Earth Matters

Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia (GDIMY) have released a letter calling upon the Government of Malaysia at the federal, state and local levels to declare a Climate Emergency in Malaysia, by no later than 16 September 2022. The coalition has also outlined 12 specific demands, including one to initiate a rapid decarbonisation trajectory for Malaysia with the phase-out of fossil fuel and adoption of 100% renewable energy for electricity. We speak to Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar, the Chairperson of Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY) which is part of GDIMY, to discuss what exactly the coalition is calling for.

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The science is clear - we are pressuring the planet in more ways than one, 

causing unprecedented changes in climate and biodiversity, and mostly driven by human activities. All this combined increasingly threatens nature, human lives, livelihoods and well-being around the world. This Earth Day, the call is to "Invest in Our Planet" and for everyone to come together to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). So what can and should be done? Ahead of Earth Day on April 22nd, we discuss this and more with Zara Phang, a Sustainable Economy and Policy Analyst, at WWF-Malaysia.

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Last November, the good folks from Zero Waste Malaysia released the beta version of the Trash Encyclopedia, but this 23rd of April, the full version is set to be released, providing priceless information on 101 trash items - including day-to-day household waste, industrial waste and e-waste - and how to recycle them. We catch up with Khor Sue Yee, the Co-founder and Director of Zero Waste Malaysia to find out more. 

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The closure of Malaysia's international borders hit the local tourism industry hard, and almost decimated the ecotourism sector. Now that borders have reopened, we speak to two nature guides and ecotourism operators, Andrew Sebastian, the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of the  Ecotourism & Conservation Society Malaysia and Gwenda Gui, the Vice President of the Sabah Tourist Guides Association, about how the industry is preparing for the return of more international travellers, the necessary assistance from both state and federal authorities that would be helpful to ecotourism players to rebuild, and what ecotourism in the new normal might look like, for both local and international travellers. 

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In our new series, There's No Planet B, we want to share everything you need to know about the climate crisis. We previously touched on why we're in a climate crisis, and also the effects of the crisis. In this third episode, we want to explore climate governance - the processes involved in building global-scale climate solutions, and how these international policies are eventually created and supposedly executed. Yet despite having Protocols, Accords, COP's, Action Plans, Agreements etc. the dire warnings and scientific consensus have failed to enact much change for the survival of people and the planet. Why? We explore this and more with Dr Helena Varkkey, an Associate Professor from the Department of International and Strategic Studies at the University of Malaya, who is also part of the team behind Bite-Size Climate Action.

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We continue our monthly series looking at the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 framework process, and in this episode, focus on the recent meeting in Geneva to negotiate this framework. Many are reporting that the two weeks of negotiations to establish the draft of a new global deal to reverse the loss of wildlife and habitats were a “major disappointment,” after countries failed to agree on any new biodiversity targets. What happened in Geneva, and is there hope in reaching targets or even an overarching mission for the convention? We discuss this and more with Julian Hyde (General Manager, Reef Check Malaysia) and Jasmin Mohd Saad (Policy Consultant, Reef Check Malaysia). 

You can check out the first episode of this ongoing series here.

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Gunung Raya Forest Reserve is home to a diverse ecosystem, with wildlife such as great hornbills, black giant squirrels and island flying foxes, just to name a few. The mountain is 220 million years old and composed mainly of granite, and is a part of Southeast Asia’s first UNESCO Global Geopark, chosen because of its geological importance to the region. Recently though, locals have discovered impending logging and sand mining projects at this forest reserve, which could destroy one of Malaysia’s few protected sanctuaries for nature. We find out what's happening over in Langkawi, Kedah from Irshad Mobarak, a naturalist, conservationist, educator, and long-time resident of the island. Irshad also gives us an insider’s look at Langkawi's landscape, seascape, and rich geological history, and why the biodiversity in this area must be preserved and protected at all costs. 

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The proposed Maharani Energy Gateway project in Muar, Johor will involve creating three man-made islands covering an area of 1,295 hectares, and making it into an energy hub and deep-sea port. It's expected that the main activities involved in the reclamation stage for the man-made islands are the transportation of sea sand from Malacca, sand filling work, compaction, and bank revetment works. Sahabat Alam Malaysia recently assessed the quality of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project, and are of the opinion that it is far from adequate, and cannot be approved as it exists. Among other reasons, they cite legal and policy matters, loss of fishing grounds and hindrance of access to the sea for fisher groups, and a lack of a comprehensive economic valuation assessment and cost and benefit analysis. We discuss this and more with Meenakshi Raman, the President of Sahabat Alam Malaysia.

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For 50 years, WWF-Malaysia has worked with government agencies, businesses, communities, NGOs and individual supporters to protect nature, and as they themselves put it, to: "shape Our Future where people and nature thrive together." We catch up with Dr Henry Chan, WWF-Malaysia’s Conservation Director, for a look back at some of their many achievements, and a look forward to what they have in store for the years to come.

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As we close off the month of March 2022, we look back at some of the top conservation and environment-related news from the month past, with the co-founders of environmental journalism portal Macaranga, Law Yao Hua and Wong Siew Lyn.

On today's episode, we discuss the tabled amendments to the nation's Forestry Law and whether it will be binding to all states, before turning our attention to the rise in coastal reclamation projects across the country and whether its supposed economic benefits outweigh the social and environmental impacts of such megaprojects. Finally we take a look at SUHAKAM's upcoming report on transboundary haze, the need for the formulation of laws to tackle this problem, and how “the haze” is both an environmental and human rights issue.

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