Earth Matters

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), is an international not for-profit, multi-stakeholder organisation established to promote responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC Malaysia recently began operations and aims to be the main driver for bringing the world's leading standards to our country. Andrew Ng, the Interim Executive Director of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Malaysia, jo...

The Sustainable Palm Oil Transparency Toolkit or SPOTT is a free, interactive resource, designed for investors and other stakeholders in the palm oil sector, to assess oil palm growers on the information that they make publicly available about the sustainability of their operations. We find out more about how it works from Elizabeth Clarke and Michal Zrast, the Business and Biodiversity Manag...

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is a non-profit association which aims to transform markets to make sustainable palm oil the norm. The Secretary General of the RSPO, points to challenges, efforts and achievements faced by the association since its inception. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Time to rethink how we can move our behinds from one part of town to another and commute (or travel) in ways that hurt the environment less. A city with less traffic congestions and coughing vehicles sitting idle, spitting out smoke and stench, is a more liveable city. An experiment is beginning with PJ-Ecomobility. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vivekananda Ashram at Jalan Tun Sambanthan in Brickfields has been earmarked for major redevelopment. What are the challenges of social organisations and is redevelopment a last resort to continue serving communities? We find out with Tan Sri Dr. K. Ampikaipakan of Vivekananda Ashram and Elizabeth Cardoza of Badan Warisan Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The forests of East and Southeast Asia are trampled by bulldozers and thrown into disorder by invasive species. Conservation ecologists must gear up, but are Asian ecologists ready for the challenge? Prof. Richard Corlett, tropical forest ecologist and author of two ecology textbooks, tells us about educating conservationists. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the past forty years, we have lost half of our wildlife in the past forty years, even as illegal hunting and trading of wildlife swell into a $20 billion industry. Grace Ge Gabriel has led very successful campaigns against illegal wildlife trade in China. She reveals  the operations of tiger farms and illegal wildlife trade syndicates, and the role of traditional Chinese medicine in wildli...

Malaysia is home to the Malayan Tapir, an animal that is black and white like the panda but gets much less attention. Boyd Simpson of the Copenhagen Zoo and Chris Wong of WWF Malaysia share with us what little we know of tapirs, and why these large herbivores of our jungles deserve more studies. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fewer than 3,000 tigers roam the wild. Within a decade, there might be none left as they are poached and their habitats destroyed. To save wild tigers, scientists and conservation groups work hard to study tigers and lobby for better policies to protect tigers. All of these need funds, which can be as scarce as tigers themselves. In response, Simon Clinton used his experience in brand marketing to...

Ancient creatures that came before dinosaurs, turtles now struggle against the threat of a much younger species--people. Some of us though, have dedicated our lives to protecting turtles, like Dr. Chan Eng Heng and Marilyn Connell. These veterans of conservation share with us their uphill battles, and victories. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By 2050, we would have built new roads long enough to circle the Earth 600 times over. Although crucial for improving our productivity, these roads, and the waves of exploitation that follow, will cut through and destroy intact ecosystems. How should we build roads for the better? Prof. William Laurance, Australian Laureate and Distinguished Research Professor at James Cook University, has just pu...

Parting the foliage to uncover the forest cover in Peninsular Malaysia, once an unbroken landscape, now fragmented. Dr. Bala worked on the Central Spine Forest Masterplan, which we can use as a case study to explore the kinds of planning and cooperation between private and public sectors that are required to conserve and perhaps restore the ecological connectivity of our divided rainforests. Dr. A...

Kota Damansara Forest Reserve sits in the middle of a sprawling urban landscape. Threatened by development a few years ago, the forest was gazetted through efforts of environmental groups and local residents. We speak to representatives from the groups to learn the current status of the forest and how locals are using the green space. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Managing the human-and-leopard conflict begins with an understanding of leopard ecology when they live among humans who clear its habitat for agriculture. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/lis...

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 o...

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) expla...

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 thr...

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 commu...

They are organising #PowerShiftMsia ,  a pow wow that will bring together 200 young and passionate "climate leaders" to build a movement intent on seeing the interconnected issues of climate, environmental and social justice be given the level of attention it deserves by government with the appropriate sense of urgency.    Adrian Yeo, the Organiser and Neville Yapp, a coordinator wi...