Earth Matters

Dr. Jane Goodall is considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees. Her extensive research into the behaviour of chimpanzees, which first started in Africa in the 1960s, is said to have fundamentally altered scientific thinking about the relationship between humans and other mammals. We caught up with her to discuss how a young Englishwoman winded up revolutionizing primate science, her journey from naturalist to activist, her work with the world's youth to address the climate crisis, and how she stays hopeful in even the most trying of times.

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The orangutan is an iconic primate which inhabits the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra. Over the past several decades however, its habitat has been cleared and encroached upon, with one of the most serious threats being the clearing of their forest homes for palm oil plantations. We discuss the threats and challenges facing orangutans today, and whether certified sustainable palm oil is the way to ensure their survival in the wild, with Michelle Desilets, the Founder and Executive Director of the Orangutan Land Trust, who has been working in orangutan conservation for over 25 years.

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MyForest Watch was launched back in 2017, and looks at Malaysia’s natural heritage, our forests, and how non-state actors - non-governmental organisations, civil societies, local communities, the private sector and the public – can inform and change policies towards better forest governance. We find out more about this five-year project from Dr Hum Gurung, who is the Regional Coordinator for the Project, and Prof. Dr. Ahmad Ismail, the Project advisor and President of the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS).

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Pig-tailed macaques have a bad reputation as crop raiders, widely regarded as a pest in agricultural crops, including oil palm. But a new study shows they only cause only relatively minor losses in palm oil yield, and more importantly, they actively search for rats, a major oil palm pest. So are macaques acting as a biological pest control in oil palm plantations fringing their forest habitat? We speak to Dr Nadine Ruppert, a senior lecturer and zoologist at the School of Biological Sciences in Universiti Sains Malaysia, and the corresponding author for this study.

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If you're lucky enough, you might spot an Oriental Pied hornbill flying around Taman Rimba Kiara in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. You can also catch sight of other species of birds like Brahminy Kites, Crested Goshawks, and this past week, you might have even seen flocks of Purple-backed Starlings. This small and threatened urban park is an ideal ground for bird watching, and is teeming with other wildlife, insects and plants. We find out more about what this small park has to offer, from Roselyn Chuah, an avid birdwatcher and Taman Rimba Kiara nature blogger, who has been documenting the flora and fauna found in the park since 2014.

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Clean air is a basic human right, but a lot of people are deprived of it. Two thirds of the cities in the world with adequate air quality data are suffering from dangerous levels of pollution, and this is having a significant impact on human health. So how exactly is it impacting us, and what can be done about it? Joining us to discuss this and more is Karine Leger, the Managing Director of Airparif, the air pollution monitoring network for the Paris region.

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Since their launch in April 2016, The Lost Food Project has been working to rescue food, reduce waste and fight hunger in Malaysia. The organisation was recently appointed as strategic partners of Yayasan Food Bank, and they have also been working with the government on the Food Donor Protection Bill 2019, which was approved by the Dewan Rakyat last week. Ahead of World Food Day this Wednesday, The Lost Food Project’s Founder Suzanne Mooney joins us to discuss the implications of this legislation, and the impact it could have on "feeding the hungry, not the landfill" in Malaysia.

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Dr Jean McNeil is a novelist, poet and essayist, and was writer-in-residence with the British Antarctic Survey for a few months, and has since made several trips to the Antarctic region and to the Arctic. Her memoir and polar travel narrative "Ice Diaries" was named as one of the best nature books by The Guardian in the UK in 2018. She joins us to discuss her experiences as a writer in Antarctica, its flora and fauna, and her witnessing of the profound changes taking place in the polar regions, and what they mean for the rest of the world. We will also discuss if fiction authors should consider factoring climate change into their work.

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Dr Jean McNeil is a novelist, poet and essayist, and was writer-in-residence with the British Antarctic Survey for a few months, and has since made several trips to the Antarctic region and to the Arctic. Her memoir and polar travel narrative "Ice Diaries" was named as one of the best nature books by The Guardian in the UK in 2018. She joins us to discuss her experiences as a writer in Antarctica, its flora and fauna, and her witnessing of the profound changes taking place in the polar regions, and what they mean for the rest of the world. We will also discuss if fiction authors should consider factoring climate change into their work.

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A lifelong campaigner for the people of Sarawak, Peter Kallang, the chairman of the SAVE Rivers Network, was very recently honoured with the 2019 Seacology Prize, for leading a successful campaign to halt the construction of the Baram Dam. The prize is awarded to people for protecting island environments, and Peter is the first Sarawakian and the second Malaysian to receive this honour, for his work through the Save Rivers Network. He joins us to share more about his work in supporting and championing indigenous communities and their rights across Sarawak and beyond.

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