Earth Matters

A First Nations delegation from British Columbia, Canada, was in Kuala Lumpur to deliver a formal complaint to PETRONAS. Their complaint centers on PETRONAS’ investment in LNG Canada and its associated Coastal GasLink pipeline, which they say has violated their Indigenous rights, damaged sacred sites, and led to police violence on their territory. This World Human Rights Day, we speak to Wet’suwet...

Selangor is running out of landfill space, and the state’s solution is a large waste-to-energy incinerator proposed for Batu Arang. But thousands of residents who are living near schools, homes, and even old coal-mining tunnels there, say the risks are far too high. To help us make sense of what’s happening, we speak to Abdul Hanan Bin Abd Mokti and Pauline Puah, both spokespeople from Jaringan Ra...

Even after 50 years of the highest possible international protection under CITES, tigers continue to be poached and trafficked at alarming levels. A new 25-year analysis - Beyond Skin and Bones: A 25-Year Analysis of Tiger Seizures - puts this into stark perspective, showing that thousands of tigers have been seized across dozens of countries, and that criminal networks are increasingly sophistica...

The world watched Belém closely as leaders gathered for COP30 , hoping the talks would deliver stronger climate action. Meenakshi Raman (President, Sahabat Alam Malaysia and Head of Programmes, Third World Network ) was there in the thick of this year's climate negotiations, and she joins us to break down the wins, the gaps, and share the stories that didn’t make global headlines. Image Credit: Sh...

Sharks and rays may feel like abundant, everyday seafood in Malaysia, but new research suggests that the demand is much bigger and more complex than we think, especially online. The report From Sea to Screen shows huge volumes of these species being traded on digital platforms, including critically endangered species. We are joined by two of the co-authors - Serene Chng, Programme Manager of TRAFF...

It is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, and for this Nature Reads special we thought we'd do something a little different. Instead of having one of the Sunda Shelves team as our usual guest co-host, we have all three on the show - co-founders/ sh(elves) Surin Suksuwan, Jennifer Neoh Tan, and Dylan Jefri Ong. Together they will be sharing their own top picks of books on nature and conservatio...

As Malaysia races against the alarming projection that our landfills may reach capacity by 2041, Zero Waste Malaysia is doubling down on efforts to build a culture of sustainability where it matters most: in our schools. Through the Green Wira Programme , now in its second cohort, over 300 educators have been equipped to lead meaningful, lasting zero-waste initiatives, impacting an estimated 150,0...

Shorebirds are easy to miss but impossible to forget once you start paying attention, which is something the team behind the Shorebirds Peninsular Malaysia Project has been proving for nearly a decade. Through surveys, talks, community outreach and partnerships at home and abroad, they’re helping Malaysians see and value the species that depend on our wetlands. To walk us through this work and why...

Malaysia is home to some of the world’s most extraordinary biodiversity, from towering dipterocarp forests to coral reefs teeming with life. But decades of deforestation, urbanisation, and industrial growth have taken their toll on our natural heritage. The Malaysian Nature Society , or MNS, is now taking a closer look at where things stand through their upcoming State of Nature Conservation in Ma...

This week, the world is gathering in Belém, Brazil, for COP30, the global climate summit. But here in Malaysia, a parallel movement is unfolding - AlterCOP 30 Malaysia , a grassroots version that mirrors the urgency of COP while grounding it in local realities. It’s independent, youth-driven, and collaborative, and a place for Malaysians to connect global ambition with local action. We speak to th...

Every year, the world generates tens of millions of tonnes of electronic waste, from old phones and laptops to discarded TVs. Much of this ends up not in the countries that produced it, but in developing nations ill-equipped to deal with its toxic legacy. A new report by the Basel Action Network, “Brokers of Shame,” exposes how American companies continue to ship e-waste to Asia, and how Malaysia...

Across Southeast Asia, we’re all grappling with plastic waste, from rivers choked with bottles and packaging to new proposals for “waste-to-energy” plants that promise to turn rubbish into electricity. But are these really solutions, or just shifting the problem elsewhere? The Philippines, like Malaysia, faces this tension between convenience, consumption, and sustainability too. In this episode,...

All five of Malaysia’s gibbon species are endangered, facing threats from deforestation, hunting, and the illegal pet trade. But in the forests of Pahang and Sabah, a group of women are fighting to turn things around. They are Malaysia’s first all-female, all-Indigenous wildlife ranger team, working with the Gibbon Conservation Society to rescue, rehabilitate and return gibbons to the wild. Joinin...

For this month's Nature Reads, together with co-host Surin Suksuwan (co-founder, Sunda Shelves ), we speak to author and anthropologist Dr. Christine Padoch , whose new bilingual book Pemulai ke Nanga Jela / Return to Nanga Jela takes us back to an Iban longhouse community in Sarawak that once stood above the Engkari River, a landscape that was later submerged by the Batang Ai Dam. Through her tim...

Papua New Guinea is home to one of the world’s last great tropical rainforests, a vital ecosystem that stores carbon, supports thousands of species, and sustains Indigenous communities. But a new report titled “Malaysia’s Timber Colony: Exposing Malaysia’s Grip Over Papua New Guinea’s Forests” has revealed just how much control Malaysian-linked companies have over the country’s forests. The invest...

A new deforestation alert has been raised in Sarawak, this time around the Bakun Reservoir. Satellite and drone images show that native forest is being cleared to make way for a massive commercial bamboo plantation spanning over 44,000 hectares. The project, approved under the state’s License for Planted Forests scheme, has sparked serious concern among affected Indigenous communities and environm...

Malaysia’s Budget 2026 has been described as a “green and low-carbon” budget, with RM2.38 billion allocated to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability, and new measures like a carbon tax and expanded green technology incentives. But how far do these allocations really go toward protecting our forests, rivers, and wildlife, and what’s missing from the picture? We speak to...

Just last month, as we celebrated Malaysia Day, news broke of a heartbreaking poaching case in Johor, where a Malayan tiger was found dead, stuffed into the boot of a car. It had been caught in a trap and shot six times before its death, a cruel reminder of how vulnerable our national treasure remains. With fewer than 150 Malayan tigers left in the wild, every loss hits hard, but there’s still hop...

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution are challenges that don’t wait for budget cycles. That’s why many are calling for stronger government commitments in Budget 2026. What's on the environmental wish list, and why does it matter for all of us? We hear from two activists working in the environment and conservation field - Khor Sue Yee, Co-founder and Director of Zero Waste Malaysia , an...

Tourism isn’t just about where we travel, it also shapes our economy, our communities, and our natural heritage. Three years ago, The Habitat Foundation and Tengah Island Conservation came together with a bold idea: to create a coalition that could raise the profile of sustainable tourism and strengthen the people working in the field. We speak to its co-founders, Justine Vaz and Cher Chua-Lassalv...

For September's episode, we speak to Dr. Balamurugan, the founder of ERE Consulting Group and CEO of Elistra Advisory, who recently retired after a long and influential career in environmental consultancy. He is also an avid traveller with a lifelong passion for nature, and together with co-host, Surin Suksuwan, co-founder of Sunda Shelves, he discusses the books that shaped his journey, both prof...

Terrapin conservation isn’t just about saving a species, it’s also about involving communities, empowering women, and reconnecting Malaysians with our rivers. That’s the approach taken by the Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia , the country’s first and only NGO dedicated to freshwater turtle conservation. We catch up with its Co-Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Chen Pelf Nyok, for our annu...

From diving while seven months pregnant, to pioneering sustainable aquaculture projects that support coastal communities, Prof. Dato' Dr. Aileen Tan has dedicated her life to the ocean. That dedication has now earned her global recognition, as she’s the first Malaysian to win the Anton Bruun Medal, one of marine science’s highest honours. Dr Aileen, a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences...

Forests, rivers, and communities are all deeply connected. In Sarawak, Indigenous communities have been working tirelessly to protect their homelands, and organisations like Save Rivers have been walking alongside them. Their campaigns have led to big wins, like holding timber companies accountable, and they’re also nurturing alternatives, like reforestation, ecotourism, and mapping ancestral land...

This Merdeka and Malaysia Day season, we’re reminded that our country’s story isn’t just about people and places, it’s also about our connection to nature. We speak to a family who embodies that spirit - wildlife photographer Anuar McAfee (Director, International Centre, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin and Research Fellow, East Coast Environmental Research Institute), and his sons Muhammad Corneli...