Earth Matters

The UN Conference of Parties (COP) 25 which was held last year in Madrid, Spain, was deemed as a failure by many. Both activists and experts who attended observed that there has never been a bigger disconnect between “what the science requires and negotiations delivered in terms of meaningful action.” What went wrong? Kingsley Goh and Tan Cai May, who represented the Malaysian Youth Delegation at COP25 in Spain, joins us to share their experiences and takeaways from the Conference, and to outline the key outcomes and failures of COP25.

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Creating Future-Proof Cities is a publication that aims to serve as a practical guide to individuals, communities and cities to step up action to curb the rise of global temperatures and adapt to future norms. The book also aims to demystify the climate crisis and prescribes a localised response, using Penang, Malaysia, as a case study. We find out more from the authors of the book, Murali Ram and Rexy Prakash Chacko.

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Celebrated every year on the 2nd of February, World Wetlands Day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on the same day in 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Wetlands are vital for humans, for other ecosystems and for our climate, providing essential ecosystem services such as water regulation, including flood control and water purification. The worrying thing is that they are disappearing three times faster than forests due to human activities and global heating. For a quick 101 on why wetlands are so important, we revisit past interviews with Associate Professor Catherine Yule, an aquatic biologist, and also with Dr. Ahmad Aldrie Amir, the coordinator of the Malaysian Mangrove Research Alliance and Network (MyMangrove).

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Flying foxes are giant fruit bats, and are one of the most threatened groups of bats in the world, with their numbers declining sharply due to hunting and habitat loss. They play a critical dual role in forest maintenance and regeneration as pollinators and seed dispersers, and are particularly important for pollinating durian trees. Rimba’s Project Pteropus has been working on flying fox conservation in collaboration with PERHILITAN since 2012, and this collaboration has resulted in a Conservation Roadmap which serves as a guidance document for flying fox conservation in Peninsular Malaysia. We find out more about this from Dr. Sheema Abdul Aziz, the Principal Investigator of Project Pteropus.

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The unprecedented and catastrophic bushfires in Australia have killed more than 25 people, burned hundreds of thousands of hectares of land, caused massive devastation to wildlife, ecosystems and the environment, and destroyed hundreds of homes. Even as the world tries to grapple with the enormity of the crisis, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been facing mounting criticism over his government's climate policies and their handling of the crisis. A new misinformation campaign has also been spreading around the claim that the bushfire crisis is the fault of arsonists, seemingly an attempt to dispel the role of climate change in the crisis. We speak to Christine Milne, a former Senator for Tasmania and leader of the Australian Greens, to get the 411 on the crisis.

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Last year, the world woke up to the climate emergency. Many of us were also jolted by the global report by the International Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, which details how humans have dramatically reconfigured life on the planet. With around one million animal and plant species now threatened with extinction, many within decades, how do we decide on what species to save, and how do we get past "apocalypse fatigue" so that we are inspired to act? If 2019 was the year of awakening, is 2020 the year we finally see concrete action against climate change? We discuss this and more with naturalist and environmentalist Andrew Sebastian, the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of the Ecotourism & Conservation Society Malaysia (ECOMY).

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We revisit some of the best interviews from Earth Matters, from 2019. On this episode, we look at the climate crisis, and whether ASEAN’s approach to address this global crisis is moving quickly enough, and in the right direction.

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Seagrasses are submerged flowering plants with deep roots that are found in meadows along the shore of every continent except Antarctica. Although they get little attention, seagrasses are a vital part of the marine ecosystem - per hectare, seagrasses can store up to twice as much carbon than terrestrial forests. Sadly, they are among the world’s most threatened ecosystems, with annual global loss of around 1.5%. We discuss this marine powerhouse with Dr Jillian Ooi, a teaching and research academic at the Department of Geography at the University of Malaya, who is also part of Team Sea Habitats, which studies the functional role of seagrass meadows and coral reefs in the South China Sea.

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Wildlife crime is big business. Run by dangerous international networks, wildlife and animal parts are trafficked much like illegal drugs and arms. Though almost impossible to obtain reliable figures for the value of the illegal wildlife trade, experts at TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, estimates that it runs into billions of dollars. What role does corruption play in all of this? We speak to Elizabeth John, a Senior Communications Officer with TRAFFIC, to discuss how corruption facilitates wildlife crimes here in Malaysia.

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With the reduced cost of renewable technologies and rising innovation, mini-grids are a growing opportunity in emerging markets, one which is already reducing fuel consumption, lowering emissions and driving energy access. Estimates show that to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030, 40 percent of all installed capacity will have to come from mini grids. Ayu Abdullah is the Regional Director for Southeast Asia at Energy Action Partners, who specializes in leading collaborative efforts to improve access to sustainable energy. She joins us to help us understand mini-grids better, and to discuss the The Minigrid Game, a tool she co-developed to help rural communities collaborate with project developers to design a renewable energy minigrid that serves the needs of their community.

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