Earth Matters

Manoj Gautam is an animal welfare campaigner who has been working tirelessly to change the way humans treat animals. The Executive Director of The Jane Goodall Institute of Nepal, as well as the President of Animal Welfare Network Nepal, he joins us to discuss his work and how he uses the approach of animal welfare-related human behavior change to reach out to the communities across Nepal to work...

The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is an international conservation organization that focuses on critically important landscapes in Africa, which was founded in 1961. Dr. Patrick Bergin, the CEO of AWF, joins us to discuss the group's efforts to stop the degradation of animals and the world's environment and to give us some updates from the recently concluded CITES Conference of Parties meeting...

The Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival or KLEFF for short, is a home grown not-for-profit festival with a focus on environmental issues. Back for it's 9th installation, the event continues to engage the Malaysian public on latest issues and solutions pertaining to the environment. We find out what's in store from Fadly Bakhtiar, the festival's director, and Kamaradzaman Mohd Bakri, a Senior Manager at...

The Copenhagen Zoo's Southeast Asia Programme began in 1998, by providing capacity building to Malaysia's Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) concerning Captive Breeding management. The programme continues to be involved in original applied research about wildlife ecology, management and conservation, as well as to provide advice, support and capacity building support to local univers...

Kebun-kebun Bangsar, the proposal for a garden project on a piece of TNB reserve land in the Bangsar area, has been strongly met with both support and opposition from the community at large. The project that was intended to bring the Bangsar community together hasn't quite had that effect, and saw the residents of Bangsar's Taman Weng Lock successfully launching a petition drive against the garden...

Buildings are the largest energy-consuming sector in the world, and account for over one-third of total final energy consumption. They are an equally important source of carbon dioxide emissions. Is achieving significant energy and emissions reduction in the buildings sector a challenging policy goal, here in Malaysia? Ahmad Zairin Ismail, the National Project Manager of the Building Sector Energy...

As we celebrate the nation's independence this week, Andrew Sebastian, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at the Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Malaysia, joins us to take a look at our everyday actions that are causing environmental degradation in our own backyards, and discuss how we can make small changes for a better tomorrow. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fruit flies are often viewed as pests that need to be destroyed before they destroy our precious fruit. But research by entomologists are showing that they are also in fact, pollinators of rare and endangered orchids, including those in Malaysia. Is it time to shed our chauvinistic views about them? Entomologist Dr. Alvin Hee weighed in, and also discussed how we need to change our view on insects...

The degazettement of forest reserves for the construction of highways here in the Klang Valley has irked many of the residents in the areas affected. The affected forests are the Bukit Cherakah forest reserve and Sungai Buloh forest for the Damansara Shah Alam Highway (DASH) construction cutting through it. The Bukit Sungei Puteh forest in Hulu Langat has also been identified to be degazetted for...

Earth Overshoot Day 2016 lands on August 8, marking the date when humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year, as measured by the Global Footprint Network. For the rest of the year, we will maintain our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere -- we will be operating in overshoot. If that's not bad enough, the exhausti...

We spoke to Antony Lynam of the Wildlife Conservation Society, who has more than 20 years of experience implementing and advising wildlife conservation projects in Asia. Based in Bangkok, Thailand he serves as Regional Technical Advisor for wildlife protection and applied conservation projects in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Myanmar, Malaysia, and the Russian Far East. He spoke t...

Dubbed the Godfather of Biodiversity, Dr. Thomas E. Lovejoy is also among the first scientists to coin the phrase Biological Diversity. An ecologist who has worked in the Brazilian Amazon since 1965, he works on the interface of science and environmental policy, originated the concept of debt-for-nature swaps and has worked on the interaction between climate change and biodiversity for more than 2...

Having colonized land and ocean, garden and tidepool, mollusks exemplify how life adapts, evolves, and moves into new niches. Associate Professor Dr. Aileen Tan, a marine biologist with the School of Biological Sciences at Universiti Sains Malaysia,  joins us for 101 on Marine Mollusks, and explains why they are vital components of the ecosystem. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

“Enough should be the central concept in economics,” wrote Herman Daly, one of the founders of ecological economics. The world's economy, as it is currently run, is causing long-term environmental, societal and economic damage. Author and economist Rob Dietz, who co-authored the book “Enough is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources” joins us...

Wildlife economist and conservationist Dr. Brendan Moyle is an experienced researcher of wildlife smuggling, who has travelled the world and tracked smugglers routes to understand the complex black market of illegal wildlife products. He challenges the established conservation perception of how to deal with illegal wildlife trade by advocating for the legal trade option. He joins us to share his a...

As our earth heats up more and more each day, solutions are being searched for in every corner. Combining his engineering skills with his passion for humanity, Dr. Ernesto Hernandez, associate professor in the department of chemical and environmental engineering, offers a new spin on tackling global warming: Bio-inspired Chemical Engineering. What is this and how will it help? He joins us to discu...

50,000 farmers who lost their land to climate change-related river erosion in Bangladesh, participated in a radical project which transformed barren land into huge pumpkin fields. Since the first trials in 2005, more than 90,000 tonnes of produce has been grown, eaten or sold by more than 16,000 of the poorest people in Bangladesh. With the effects of climate change already making its appearance i...

Celebrated annually on the 8th of June, World Oceans Day is a global day of ocean celebration and collaboration for a better future. We speak to Brett Garling, the Communications Manager of the US-based NGO Mission Blue , which pushes for the protection of marine parks and places that are vital to the health of the ocean. Brett discusses how the ocean is linked to each and every one of us, and the...

A while back, Bigger Picture producer Dr. Law Yao Hua attended the 3rd Asia Regional Conference of the Society for Conservation Biology - Asia Section. He spoke to two conservationists working with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) about wildlife conservation issues, specifically in Myanmar. In the first interview, we hear from Saw Htun, the Deputy Country Program Director at WCS Myanmar, wh...

It's World Environment Day this coming Sunday, and the theme for this year is “Go Wild for Life”, and it sees international communities making a strong statement against illegal wildlife trade. To give us a broader idea of how we can all approach and celebrate World Environment Day is Andrew Sebastian, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at the Ecotourism and Conservation Societ...

The Ulu Muda Forest Reserve lies on the north-eastern flank of Kedah, bordering Thailand. Despite its rich biodiversity, immense natural beauty and function as a water catchment area for the Muda, Pedu and Ahning dams, the Ulu Muda forest has become the latest victim of illegal and uncontrolled logging. We get the low-down of what's happening to the forest reserve from Hymeir Kamaruddin, an eco-gu...

World Turtle Day is celebrated annually on the 23rd of May. In conjunction with this year's celebration, we speak to Chen Pelf Nyok, the co-founder of the Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia, to discuss the need for turtle conservation and the threats being faced by these shelled reptiles, which include the exotic food trade, habitat destruction, global warming and the illegal pet trade. See o...

The Don Sahong Dam, which is being built by Malaysian project developer Mega First Corporation Berhad, is the second of eleven hydropower dams planned on the lower Mekong mainstream. Scientists and Mekong experts believe the dam will block the main channel passable year-round by fish migrating between Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, threatening vital subsistence and commercial fisheries in the Lower...

Last November, Terengganu made headlines when it became the first state in Malaysia to issue a fatwa prohibiting the illegal hunting of wildlife. A five-minute film called ‘Harimau Selamanya’, was made to highlight the need to protect our environment in the context of Islam, with a special focus on the plight of the Malayan tiger. We discuss the film and wildcat conservation efforts wi...

The El Nino phenomenon we're currently facing has wreaked havoc on our weather with Malaysia facing a hot spell which may last till June. Will Klang Valley residents face a water shortage and water rationing exercise similar to that of 2014? We spoke to YB Charles Santiago, the MP for Klang, to get his forecast of things to come, and discussed his recommendations to avoid a possible water crisis....