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Earth is alive. It bleeds, sweats and cries. The trees are its lungs,
the rivers are its veins, the sea is its flesh and its inhabitants –
the flora and fauna – are its tissue.
These inhabitants flourish the ecosystem and nourish the Earth to keep it alive.
Humans
are of a different kind of beings. We are new. While the Earth depends
on its inhabitants to live, we depend on the Earth.
We plow
through its lungs for cash, clog its veins with waste, tunnel through
its flesh for oil and consume its tissues to live; greedy and ungrateful
for Mother Earth’s offering.
We are a lot like cancer – a disease
caused by mutated cells on the Earth’s body. But we were not always
like this. We were all once symbiotic. We relied on the Earth without
being excessive. We lived harmoniously within it, taking only what we
needed and leaving what we did not.
In Sabah, our ancestors
survived by settling next to the sea or rivers. Their predecessors are
still here, living deep within the jungle, always next to a river.
“I
respect the Sabah culture. They have a culture that is in tune with the
environment,” said Ai Kinoshita, a member of the Japanese Overseas
Volunteer Cooperation (JOVC), who has lived in Sabah for the past two
years.
“Human lives will always benefit from the environment,” said Ai in Malay, complete with a Dusun accent.
Ai,
27, works closely with Sabah Parks at Crocker Range Park to educate the
new generation on how to preserve the environment. They include four
primary school pupils and one teacher from five schools around the
Crocker Range to educate them to keep the rivers and jungles clean.
All of these schools are located within the indigenous community of Sabah.
Her work focuses on education administration and research of catchment areas along the rivers of the Crocker Range.
Ai’s
work is part of the River Environmental Education Programme (REEP)
which is an activity under the Borneon Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Conservation Phase II (BBEC Phase II).
BBEC Phase II is an
initiative by Sabah Parks and Sabah Biodiversity Center with the
cooperation from Sabah Environmental Action Center (EAC), Japan
International Cooperation Agency, the Environmental Department, Water
and Irrigation Department, Sabah Education Department and University
Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and it is organized and implemented by the
Penampang District Office.
Crocker Range Park is also under nomination for Crocker Range
Biosphere
Reserve (CRBR), Man and Biosphere (MAB) under UNESCO. The nomination
was applied for by the BBEC Phase II initiative together with Sabah
Parks and Sabah Biodiversity Center.
All of this is to study our
close relationship with our rivers in hopes to generate an action plan
that can be achieved by students and the community to preserve and
protect the rivers.
“These (indigenous) communities have a wealth
of knowledge on how to co-exist with the environment through their
culture and history. We can learn a lot from them,” she said, adding
that this culture should be carried down from generation to generation.
She said we could all benefit from the convenience of money but the most important things in life cannot be bought.
“You
can’t buy family or friends, the good heart and the support of others,
culture and tradition that is inherited from history, knowledge of
co-existing with the wild.
“I believe our lives cannot be complete if we only think of ourselves.
“I’m not relating this to Malaysia alone. Japan is also going through the same thing,” said Ai.
Ai
has learned a lot from her two-year stay in Sabah; ideas and memorable
experiences that she will bring back to Japan when she leaves next
month.
“I hope to find ways to help promote a culture that
incorporates living peacefully with the environment that is respected
and based on the teachings of our ancestors,” she said.
Another
similar initiative to BBEC Phase II is also conducted by the Global
Diversity Fund (GDF) in the Ulu Papar area, including Buayan and Kionob.
GDF conducts research, training and social action to promote
agricultural, biological and cultural diversity around the world.
The
villagers of Buayan and Kionob are trained to collect data that include
GPS mapping of its surrounding jungle, video and photography training,
monitoring of traditional medicine and the needs of the community, just
to name a few.
GDF’s main goal in Ulu Papar is to raise awareness on how to fully
utilize jungle resources by compromising its value.
These are just a few examples on initiatives to help educate people from all walks of life on our home’s health.
This
growth of awareness among the residents of Earth is especially apparent
among the Y Generation who are now mostly in their 20s. When the newer
generation are educated too, there is so much more hope left to cling
on.
13 comments:
Humans must be grateful what Mother Earth has given us. Rather than squandering everything nature has to offer, we should be preserving them and using them with care.
We must teach our young children to respect Mother Earth, if we don't act now, there will not be a future left for our next generation to see.
Parents and teachers should teach the children the right thing to do to preserve nature.
Natural resources should be used wisely because some are not renewable and will run out one day.
Semangat cinta alam perlulah dipupuk semasa anak-anak masih kecil lagi. Tetapi masih belum terlambat kita menyebarkan kesedaran kepada orang ramai.
That's why we have Kelab Pencinta Alam...
kita harus cintai alam kita dgn tidak mencemarnya.
Rakyat harus sedar kepentingan menjaga alam sekitar kami.
Menjaga alam sekitar adalah tanggungjawab bersama.
Ibubapa dan cikgu-cikgu memainkan peranan untuk memupuk sikap menjaga alam sekitaran.
The Earth will never come back the same again if we didn't know to preserve it.
Save our earth and save ourself too.
If we do not love and take a good care of our nature, then who is going to do it? It is our responsibility to protect and ensure the sustainable of our nature. Furthermore, our govt also emphasizing on green efforts nowadays.
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