Remarks

Green Pest Control Key to Sustainable Paddy Farming

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Alternative pest control methods ensure the sustainability and yields of paddy farming in Tanjung Karang, finds student Chloe Holley.

PEST CONTROL is a critical part of agriculture because it can impact yield tremendously. But conventional insecticides can devastate the environment. In Tanjung Karang, Selangor, rice planters have turned to biological methods to control pests, a model for farmers everywhere.

(Feature pic: Rice farmers in Selangor are using environment-friendly means to counter pests | Photo by Maureen Beresford)

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Remarks

Nibbling Away at Kota Damansara Forest

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Inadequate protection of precious urban forests is shrinking them, warns community researcher and organiser Peter Leong.

TAPAN KUMAR Nath’s recent article in Macaranga, Support community efforts to better manage urban green spaces, shines an important light on the urgent need for community based organisations to gain a role in the governance of urban green spaces (UGS).

A 2019 study which found that KL “lost about 88% of its UGS between 2007 and 2017″ is most alarming – it highlights that the door of meaningful opportunity for these organisations’ impact in UGS governance is closing.

(Feature pic: In the densely built-up Klang Valley, remaining forest patches are precious to local communities | Photo by Dorothy Woon)

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In-Depth

Conserving Arowanas Needs More Than Releasing Fish

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The Asian arowana is a fish, a paradox, and an ongoing test of how commercial trade of an endangered animal could help conserve it.  

The fish, once a common food fish for locals from Cambodia to Indonesia, shot to stardom among pet fish enthusiasts and was hunted to rarity in rivers and lakes. But fish breeders learned to rear Asian arowanas in muddy ponds. Every year, hundreds of thousands of farmed Asian arowanas are exported worldwide, many of them from Malaysia.

(Feature image: A golden Asian arowana. | Photo by Eric Chiang/Macaranga)

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In-Depth

Mass Producing to Save Pitcher Plants A Tricky Business

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Horticulturists say producing lots of pitcher plants can conserve wild plants. Is it enough though, when ever more new species whet buyers’ appetites?

IN JULY 2023, a Filipino Facebook post appeared advertising the sale of a Malaysian tropical pitcher plant, Nepenthes berbulu. What was on sale were seeds, purportedly harvested on July 15. The thing is, this is a newly discovered species of pitcher plant from Malaysia’s Titiwangsa Mountains.

Its existence was made public a mere 4 months earlier in a scientific publication. The plant’s exact location was not disclosed and specimens were also only supposedly collected for research.

(Feature photo:  Flooding the market with affordable propagated Nepenthes helps reduce pressure on wild plants. | Image: Bryan Yong)

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Insight

The World of Nepenthes

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The World of Nepenthes

Diverse and carnivorous, pitcher plants fascinate for their killing abilities and beauty but they also need better protection.

Writer: Ashley Yeong

Editor: SL Wong

Published: 7 February 2024

PITCHERS are the Nepenthes’ deadly weapons. Hence its common name: the pitcher plant. For this tropical species devours its prey. Leaves shoot from the center of the plant, each with a thin tendril at the tip of the leaf and a pitcher-trap at the end of the tendril. In these pitchers is digestive fluid.

(Feature image: Nepenthes alba is only found in Peninsular Malaysia, especially in high mountain forests such as Gunung Tahan in Pahang. | Photo by Ikhwanuddin Mat Esa)

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Remarks

Support Community Efforts to Better Manage Urban Green Spaces

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Urban communities appreciate green spaces and should be allowed to co-manage these areas for better results, writes interdisciplinary researcher Tapan Kumar Nath.

IN 2022, the Prime Minister of Malaysia outlined directions towards developing and improving the country’s urban green infrastructure, which would turn into therapy spaces in an effort to relieve the stresses of life that directly improve mental and physical well-being of urban people.

To achieve this vision, I urge the authorities to engage community associations actively in the governance structure of urban green spaces (UGS).

(Feature pic: Precious forests stretch across the dense urban clusters of Kota Damansara and Mont Kiara. | Pic from Google Earth Pro, 2023)

Continue reading Support Community Efforts to Better Manage Urban Green Spaces →

Insight

气候变迁法案是系统治灾依据

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治灾防灾靠的不只是人力财力，更需要完善的法律。

为解决气候变迁和频繁水灾的根本问题，气候变迁法案是其中一个尚在规划的方案，而前能源、工艺、科学、气候变化及环境部长兼蒲种国会议员杨美盈希望在团结政府届满前，在国会提呈及通过气候变迁法案。

她之前解释，政府应成立一支特工队，设下18个月的目标，在2年内完成气候变迁法案。

(图片：水灾给百姓带来巨大的损失。| 来源：Canva 图片库)

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Insight

可持续规划，治水灾根本

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气候变迁导致降雨骤增，更揭露了我国长期忽视排水需求的根本问题。我们该如何对治频频发生的严重水灾呢？

每年年杪至年初，水灾一直是马来西亚的重大课题。根据国家灾难管理机构（NADMA）灾难控制中心发出的最新全国灾难事故报告指出，2023年11月11日至2024年1月13日期间，累计有2万2966户家庭和7万4807名受害者安置在临时疏散中心（PPS），其影响农地达4900公顷，造成我国2300万令吉的经济损失。

(图片：淹没的村镇。 | 来源：Canva 图片库)

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In-Depth

Empangan di Negeri Perak Ancam Keramat Batu dan Perkuburan Moyang

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Beberapa siri empangan kecil berikutan peralihan hijau negeri Perak cetuskan bantahan komuniti Orang Asli. Diterjemah oleh Shazni Bhai.

PERJALANAN pacuan empat roda melambung-lambung sepanjang laluan berliku mendaki Gunung Korbu di negeri Perak. Empat puluh minit ke pedalaman terdapat binaan konkrit didirikan berketinggian 5 meter atau hampir 2 tingkat.

Binaan itu adalah sebuah empangan hidro elektrik mini, yang akan dikerah bagi menjana 7 megawatt (MW) tenaga boleh diperbaharui untuk grid kuasa elektrik.

Ini adalah salah satu empangan hidro elektrik mini yang akan dibina di seluruh negeri ini. Walau pun bertujuan untuk memenuhi komitmen tenaga boleh diperbaharui kerajaan, konflik dengan komuniti Orang Asli dilihat makin meningkat.

(Imej utama: Tenaga boleh diperbaharui dijana oleh empangan hidro mini di Sungai Korbu, namun untuk siapa dan apa korbannya? | Foto: Ashley Yeong)

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In-Depth

Perak Dams Threaten Stone Spirits and Ancestral Graves

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A series of small dams that is part of Perak’s green transition is making Orang Asli communities go up in arms.

IT IS A bumpy truck ride along the winding path up Gunung Korbu in Perak. Forty minutes in, a concrete structure stands 5 m, or nearly 2 floors, tall. This structure is a mini hydroelectric dam, tasked to generate 7 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy for the electricity grid.    

This is one of the mini hydroelectric dams to be built throughout the state. While helping to meet the state’s renewable energy commitments, they appear to be in increasing conflict with Orang Asli communities.

(Feature photo: Renewable energy is generated by the Sungai Korbu mini hydro dam, but for whom and at what cost? | Image: Ashley Yeong)

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