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 th...

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 Sebastia...

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 s...

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...

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,...

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...

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 neg...

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 Natash...

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 env...

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 Biodiversit...

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...

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...

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, quarri...

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 Fores...

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 reflectio...

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...

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 Amr...

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...

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...

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 meteorolo...

By IUCN estimates, over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications. At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments. The International Coastal Clean-up (ICC) takes place every September, where volunteers around the world come together...

The Baram Heritage Survey is no ordinary scientific study. Instead of sending in grad students, the team from the Borneo Project have hired indigenous village-based field technicians to collect comprehensive wildlife, land use and social data for the very first time. Why indigenous communities? Well they know the context, language, and what every sign and sound they come across means, and  ha...

It's that time of the month, where we speak to environmental journalism portal Macaranga 's co-founders, Law Yao Hua and Wong Siew Lyn, for a recap of conservation-related news, from the month past. This month, we've had floods on our minds a lot, with floods already happening in parts of the country, and a looming lawsuit against DBKL and the FT Ministry over their flood mitigation plans - or lac...

How can Malaysians normalise sustainable living practices, and aim for a zero waste way of life? With lots of help of course, especially from the good folks at Zero Waste Malaysia, who have been championing this environmentally-friendly lifestyle, while showing proof that it's achievable. They are set to present their 3rd Zero Waste Festival after two years, called "Under the Stars: Zero Waste Fes...

Strong community recycling programs can contribute to a healthy united community, and are building blocks for sustainable growing communities. Pejabat ADUN Bukit Gasing has started the Waste Separation and Recycling Initiative in all sections of the Bukit Gasing constituency, allowing residents to separate recyclables and non-recyclables, and they also have an ongoing cash-for-thrash scheme. We fi...