Earth Matters

Dr Melvin Gumal recently won the Whitley Award for Conservation in Ape Habitats. The conservationist tells of the research, documentation and education to protect the orang utan in Sarawak’s Batang Ai National Park and Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary.

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Organic food in China has a relative short history, but farmers, government and development agencies are paying attention. AnLong Village, outside of ChengDu is a successful model of smallscale organic farm. Li Ming-Jiu from Chengdu Urban Rivers Association tells us more.

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Over the last few years, climate change has become one of the main topics of international negotiations and is now being identified as one of the greatest challenges humankind has ever faced. With Dr. Gary Theseira from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, we discuss Malaysia's strategies to reduce greenhouse gases.

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With the growing demand for timber how will the industry be satiated without destroying the environment? Koo shares on the initiatives and certification processes to protect the environment and to meet the needs of the wood-based industries.

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As we celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend, let us not forget that every animal out there has a mother too. Our mothers comfort, fed and protect us. Animal mothers do the same, but in ways that we might find disgusting or even extreme. Today we learn how mothers of elephants, beetles and spiders care for their children in the wild, and what makes us different from them.

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More than 6 million people in the Klang Valley are impacted by the water rationing exercise being carried out. It started in March and is carried on into April. There is a threat that it might last the whole year. S. Piarapakaran of the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia joins us to provide some insight.

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Dr Ponnampalam was a recently announced recipient of a2014 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, specifically to conduct new research in Malaysia’s dugong population. Focusing on the islands located off the east coast of Johor in Peninsular Malaysia, Dr Ponnampalam’s research will identify areas that are critical for one of the country’s last remaining population of dugongs in order to make recommendations for their habitat protection. 

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The Selangor Forestry Department has announced that 106.65 hectares of four forest reserves are proposed to be degazetted to make way for the Kuala Lumpur Outer Ring Road (KLORR). The Selangor State Park, which the KLORR will cut through, contains vital water catchment areas for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Leela Panikkar and Christa Hashim of Treat Every Environment Special (TrEES) explain further.

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Adam Minter is a veteran journalist and son of an American junkyard owner, whose book “Junkyard Planet” takes readers on a journey through the vast, often hidden, multibillion-dollar trash trade industry. We find out more about this industry, which is fast transforming economies and the environment and discover why it might be a good idea to be smarter about the way we take out our thrash.

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We spoke to Rhamis Kent, a Permaculture/ Ecosystem Restoration Consultant & Educator, about the rapid growing interest in sustainable development and permaculture. Rhamis shares with us his experiences working on a number of different permaculture projects across the Muslim world from Somalia and Yemen to Jordan. He also discusses his hope to bring to the attention of the investment community an aspect of the emerging sustainable economy that has yet to be seriously considered for significant financial support.

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