ON 19 NOVEMBER, Malaysians will vote for our next federal government – and state governments too, for some.
From declaring a climate emergency to stopping deforestation, different groups are demanding that political candidates and parties include environmental and climate commitments in their GE15 manifestos. Here’s an evolving list of the demands compiled by Macaranga.
To help you evaluate, we also include evaluations by groups and a list of the specifical environmental / climate promises in the manifestos of the main political coalitions in Peninsular Malaysa, Sarawak and Sabah. There are links to some commentary/analysis as well.
You can do more than just read. You can make your demands to the candidates, and you can monitor candidates’ positions on environmental issues.
At the bottom of this page, use the templates of letters to send to candidates. Also check out #UndiIklim, an attempt still underway to rank candidates in terms of climate and environmental issues and policies.
Syarikat YP Olio Sdn Bhd baru menerima kelulusan daripada Jabatan Alam Sekitar untuk menebang kawasan hutan 8,498 ha untuk dijadikan ladang kelapa sawit.
Tapak itu terletak dalam kompleks hutan Chini-Bera, Pahang, sebuah hutan asli yang cukup kaya dengan kepelbagaian biologi dan nilai-nilai ekologi. Terdapat juga dua kampung Orang Asli dalam tapak projek yang menuntut kawasan itu sebagai tanah adat mereka.
Siasatan Macaranga mendapati bahawa projek ini membawa manfaat besar kepada pihak pemaju, manakala pihak kerajaan dan masyarakat menanggung kos yang tinggi. Tambahan pula, kemusnahan hutan itu akan menjejas populasi harimau Malaya yang sudahpun hampir pupus.
Apakah kesan projek tersebut ke atas reputasi kemampanan industri kelapa sawit di Malaysia? Apakah pilihan paling wajar bagi pihak kerajaan Pahang dan pemaju?
After guarding a blockade against loggers for 16 months, a group of Orang Asli in Pahang is bringing their fight to the courts. The Kampung Mesau villagers have just filed a summons against the Pahang government and a developer for violating their customary rights. Part 3 of 3.
RICE COOKS in a soot-covered pot behind Rani Jilal. The 72-year-old man sits on bare ground in his hut. He is a senior member of the Temoq Orang Asli of Kampung Mesau in the Chini-Bera forests, Pahang.
Behind Rani, the boiling rice spills out of the pot into the wood fire. He ignores the sizzle. He is talking about his fear that his kin would be chased off the land they claim as their customary right. He has seen how swiftly developers can tear their world apart.
(Photo: The villagers of Kampung Mesau in Pahang built a blockade to save their forests from loggers. After 16 months of sleeping by the blockade, they have brought their fight to the High Court. | Pic by YH Law)
Another tiger and elephant habitat in Pahang has been approved to be turned into an oil palm plantation. But if the developer and state government wish to spare the forest, there are profitable alternatives. Part 2 of 3.
A PROPOSED 8,498 ha oil palm project in Pahang occupies a key location in Peninsular Malaysia’s wildlife habitats and forest landscape. The project site sits in the centre of the Chini-Bera forest complex, according to the Master Plan for Ecological Linkages Central Forest Spine (2022).
That complex connects the Greater Taman Negara forest complex in the north with the Endau-Rompin Sedili forest complex in the south. The Central Forest Spine (CFS) Masterplan aims to establish wildlife corridors called “linkages” between these complexes that would allow animals like tigers to move and breed across the landscape.
(Photo: A tiger pawprint found in the vicinity of the Bukit Ibam forests (background) being cleared for timber and oil palm plantation. | Pawprint photo courtesy of Mohjoey mojoey (Facebook), satellite image by Planet Labs Inc)
YP Olio Sdn Bhd has just received approval from the Department of Environment to turn a sprawling forest in Pahang into oil palm. But evidence suggests the plantation will fail to get mandatory certification and license. So, why cut the forest? Part 1 of 3.
FOR MUCH of 2020 and 2021, loggers cleared huge tracts of forest on private land in southeastern Pahang. The site used to be part of a forest reserve in the Chini-Bera forest complex. Now, silty logging roads wind across the shrubby landscape.
The logging had stopped at a fork in a main logging road since June 2021. Perhaps the loggers were deterred by the wooden blockade erected there by the local Orang Asli. Perhaps the landowner, YP Olio Sdn Bhd, was waiting for authorities’ approval of its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.
(Photo: In Pahang, logging on YP Olio Sdn Bhd’s 8,498 ha land stops at a blockade set up by Orang Asli. | Pic by YH Law)