to Clytia Wong, the founder of KitaRefill, to find out more about what KitaRefill has to offer, and to debunk myths about the refill system. Clytia also shares the difficulties social enterprises like hers face in maintaining environmentally-conscious businesses, with little support from the others.

Image credit: Facebook / KitaRefill

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It's been an eventful past few days – we saw Budget 2023 being tabled on the evening of 7th October, and parliament then being dissolved a few days later on the 10th of October. Though we'll have to wait until after GE15 to see a new tabling of the Budget, we nonetheless still want to dissect Budget 2023, and discuss if conservation of the environment was prioritised in a meaningful way, and what gaps there are that could be filled for its next post-GE15 tabling. Joining us to do that is Thing Siew Shuen, a Senior Programme Manager at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, who will also share what Greenpeace would like parties to prioritise and include in their manifestos in relation to environmental conservation, ahead of GE15.

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Malaysia's Budget 2023 will be tabled in parliament on the 7th of October, and finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz has said that it will prioritise environmental sustainability and sustainable financing of the economy. Ahead of this, we spoke to three Malaysians working in the environment and conservation field, about their wishlist for Budget 2023. We caught up with Dr Sheeba Chenoli, a meteorologist and senior lecturer from the Department of Geography at the University of Malaya, who is also part of the team behind Bite-Size Climate Action, to hear her thoughts on why we need to spend more on flood preparedness. Then we hear from naturalist Andrew Sebastian, the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of the Ecotourism & Conservation Society Malaysia, who among other things, shares his hopes for more financing to be allocated towards compensating states to maintain their forest reserves, by the Federal government. Finally Dr Louisa Ponnampalam, the Chairperson of the MareCet Research Organisation, speaks to us about her hopes that all the many plans already in place receive the funding they need, to protect our marine ecosystems from further destruction and degradation. 

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By IUCN estimates, over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications. At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. The International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) takes place every September, where volunteers around the world come together to clean beaches and waterways of trash - a global effort that has been running for more than 35 years. In Malaysia, the campaign is coordinated annually by Reef Check Malaysia, and this year, volunteers collectively removed over 1000 kg of trash in one day alone! What makes up this waste, and what were the main culprits in this year’s cleanup? What more can be done by all levels of society, to prevent waste - plastic or otherwise - from reaching our oceans and waterways? We discuss this and more in another episode of Plastic Soup on Earth Matters, with Theresa Ng, a Programme Development Manager at Reef Check Malaysia.

Image credit: Facebook / Reef Check Malaysia

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The Baram Heritage Survey is no ordinary scientific study. Instead of sending in grad students, the team from the Borneo Project have hired indigenous village-based field technicians to collect comprehensive wildlife, land use and social data for the very first time. Why indigenous communities? Well they know the context, language, and what every sign and sound they come across means, and  have what no university can teach: intergenerational ecological knowledge. The Borneo Project, SAVE Rivers and Keruan Organisation have now launched the Baram Heritage Survey Atlases, the culmination of more than two years of work conducted by Penan and Kenyah communities in the Baram River Basin. The 90-page atlases document how important the forests are for community life and reveal an incredible abundance of rare, threatened, and endangered species that thrive in Indigenous-managed territories. We find out more from Jettie Word, the Director of The Borneo Project, and Fiona McAlpine, the Project manager for the Baram Heritage Survey.

Image credit: Borneo Project

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It's that time of the month, where we speak to environmental journalism portal Macaranga's co-founders, Law Yao Hua and Wong Siew Lyn, for a recap of conservation-related news, from the month past. This month, we've had floods on our minds a lot, with floods already happening in parts of the country, and a looming lawsuit against DBKL and the FT Ministry over their flood mitigation plans - or lack thereof. We also discuss the sand mining projects over in Sabah that residents say are destroying the environment, and being carried out without the necessary EIA approval, and then the First Conference on Climate that was held at Parliament at the start of the month. Looking ahead, we have National Environment Day coming up at the end of October, and discuss what's in store there, with Yao Hua and Siew Lyn.

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How can Malaysians normalise sustainable living practices, and aim for a zero waste way of life? With lots of help of course, especially from the good folks at Zero Waste Malaysia, who have been championing this environmentally-friendly lifestyle, while showing proof that it's achievable. They are set to present their 3rd Zero Waste Festival after two years, called "Under the Stars: Zero Waste Festival, and we find out more from Zero Waste Malaysia's Khor Sue Yee (Co-founder and Director) and Jasreel Lim (Head of Finance & Business Development).

Image credit: Zero Waste Malaysia

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Strong community recycling programs can contribute to a healthy united community, and are building blocks for sustainable growing communities. Pejabat ADUN Bukit Gasing has started the Waste Separation and Recycling Initiative in all sections of the Bukit Gasing constituency, allowing residents to separate recyclables and non-recyclables, and they also have an ongoing cash-for-thrash scheme. We find out all about it from YB Rajiv Rishyakaran, the ADUN of Bukit Gasing. 

Image credit: Rajiv Rishyakaran

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Clean air is a basic human right, but air pollution has become one of the greatest environmental risk factors for human health. Exposure to air pollution is a leading global health risk which causes ill health and millions of premature deaths each year worldwide. A recent report titled “Different Air Under One Sky: The Inequity Air Research” published by Greenpeace India, estimates that 100% of the population in Malaysia live in areas with air pollution levels that are above the World Health Organisation’s guidelines for safe air quality. Risks are not evenly distributed amongst the population, with some groups of people at greater risk of harm. We discuss this and other key findings from the report, including the need to have real-time information about the quality of the air we breathe, with Heng Kiah Chun, a Greenpeace Malaysia Campaigner, and Yung-Jen Chen, a Greenpeace Global Air Pollution Unit Senior Campaigner.

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