All posts by Macaranga

Green Pest Control Key to Sustainable Paddy Farming

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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Facebook pets are too easy to buy

12 April 2024: Facebook and other social media make it so easy to buy exotic wildlife. What can be done? Juliet Jacobs on BFM 89.9 Radio talks to Macaranga‘s Hannan Azmir and Lee Kwai Han along with Dr Nor Arlina Amirah Ahmad Ghani who is working on strengthening the legal ecosystem regarding wildlife conservation.

Based on Macaranga‘s features Social Media Makes It So Easy To Like And Buy Exotic Pets and Langur In City Spotlights Efforts To Tackle Wildlife Trade Online.

Lee Kwai Han co-wins award​

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=813403957495089&set=a.637101518458668&notif_id=1710737086886855&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic_tagged&ref=notif
Said Zahari Award 2024 winners (Pusat Sejarah Rakyat FB)

12 April 2024: Congratulations to Lee Kwai Han, our contributing writer, for co-winning the Said Zahari Young Journalist Award 2023/2024!

Kwai Han won for her story Unlocking Rare Earth Riches in Malaysia for Macaranga.

Congratulations also to her co-winner Nurul Nabila for her Sinar Harian story, and to Alena Nadia, for her Malaysiakini story for making the shortlist.

All three journalists produced stellar work. We look forward to more inspiring and important stories from them. Thank you to Pusat Sejarah Rakyat for supporting young journalists!

Incidentally, Kwai Han co-wrote her winning story with Yao Hua, who won the award two years ago.

Monthly Wrap-Up: March 2024​


1 April 2024: Prosecutions against illegal wildlife traders get wins in court. A Penang judgement saw RM70,000 in fines imposed for possession of largely reptiles. Meanwhile, the first ever rhino horn smuggling case successfully brought to court in Malaysia will see judgement on 24 April.

We also cover how the World Trade Organisation ruled largely in favour of the European Union in a EUDR dispute settlement between the bloc and Malaysia.

We also discuss about whether there is a need for independent verification of the reported recovery aided by a restoration project, of the seagrass meadow near Forest City.

Arowana on the airwaves

1 April 2024: Can arowanas live free and wild again in our waters? Taking to the air with Juliet Jacobs on BFM 89.9 Radio were Macaranga‘s Law Yao Hua, journalist Tracy Keeling and Fisheries Department’s Dr Haslawati Baharuddin.

Based on Macaranga‘s feature ‘Conserving Arowanas Needs More Than Releasing Fish’ Part 1 & Part 2.

Newsroom mentorship on just energy transition concludes​

18 March 2024 [updated 1.4.24]: As part of Macaranga’s newsroom mentorship programme on just energy transition, 2 newsrooms have produced great stories interrogating the impacts of the transition to renewables.

The Bernama Garasi team (Sakina Mohamed, Shaza Al Muzayen, Fahmi Abdul Aziz and Ummul Shyuhaida Othman) produced a 3-parter on solar energy waste:

  1. How big is the problem?
  2. What are the impacts?
  3. Opportunities in recycling

FMT visited an Orang Asli community who were displaced by a dam 13 years ago. They are still awaiting proper compensation. Lynelle Tham and team report in text and video:  13 years on, Kg Pinang’s Orang Asli look to TNB for help

Read also Ashley Yeong’s earlier coverage of mini hydro impacts on Orang Asli culture in Perak for Macaranga.

These wrap up the 3-month long Macaranga multi-newsroom project. The project began with a training workshop and is supported by Klima Action Malaysia.

Nibbling Away at Kota Damansara Forest

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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Monthly Wrap-Up: February 2024


26 February 2024: We look back the world’s hottest January ever on record and report on coral ecologists’ concerns about mass coral bleaching in Malaysia.

We also cover the latest on the EUDR as Malaysia, Indionesia and the EU discussed ways to better implement EUDR for palm oil. And we round up the month with the different ways Sarawak is using to reduce conflict between humans and their successfully conserved crocodiles.

Producing data and multimedia journalism

SL Wong explaining data and interactive journalism at the Kuala Lumpur Alternative Bookfest 2024 (KLAB 2024 FB)

26 February 2024: Malaysiakini/KiniLabs’ Aidila Razak invited us to chat about data and multimedia journalism at the recent Kuala Lumpur Alternative Book Fest. Siew Lyn walked the audience through our stories on the PJD Linkrare earth mining and navigating messy forestry data, and both speakers answered questions about when enough is enough data, and how to get started on data visualisation. Play a game and check out KiniLabs’ brilliant interactive coverage of scamming.

(photo from KLABF IG)