@ green | July-August , 2021

BY FATIHAH MANAF

In conjunction with the celebration , Global Environment Centre ( GEC ) organised a web forum titled ‘ GEC ’ s Ecosystem Restoration Journey ’ moderated by the director of the organisation , Faizal Parish .

GEC is an NGO that aims to promote the integrated management of biodiversity and water resources . It also encourages the protection and sustainable use of forests and wetlands and enhances awareness and partnerships capacity between organisations .

Faizal , an environmentalist with more than 30 years of experience , shared there were four programmes under GEC – River Care ( RCP ), Forest and Coastal ( FCP ), Peatland ( PP ) and Outreach and Partnership ( OPP ).

The web forum featured four experienced panellists : Dr K . Kalithasan ( Manager of RCP ), Serena Lew ( Manager of PP ), Nagarajan Rengasamy ( Manager of FCP ) and Adelaine Tan ( Senior Coordinator of OPP ).

The speakers emphasised the importance of local engagement and ownership .

Art of smart partnership for sustainable river management

Kalithasan said GEC had developed various approaches for innovative partnership under RCP . One of the practical approaches was Civic Science approach , which comprises awareness , knowledge , and skills that will eventually lead to action . This approach sought to enable local efforts , reconnect people to nature , and instil local ownership .

Kalithasan said that it was important for these partners and stakeholders to be put together under the name of ‘ Human ’.

He argued : “ People often discuss who has bigger roles to play , but all of them come together under the category of human beings .”

He then shared seven mechanisms in GEC ’ s art of smart partnership , which includes empowerment , action , and sharing and recognition .

“ By empowerment , it includes providing stakeholders with skills , knowledge , training and the right tools . The following key thing is the action .

“ It doesn ’ t matter how big or small you think your contribution is . You just have to do it ,” said Kalithasan , who also shared that it was important for these actions or efforts to be shared and recognised locally .

He then explained 15 components in which he highlighted river ownership , conservation , rehabilitation , pollution reduction , and monitoring .

Restoring and managing peatland ecosystems

Peatlands in Malaysia were commonly known as peat swamp forests . Serena stated that there were many benefits of peatland , such as mitigating climate change and regulating

GEC aims to promote integrated management of biodiversity and water resources

carbon and water source .

“ Peatlands are the largest natural carbon store . However , when they are burning , it becomes a huge disaster as they release a huge amount of carbon ,” Serena argued .

This carbon release would damage the peat ecosystem , cultivated land , wildlife habitat and affect people ’ s health .

Serena shared that GEC ’ s approach for peatland management and restoration was initially limited to replanting . However , this approach was carried out on a small scale and showed limited success . The NGO then opted for 4R approach - rewetting , reduction of fire risk , revegetation and revitalisation .

She explained that the rewetting was done by blocking canals or drainage whilst reducing fire risk involved stakeholder engagement and zero burning agriculture .

She also clarified about revegetation which was done through local community engagement , limited replanting and natural regeneration . As for revitalisation , she said the approach was made by enhancing the socio-economy of local communities and other stakeholders linked to the rehabilitated peatlands .

This approach had shown success as there ’ s no fire outbreak reported in Pahang peatland since 2019 .

Community-based mangrove restoration and sustainable livelihood programme

Nagarajan explained that FCP focused on the sustainability of the future environment and the conservation , protection and sustainability of biodiversity in Malaysia ’ s forest and coastal ecosystem .

The programme manager

Nagarajan Rengasamy

Serena Lew

Dr K . Kalithasan Kailasam

Adelaine Tan

Mr Faizal Parish

expressed his sadness that most environmental awareness was often linked to natural disasters .

Using the tsunami as an example , he stated that it was only after the incident that people realised the importance of protecting the coastline .

He said that coastline protection , which had to do with the man- grove rehabilitation , lacked local participation .

Nagarajan stated : “ Environmental problems , especially mangroves problem are local problems .”

Nagarajan shared that about 1,348 km of Malaysia ’ s coastline was found to be eroding . With this issue in mind , GEC then established many community-based programmes related to the various ecosystems . Under the mangrove programme , five Community Based Organisation ( CBO ) groups were found .

“ We identify two key strategies which would help to sustain the community ’ s long term active participation ,” said Nagarajan .

He explained that the strategies were establishing and promoting the community-based forest management programme and the sustainable livelihood programme .

Through the community groups , GEC managed to rehabilitate more than 120 hectares of degraded mangrove areas .

Engaging the public and corporate sector in GEC ’ s conservation work

Adelaine highlighted that the focus of OPP was to establish partnerships with other like-minded organisations and sectors to address environmental issues . She said GEC worked on enhancing awareness and understanding through information dissemination .

“ Some of the activities that we do under this programme include capacity building , environmental education and information exchange ,” shared the senior coordinator of the programme .

She then explained that GEC also had volunteer programmes such as tree planting and river rehabilitation open to the public , students and individuals .

“ GEC also carry out campaigns and advocacy work on current environmental issues like ‘ Selamatkan Hutan Simpan Kuala Langat Utara ’ campaign and ‘ Save Shah Alam ’ s Last Remaining Lowland Forest ’ campaign .”

The panellist shared that GEC also produced awareness and training materials that were available on their website . The organisation also conducted exhibitions and training to spread environmental awareness .

“ GEC was a beneficiary of some of the green campaigns by corporates and generous individuals ,” said Adelaine .

She shared some of GEC ’ s CSR programmes , which were done with various corporates such as HSBC and PETRONAS .

She also stated the programmes had improved the environment , assisted local communities , and established long-term partnerships .

Before ending her talk , Adelaine said individuals interested in their programmes could sign up as volunteers and follow GEC social media .

During the media session , the organisation director shared that the first Movement Control Order ( MCO ) which was announced in March last year , managed to make GEC worried about their restoration plan .

However , the local communities had proven their remarkable capabilities by taking ownership and continuing the restoration journey on a smaller scale . The people also carried out the activities by following SOPs prepared by GEC . — @ green