Bfm :: Earth Matters

Indah Water Konsortium, Malaysia's national sewerage company has been entrusted with the tasks of developing and maintaining a modern and efficient sewerage system for all Malaysians. Providing crucial services to millions of households in the country, Indah Water is determined to keep building a sustainable business that contributes towards a cleaner, greener and healthier environment. How are they doing that? We speak to Narendran Maniam, the CEO of Indah Water Konsortium, to discuss the company's plans, especially how they are venturing into non-core business initiatives to support not just business growth, but the circular economy.

We have a new rebranded Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change, led by YB Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. What are among the issues that he should prioritise? We speak to two Earth Matters regulars, about what they hope the ministry will focus on, as we collectively tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. First we hear from Andrew Sebastian, the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of the Ecotourism & Conservation Society Malaysia (ECOMY), and in Part 2, we speak to Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar, the Chairperson of Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY) , and member of Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia (GDIMY).Image Credit: Shutterstock

The rebranded Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change will be at the forefront to address Malaysia's environmental issues, and the ministry combines natural resources, pollution control, climate change, and the water sector all under one roof. Described as a move towards more holistic environmental governance, the ministry will be led by Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. On the show, we speak to Celine Lim from Sarawak's Save Rivers, about what she feels the new ministry must focus on, when it comes to our natural environment in Sarawak.Image Credit: Shutterstock

Describing the work he does as “literally anything under the sun for sustainability," Abdul Razak Abdul Aziz, the founder of Social Eco Enterprise Development for Sustainability or SEEDS Malaysia, likes to get involved any way he can, working towards promoting a more ecologically-friendly lifestyle for us all. Together with his wife Intan and their family, they have been running a natural farming and sustainable living centre in Klang since 2017, and Razak believes that when it comes to farming, "it’s all about the soil - brown, living soil.” It was World Soil Day on the 5th of December, and we catch up with Razak about his work in permaculture, sustainable living and discuss ways we can all become “soil-mates” towards a greener future.Image Credit: Facebook/SEEDS Malaysia

In our penultimate roundup for 2022, we catch-up with the co-founders of environmental journalism portal Macaranga, Wong Siew Lyn and Law Yao Hua, to discuss top environmental news from November 2022. Most Malaysians were focussed on GE15 this month, and the intense campaigning around it. But were conversations on prioritising the environment and the climate crisis also part of those discussions, from both the competing candidates, and civil society? November also brings monsoon rains to the country - have we learned lessons on how to cope with increased incidences of flooding, which seem to be getting more intense? Finally we turn our attention to the 19th Conference of the Parties to CITES which was held in Panama this month, and discuss the highlights from negotiations on the most important issues facing the trade in endangered species of animals and plants.Image Credit: Shutterstock, Wikimedia/Creative Commons, 123RF/masuti & CITES

The 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – COP27 – was meant to build on the outcomes of COP26 to deliver action on an array of issues critical to tackling the climate emergency. Were these critical issues - urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions, building resilience, adapting to the impacts of climate change, delivering on the commitments to finance climate action in developing countries - met? We catch up with Meenakshi Raman, the President of Sahabat Alam Malaysia and the Head of Programmes at the Third World Network to discuss key outcomes, or lack thereof, from this set of negotiations.Image Credit: Shutterstock

The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP27 - has concluded. Were there wins from this set of climate negotiations, or were they just another set of never-ending theoretical discussions? We speak to Malaysian activist Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar, the chairperson of Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY), who was in Sharm el-Sheikh for the talks, to get a youth perspective of what went down at the negotiations, and to also discuss the civil society demands and collective COP27 demands from the Indigenous People of Malaysia, that were delivered to the official  Malaysian delegation. Image Credit: Instagram/Ili Nadiah Dzulfakar & Shutterstock

Research shows that the environment and climate change is a top issue for young people around the world, as youths will be the most affected by climate change and biodiversity loss. With many young, first time voters heading to the polls this GE15, how can youths concerned about climate change drive both their activism and their participation at the ballot box? We discuss this and more with Natasha Zulaikha, a Conservation Scientist and the Co-founder of Coralku.Image Credit: Shutterstock

Greenpeace Malaysia recently conducted a study ahead of GE15, scraping Malaysia's Parliamentary Hansard from 2018-2022, and using more than 100 environmental keywords.  The results showed that questions with environmental keywords only surfaced about 8.4% of times over the last four years - clearly showing our leaders are not prioritising a holistic and meaningful approach to dealing with environmental crises. We speak to Thing Siew Shuen (Senior Program Manager, Greenpeace Southeast Asia) and Margo Prebenda (Regional Research and Investigation Coordinator , Greenpeace Southeast Asia) about the findings of this study, and how Malaysians can use this information to vote for the environment in GE15.

Come December, The UN Biodiversity Conference, the Fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will take place, and the main objective of the Conference is to adopt the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. Since March this year, we've been collaborating with the good folks from Reef Check Malaysia on this series called Biodiversity for Malaysia, a monthly segment which aimed to get everyone on the same page when it comes to all things biodiversity-related, especially on issues surrounding the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 framework process, the 30X30 target, and more. On this penultimate episode, we do a recap of everything we've spoken about over the last few months, to remind folks about what's at stake, and why we should care when it comes to protecting and preserving our rich terrestrial and marine biodiversity. Helping us to do that are Julian Hyde (General Manager, Reef Check Malaysia) and Jasmin Mohd Saad (Policy Consult

Methane emissions account for roughly 25 percent of current global warming, and contribute to climate-related threats including more intense and frequent heat waves and flooding, food insecurity, and poor air quality. According to Malaysia’s third biennial update report to the United Nations, methane emissions contributed 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016, with its major source being fugitive emissions from the oil and gas industry. Where does Malaysia’s biggest opportunities for tackling methane emissions lie in, and why is it crucial to reduce these emissions? We discuss this and more with Dr Shareen Yawanarajah (Director, Global Energy Transition, Environmental Defense Fund), Dr Stefan Schwietzke (International Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund) and Dr Helena Varkkey (Project Lead, "COP26 Global Climate Pledges: Promoting Transparency, Public Engagement and Progress on Methane Emissions in Malaysia").Image Credit: Shutterstock

Current estimates put the global tiger population at around 4,500 individuals, having plummeted from the 100,000 tigers estimated at the start of the 20th century, and they are currently found in less than 6% of its historical range. The situation doesn't seem to be getting any better, as detailed in the recently released report titled, Skin and Bones: Tiger Trafficking Analysis from January 2000 – June 2022, which points to no let-up in tiger trafficking in the last couple of decades. This new study by TRAFFIC revealed that authorities worldwide have seized tigers and parts equal to an average of 150 tigers a year over almost 23 years, with seizures in the first half of this year signalling the relentless pursuit of remaining wild tigers. We speak to Kanitha Krishnasamy, a co-author of the report and the Director for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia, who sheds more light on the findings of this study, and expands on the issues contributing to this illegal trade of tigers and tiger parts.Image Credit: TRAFFIC

Recent revelations of licences issued for rock quarrying within the Bukit Lagong Forest Reserve (BLFR) have raised more than just eyebrows among environmental conservation groups and the public alike. Many have called on the Selangor state government to address concerns surrounding the establishment of 27 quarries in the Bukit Lagong Forest Reserve, but already across the Rawang/Kuang area, quarries have greatly scarred the landscape in many places leaving no trees. So how could these constitute parts of the forest reserve, and what is really going on here? We find out more from Peter Leong, a researcher/activist for various green conservation causes, and Rosli Omar, a wildlife photographer and former lecturer at the University of Malaya. Both are long-time environmental activists and members of Friends of Bukit Kiara, and they also share how these new quarrying projects will impact this ecologically sensitive area with both high conservation and high biodiversity value.

It's that time of the month, where we catch up with the good people from environmental journalism portal Macaranga, for a round-up of the top environmental news of the month past. For October's round-up, we speak to Macaranga co-founder Law Yao Hua, and discuss three main topics - firstly, the many issues surrounding quarrying plans for the Bukit Lagong forest reserve, secondly, the Central Forest Spine public outreach exhibition that was organised by the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia together with the state Forestry Departments of Johor, Pahang and Perak that was held last week, and finally some pre-elections talk on whether the green agenda is on the list of candidates and parties contesting in GE-15.Image Credit: Shutterstock and Wikimedia Commons

Ambassador Ken O’Flaherty is the COP26 Regional Ambassador for Asia-Pacific, Caribbean and Small Island Developing States. He worked closely with governments, business and civil society across the region to boost climate action ahead of the COP26 Leaders’ Summit which took place in Glasgow last year, and continues to do so, ahead of the upcoming COP27. He joins us to share more about his reflections of the outcomes of COP26 from last year, his hopes for the upcoming talks in Sharm El Sheikh, and also the main priorities and challenges in Asia and the Pacific, with regard to climate action.

It's a familiar tale here in Malaysia: a sprawling, thriving rainforest, cleared for development or plantations. Despite pledges to protect our intact forests made on the international stage, back home, we still keep hearing of more forests being degazetted or earmarked for development. In this case, the site in question used to be part of a forest reserve in the Chini-Bera forest complex, home to Orang Asli communities, and a wide array of wildlife too, cleared and developed for a new palm oil plantation. But now, as environmental journalist Law Yao Hua puts it - all that remains are silty logging roads, winding across the shrubby landscape. With many questions surrounding this new palm oil plantation being raised - including the likelihood it would fail Malaysia’s mandatory sustainability certification for oil palm - who is this project set to benefit, really? We speak to Yao Hua about this three-part story that he produced and published on Macaranga, done in collaboration with the Pulitzer Center’s Rainfor

The Macaranga #TanahAir Special Project looked at how governance in Malaysia is impacting humans and nature, as well as the related concerns and actions. Ultimately, the question this series wanted to answer was: Are Malaysia's solutions real, when it comes to tackling issues surrounding the climate, ecosystems and pollution? We speak to Wong Siew Lyn, the co-founder of Macaranga, Affendi Yang Amri, a coral reef ecologist from the University of Malaya, and Dr Ng Shin Wei, the Project Manager of the Penang Green Council, about these three interlinked environmental issues, focussing on how it impacts our survival, and whether our decision makers are actually making decisions that serve the rakyat.Image credit: Macaranga and Shutterstock

Plastic plastic everywhere - it's in practically all the packaging we normally use, from household cleaning products to food packaging, and everything in between. Though the BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) movement has gained traction, most Malaysians still have a long way to go, in terms of living up to the Reuse Refill and Reduce principles. One small company that has been helping Malaysians reduce their plastic waste is KitaRefill, a refill station which sells everything from environmentally-friendly laundry detergents to insect repellent in bulk - all you need to do is bring your used containers, and fill up what you need from their store. We speak to Clytia Wong, the founder of KitaRefill, to find out more about what KitaRefill has to offer, and to debunk myths about the refill system. Clytia also shares the difficulties social enterprises like hers face in maintaining environmentally-conscious businesses, with little support from the others.Image credit: Facebook / KitaRefill

It's been an eventful past few days – we saw Budget 2023 being tabled on the evening of 7th October, and parliament then being dissolved a few days later on the 10th of October. Though we'll have to wait until after GE15 to see a new tabling of the Budget, we nonetheless still want to dissect Budget 2023, and discuss if conservation of the environment was prioritised in a meaningful way, and what gaps there are that could be filled for its next post-GE15 tabling. Joining us to do that is Thing Siew Shuen, a Senior Programme Manager at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, who will also share what Greenpeace would like parties to prioritise and include in their manifestos in relation to environmental conservation, ahead of GE15.Brought to you by Mah Sing. Reinvent Spaces. Enhance Life.Image credit: Shutterstock

Malaysia's Budget 2023 will be tabled in parliament on the 7th of October, and finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz has said that it will prioritise environmental sustainability and sustainable financing of the economy. Ahead of this, we spoke to three Malaysians working in the environment and conservation field, about their wishlist for Budget 2023. We caught up with Dr Sheeba Chenoli, a meteorologist and senior lecturer from the Department of Geography at the University of Malaya, who is also part of the team behind Bite-Size Climate Action, to hear her thoughts on why we need to spend more on flood preparedness. Then we hear from naturalist Andrew Sebastian, the Founder & Chief Executive Officer of the Ecotourism & Conservation Society Malaysia, who among other things, shares his hopes for more financing to be allocated towards compensating states to maintain their forest reserves, by the Federal government. Finally Dr Louisa Ponnampalam, the Chairperson of the MareCet Research Organisation, speaks