NST Sunday article on the trip to Belum and Temenggor Rainforest.

Check out the article on NST online with the nice pics at:

http://nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Focus/2441166/Article/index_html?query_start=6&query=%27%27

NST Online » Focus
2009/01/03
Spotlight: 'Belum' a jurassic wonder
CHAI MEI LING

A total of 80 forested islands on 45,000ha of waterbodies make up the Belum-Temenggor forest complex. (source: MNS)

You might have heard stories of its beauty.
And you might have seen the damage wrought on it by logging. You could have even thrown your support, alongside scores of Malaysians, behind the Save Belum-Temenggor campaign two years ago. Don’t stop, for the journey is half travelled. If anything, your backing is needed now more than ever, writes CHAI MEI LING

Celebrity Joanna Bessey (left) and Molly Fong, West Malaysia general manager The Body Shop, applying as natural lipsticks the red colouring produced by a rambutan-liked, heart-shaped fruit.

Each year, thousands of Plain-pouched Hornbills fly across Temenggor — a phenomenon not seen anywhere else on earth. Logging, however, is seriously threatening hornbills in the area, which require specialised diet and cannot persist in small forest patches. (source: MNS/Ooi Beng Yean)
Each year, thousands of Plain-pouched Hornbills fly across Temenggor — a phenomenon not seen anywhere else on earth. Logging, however, is seriously threatening hornbills in the area, which require specialised diet and cannot persist in small forest patches. (source: MNS/Ooi Beng Yean)
WE watched in silence. First, in awe, at the astounding view of the vast body of water that makes the Temenggor Lake, locked in like a bowl of broth, by the emerald waves of mountaintops.

And then at logs. Logs with diameter twice a man's arm length, chained onto trucks snaking down the opposite lane of the winding East-West Highway in Gerik.

In our 45-minute ascent along the highway to the public jetty in Pulau Banding, the main gateway to the forest located somewhere in the middle of the giant lake, at least five trucks were spotted pregnant with freshly felled logs.

It was harder to pinpoint the feeling that came with the latter sight.
The contrasting welcome, of inviting greenery on one side and red, barren hill slopes on the other, invoked sadness and anger, a bit of bitterness perhaps.

For corporate figure and activist Molly Fong, it was "injustice".

"I felt angry. I felt a sense of injustice, the feeling that this is not right,"Fong, the general manager of The Body Shop, West Malaysia, pointed out later into the journey.

Organised by environmental group Malaysian Nature Society and funded by The Body Shop, the trip was a maiden voyage into the ancient rainforest of northern Perak for most of the media personnel and The Body Shop people present, Fong including.

It was not hard to understand Fong's disappointment.

For two years now, the British cosmetics and toiletry brand has backed MNS's cmpaign for the protection of the 300,000ha Belum-Temenggor forest complex, an area four times Singapore's size.

A natural jewel in Malaysia's heirloom, it is the largest continuous forest complex in Peninsular Malaysia, stretching all the way from Perak up into southern Thailand.

Over 3,000 species of flowering plants, some 270 species of birds, and more than 100 species of mammals, including heavyweights like the Asian Elephant, Malayan Tiger, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Malayan Tapir, leopard and sun bear, call it their home.

It is also only in Belum-Temenggor that all 10 hornbill species of Malaysia can be found, including the globally threatened Plain-pouched Hornbill, present in large flocks of over 3,000 birds.

This phenomenon, said MNS head of communications Andrew Sebastian, doesn't occur anywhere else in the world.

"Imagine, 3,000 Plain-pouched flying over a period of two weeks. You can sit here and look at them for hours on end."

Biodiversity is not the only area the forest is rich in.

At 130 million years old, Belum-Temenggor is more ancient even than the jungles of the Amazon or Congo.

Palm-like plants of the Cycas genus, a native of the Old World and often considered as a living fossil, hung gallantly on the cliffs of towering limestone hills, as a testament to the forest's ancient existence, perhaps.

Saad Hashim, our nature guide during the trip, good-humouredly described the plants as "dinosaur food", much to the amazement of our wide-eyed team.

These are just some of the many wonders of Belum-Temenggor documented by MNS in its two, never-before-done scientific expeditions in 1994 and 1998.

These same wonders were also conveyed by The Body Shop employees to every client who walked into the stores during the MNS Belum-Temenggor Postcard Campaign two years ago.

In just two months, 80,000 postcards on the need for the protection of the forest, addressed to the Prime Minister and Perak's then chief minister, were signed by the people.

This, and many more lobbying efforts, finally led to the Royal Belum State Park May being gazetted last year by the state government.

A total of 117,500 ha has been put aside, with no further logging activities.

That was as good as it got.

While MNS was extremely pleased with the gesture, noting at once how much of short-term revenue the state had decided to forgo by making logging off-limit in Royal Belum, the area gazetted summed up to only about a quarter of the total area lobbied for.

The rest -- Gerik and Temenggor forest reserves -- was left on its own to fend off logging advances.

"We're not saying logging should be stopped immediately. Of course we need wood and we're sitting on chairs and at tables, but logging should be done sustainably, not at the expense of natural forests," said Sebastian.

The previous state government had said that logging in Temenggor would be phased out by 2009, but without proper protocol and control, this is as good as saying that loggers are welcomed to harvest as much timber as possible up until end of this year.

And oil palm plantations, said Sebastian, have increasingly cropped up in post-harvested areas, where forest regeneration should have been done.

Currently, MNS is trying to engage with the present state government to have Temenggor accorded a protected status as well, but the group cannot do this alone.

"Malaysians, a lot more than the few of us, need to know that Belum-Temenggor exists and that it needs to be saved as one, not only Belum, but as Belum and Temenggor.

"Big wildlife like the elephants and rhinoceros cannot stay in one area, they must migrate for survival. So big forest tracts have to be protected," he said.

The Body Shop in West Malaysia continues to back MNS through in-store awareness activities and fund-raising efforts to garner support from the public.

Its Kick The Bag Habit campaign alone early this year managed to get over RM90,000 for this cause.

Joanna Bessey, celebrity and Save Belum-Temenggor campaign ambassador, calls for Malaysians to rally once again for Mother Nature.

"Phase 1 of the campaign succeeded because of people power. I believe we can do the same for Temenggor.

"Something that's 130 million years cannot be grown back. You cannot replant it and think that it's going to come back. It doesn't."

Malaysian Nature Society trip to Belum and Temenggor Rainforest

Last week I went on an MNS trip with the Body Shop and members of the media to the quite stunning rainforest complex, about 4 hours north of KL by car.

The highlights were staying on a tiny island, seeing the amazing variety and beauty of rainforest trees, getting leeched, hiking to the animal salt lick and seeing a bull elephant in the wild!

Tragically I also witnessed the totally non-sustainable logging techniques that wipes the 130 million year old eco-system, off the face of the planet. And the speed with which it is being done. At the moment, since the logging is supposed to phase out by end of 2008, the logging is going on 24hours a day. Considering this rainforest existed even BEFORE dinosaurs roamed the earth, the implications of destroying it for short-term profit, benefitting relatively few, are tremendously serious.

Take action to protect it, before the gifts of air quality and clean, fresh water, benefitting the WORLD, worsen further. At a time when many countries are suffering from drought, we are truly blessed to have our Rainforest.

Sun Bear Fundraiser Dinner

We raised just over 1.3 million that night for the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre!

The Fundraising Dinner ended up being a great success! Check out: http://sunbears.wildlifedirect.org/2008/11/14/yes-we-did-it-thank-you-thank-you-and-thank-you/

Well done to all the donors and organisers! It was a fun evening!

Lend your support to our endangered Malayan Sun Bears! Protect rather than regret!
Conserve their habitat in the wild, for their sakes and ours.

No Plastic Bag Concert

Photo by Alex Moi










An eclectic night of performances (from violin playing to stand-up comedy to music and fashion) all for a great cause in DOing something about taking care of our planet. And hopefully eliminating our terrible bad habit of excessive use of plastic!

We had some fantastic singers and great performances. I read some poetry.

You can also check out who was behind the concert and more about the subject at the link above or at:
http://therecyclists.blogspot.com

‘GO GREEN - Get To Grips With Climate Change’

5th of June was World Environment day and 1-utama has a Go Green campaign on until the 8th, but I'm sure you'll notice a lot going on about our environment awareness this whole month. (Check out my interview in this month's, June, Women's Weekly magazine.)

For this particular campaign at 1-Utama (new wing- Highstreet) I was the Go Green Ambassador under UNDP.

Thanks to all the friends who came to support and I've included my speech for the launch which was attended by Yang Berhormat Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, Housing and Local Government Minister and Y.Bhg. Dato’ Teo Chiang Kok, 1 Utama Director. Plus there were some really great performances by Charms cheerleading squad, Tree Theatre Group and a eco-percussion group YAWA (which I only got to watch from a distance while we were in the press conference- wish I had been watching properly!)

United Nations Development Programme

Speech

Launch of World Environment Day 2008 -

“Go GREEN -

Get to Grips with Climate Change”

Joanna Bessey

Actress & Director

UNDP Celebrity Partner

5 June 2008

1 Utama, Shopping Centre, Petaling Jaya

GO GREEN - Get To Grips With Climate Change

Yang Berhormat Datuk Ong Ka Chuan, Housing and Local Government Minister

Y.Bhg. Dato’ Teo Chiang Kok, 1 Utama Director

Distinguished guests

Members of the media

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon,

As a concerned citizen of Malaysia, I am very happy to be here for the 2008 World Environment Day celebration at 1 Utama. It is a genuine pleasure to volunteer my time whenever possible, for causes I feel strongly about.

With a population of over 6 billion, how do we overcome the problem of sustaining our current lifestyle habits? The greatest challenge confronting us, mankind, in the 21^st Century is our sustainability on this planet and the global climate crisis. Climate change is not just an environmental issue. It is much more because it forces us to question the very foundation of the development that has shaped our world since the Great Industrial Revolution, including our addiction to oil.

The crisis we face today arises from the accumulated results of two centuries of unsustainable: industrial development, energy production, clearing of forests; unsustainable lifestyles and consumption patterns.

To put it another way, we have used the global atmosphere as a free good without consideration of the consequences.

We are already suffering the consequences of unsustainability now; flooding, landslides, over-flowing rubbish landfills, acid rain, haze, poisonous pollution and numerous “natural” disasters which affect also our economy.

Meanwhile, there is alarming and overwhelming scientific evidence that the world is moving toward the tipping point, at which irreversible ecological catastrophe and reversals in our (human) progress would be unavoidable.

Socially, the impacts are already being felt with economic dislocations across the world – from food riots in Haiti to the devastating destruction in Myanmar. And it is the poor who are hardest hit. But we all feel the impact, so there’s no time like the present to realize something can be done about it!

On this World Environment Day, the message which I bring to you, my fellow Malaysians, is that we are all part of the solution. You, as a consumer, have incredible power to create change. Whether you are an individual, a business or a government, there are many steps you can take to reduce your ecological footprint. It is message we all must take to heart.

Around the world, nations are looking afresh at green options. Here in Malaysia, I feel we are beginning to do the same. However, we sorely lack real action.

Our ecological footprint, as human beings, is a measure of how much energy and resources we consume to sustain ourselves, compared with nature’s ability to renew these resources.

Every action we take, from where we build our house, to how we supply ourselves with water and electricity, every tree we cut, how much we drive our cars, whether or not we recycle etc., all has an affect on our environment. As the Malay proverb goes, "Though a tree grows so high, the falling leaves return to the root."

Just as no one is immune from the adverse impacts of climate change, no one is exempt from responsibility. The latest UNDP Human Development Report states that with 0.4% of the world's population, Malaysia accounts for 0.6% of global emissions - an average of 7.5 tons of CO₂ per person. This means that the carbon footprint of the average Malaysian is now larger than that of France. If all countries in the world were to emit CO₂ at similar levels, we would exceed our sustainable carbon budget by approximately 237%!

So what can we do about it?

At the policy level, tackling climate change requires us to put a premium on environmental conservation. Halting the destruction of our rainforests, home access for recycling, tax incentives to purchase a hybrid or bio-fuel car and environmentally friendly products. Legislation for retailers that requires them to take back unwanted packaging, encouraging the use of eco-friendly packaging such as palm oil husk product, instead of polystyrene and plastic, are but some examples.

At the individual level, it requires us to make a wholehearted commitment to going green, which doesn’t necessarily mean going without, but entails making thoughtful and deliberate choices as consumers to reduce our harmful impact and practice sustainable consumption. Energy saving light-bulbs for example; efficient and minimizes waste.

The production, processing, transportation, and packaging of the food we consume, can all contribute to environmental damage. Buying locally produced products is already lowering your ecological footprint because of the reduction of transportation.

When you buy green products you show the corporations who make them, that our environment is important to you. As consumer- behaviour gets greener, product manufacturers will respond by making more of their products better for the environment.

This trend in moral responsibility in consumerism has much potential to grow in Malaysia. I reject plastic whenever possible and bring my own shopping bags. In my family we separate and recycle all our rubbish, we keep our water and electricity consumption low, run lower-fuel consumption vehicles, we buy organic and environmentally friendly products; for example all our organic chicken, fish and vegetables come from a farm only an hour away. Due to demand, it is now a neighbourhood shop.

We have found this relatively easy and simple, except for the availability of recycling disposal in neighbourhoods, so it could be easier for every household if the government and private sector gets involved and implements actions for Green consumerism, which includes not just what we buy, but also how we live.

Good planets are hard to find. Actions taken—or not taken— right now, will have a profound bearing on our future. If we continue on our current course of oil-driven economic growth and carbon-intensive lifestyles, we unfortunately, have no where else to go.

On this World Environment Day, I urge the private sector, state and national governments, and all citizens to seize this opportunity to promote urgent and lasting action. The world cannot wait another ten or twenty years in theoretical debates and political negotiations. Whatever else divides us, humanity shares a single planet.

No matter what you’re religion, I’m sure many of us would like to be free to reach greater enlightenment in knowledge and spiritually be more at peace; we cannot do this if our earth cannot sustain us. Let us work together to truly make Malaysia “Green” with an ecological footprint that is sustainable for all our future generations to come.