While it's a noble idea to spread the word for the environment to the younger generation like students, to be more aware about the importance of environment protection and conservation, who is protecting Sarawak virgin jungles from the greed of big timber tycoons such as Rimbunan Hijau, Samling, ShinYang, Sanyan or KTS ?
Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) is having a publicity stunt to organize tree planting with students but on the other hand, close eyes on the destruction of Sarawak jungles especially in upper Rajang river.
The downstream Rajang river is now in critical condition due to heavy silting cause by soil erosion from upriver. From timber camps, from trees felling areas. Those timber tycoons only concern about profits, i.e. to harvest as many logs and possible without regards to the environment.
Here's an articles concerning kickbacks paid to Sarawak politicians on log shipment to Japan.
Related post:
* SUPP closing eyes on destruction of Rajang jungles
Extracted from: theborneopost.com/?p=33596 (Apr 06, 2008)
Spreading the word for the environment
By Puvaneswary
KUCHING: Getting ideas and information across by word of mouth still seems the best way to get others interested and more aware about the importance of protecting the environment.
At least this is what a group of students, who attended the Trees For Life (TFL) community project at Sama Jaya Nature Reserve, here, yesterday found out.
Agnes Oormila, a spokesperson for the group from SK Kenyalang, said she and her friends discovered that by just talking to others about the environment and how recycling helps keep the environment clean, more and more students have become aware of their role as responsible citizens.
“Yes, talking about the trees and why we should protect them helps spread the message to the other students and friends. When we talk about recycling and how to put it to practice, others tend to follow too,” she told thesundaypost.
The 12-year-old, accompanied by several friends who nodded in agreement, went on to say that they became interested in doing their part for the environment when they learnt that the world is now experiencing global warming.
She said by just learning about the impact global warming has on mother earth is terrifying and everyone needs to immediately play his part to ensure this does not worsen.
“If we don’t have trees, we won’t have animals and at the end of it all, there won’t be any humans too because trees give us oxygen. It starts from the trees. We’re scared that earth will turn into some sort of an alien place after that,” she said.
Asked if they know what animals are on the path to extinction, the group actively shouted out a few, including the elephant, the dodo bird and even some species of snakes.
“We don’t want the animals to go extinct like the dinosaurs,” said one student in the group before scurrying off for a group activity.
The TFL was just part of the projects undertaken by Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) and Malaysian Nature Society Kuching Branch to spread the awareness on the need to save the environment.
Themed ‘3Rs- How Nature Does It…’, the project saw various indoor and outdoor activities in the form of games, quizzes and informative talks on how nature recycles and enriches the forest floors.
The outdoor activities included freeing some diptocarps trapped by fallen trees, labelling the rest huts by paint stencil and maintaining 59 trees in two plots.
TFL started as a community project in July 2007 to stress the vital roles of trees in safeguarding our environment and reducing the impacts of global warming.
One of the main aims is to restore degraded habitats in the Sama Jaya Nature Reserve in Tabuan Jaya.
Participants in the previous projects, who sponsored and planted trees of local fruit trees at two degraded plots, took part in interpretative walks in the Japanese and Ethnological Gardens, learned how to make a proper plant collection or pressed leaves for study and research and identify tree species in the nature reserve.
Among those leading the project were Rambli Ahmad from SFC and Susan Teal, the coordinator for TFL.
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