Earth Matters

Our good friends from Zero Waste Malaysia return, this time to talk about the 30 Day Zero Waste Challenge which will encourage Malaysians to adopt more sustainable habits, one baby step at a time. This new community engaging project is supported by the Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA) and we find out all about what's in store from Zero Waste Malaysia's Khor Sue Yee (Co-founder and Director) and Jasreel Lim (Head of Finance & Funding and External Relations).

Image credit: Zero Waste Malaysia Facebook page.

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The message is clear - we only have a small window left to save the Malayan tiger. More than just a national icon, tigers play a critical role in maintaining the balance of our forest ecosystem. To know how many tigers still remain in Peninsula Malaysia and where, a definitive new survey is being carried out, and thousands of camera traps have been placed throughout the rainforest, providing a rare insight into what happens deep in our rainforests, but also the dangers that lurk within. The film "Malaysia's Last Tigers" which is set to debut on National Geographic, looks at the work behind Malaysia's very first National Tiger Survey and how this has galvanized action to save the Malayan tiger. We catch up with the film's directors and producers, Harun Rahman and Lara Ariffin, to discuss the film they made, and also to learn about the NGO called RIMAU which they set up, to help with the preservation of the Malayan tiger.

Image credit: Nuvista Media

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The message is clear - we only have a small window left to save the Malayan tiger. More than just a national icon, tigers play a critical role in maintaining the balance of our forest ecosystem. To know how many tigers still remain in Peninsula Malaysia and where, a definitive new survey is being carried out, and thousands of camera traps have been placed throughout the rainforest, providing a rare insight into what happens deep in our rainforests, but also the dangers that lurk within. The film "Malaysia's Last Tigers" which is set to debut on National Geographic, looks at the work behind Malaysia's very first National Tiger Survey and how this has galvanized action to save the Malayan tiger. We catch up with the film's directors and producers, Harun Rahman and Lara Ariffin, to discuss the film they made, and also to learn about the NGO called RIMAU which they set up, to help with the preservation of the Malayan tiger.

Image credit: 

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Gibbons provide one of nature's most enchanting concerts - welcoming the sunrise with their songs, as a way to mark their territories, celebrate unions and more. But their songs are being used by poachers as a means to track and capture juvenile gibbons for the wildlife pet trade, and coupled with habitat loss, gibbons are being pushed further into the endangered species list. The Gibbon Conservation Society have been working tirelessly to rescue gibbons who have been poached and kept illegally as pets, and to raise awareness and put a stop to the wildlife pet trade in Malaysia. We catch up with Mariani Ramli, the Founder of the Gibbon Conservation Society about their work and why proper rehabilitation for rescued gibbons is key to their survival.

Image credit: Pixabay

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As far as Dr Nurzhafarina Othman is concerned, to ensure the survival of Bornean elephants, people need to understand that we need to co-exist with them. An elephant ecologist and founder of NGO Seratu Aatai, Dr Farina and her team try to find ways for people and wildlife to co-exist peacefully, and to avoid human-elephant conflicts, both inside and outside of protected areas in Sabah. She joins us for a 101 on this smallest Asian elephant subspecies -  classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered - and to discuss her work towards ensuring their long-term survival.

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They have a head like a horse, a tail like a monkey, possess the ability to change colour like a chameleon, and to grow weed-like appendages on their body. On top of that, they are socially monogamous, the males are the ones who give birth, and seahorse babies are called "fry"! But across the world, seahorses are in trouble, threatened by habitat loss, and sold in a massive global trade, with tens of millions of them taken from the sea each year. Scientists say this can’t go on, or seahorses will severely decline, but are existing conservation efforts enough to save them? Here in Malaysia, a researcher is looking at how cultural practices can turn the tide in favour of seahorse conservation. Joining us to discuss this are Dr. Adam Lim, the Chairperson of Save our Seahorses Malaysia, and Wong Siew Lyn, who runs environmental journalism portal Macaranga.

Image credit: Shutterstock.

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 Project Reef Spawn was a winner of the North American Association for Environmental Education 30 under 30 Changemaker Grant 2021, and was developed to deliver effective environmental education, specifically for the marine environment. The project has three components, which included capacity-development for 12 selected youths through virtual and hands-on activities. Two of the youth who have completed the virtual part, Priyangka Gunasagaran and Muhammad Irfan Hazim bin Mowardi, join us to share more about the program, and discuss what they've gained from it, and how they will spread all the knowledge they’ve gained to others. We also discuss why it's important to have multiple stakeholders involved in solving issues about the environmental problems.

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The mission to keep Taman Rimba Kiara as a park that benefits all continues, as the Federal Court has allowed DBKL and the other parties involved to appeal against the quashing of the development order, and commence with an appeal to reinstate the development over a portion of the public park. We catch up with Hafiz Abu Bakar, the Chairman of the TTDI Residents Association, and Leon Koay, the Committee Coordinator of the Save Taman Rimba Kiara Working Group about this new development in the case. We also question why recommendations and objections submitted by the public were ignored by the authorities in the final decisions on the Kuala Lumpur City Plan 2020 (Alteration 3) (Part II), and the implications of the prospective loss of open space and conversion of institutional land to commercial use that this will bring with it.

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Over 45,000 formal objections, over 130,000 online signatures in protest, a huge turnout at the public hearing against the move, clear and unmistakable dissent from the communities of the Kuala Langat North forest reserve including the Orang Asli, huge public outcry from civil societies and the public in general, 56 representatives in the Selangor State Assembly voting unanimously to support a motion to protect all forest reserves in Selangor. Despite all this, the Selangor State Executive Council has unanimously decided to degazette part of the Kuala Langat North forest reserve - an 8,000-year-old peat swamp forest and one of the last in southern Selangor - for a mixed development project. We catch up with members of the Pertahankan Hutan Simpan Kuala Langat Utara (PHSKLU) coalition, Shaq Koyok, a contemporary orang asli artist, and Nicole Fong, a researcher and activist from Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY), to discuss this latest development, and also what might come next in the fight to protect this important forest from any form of development.

Image credit: Global Environment Centre

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In this month's roundup of environmental news with Macaranga's Wong Siew Lyn & Law Yao Hua, we remember and pay tribute to the late Balu Perumal, MNS's Head of Conservation, who passed away from COVID-19 in early August. We also remember those who lost their lives in the devastating floods in Kedah, and discuss whether logging and deforestation played a part in the devastation caused by the heavy rainfall. Finally, we look at how the banteng - the wild cattle of Borneo - are being poached to a point that their species might be wiped out altogether in the state, and efforts being put in place to stop their decline.

Image credit: Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Facebook, EPA-EFE & Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC)

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