140 volunteer divers aim Guinness World Record

Photo: astroawani.com

About 140 divers are attempting to create a world record for the longest underwater clean-up programme organised by Astro Kasih under its Corporate Social Responsibility programme, Beautiful Malaysia.

This programme was officiated on Saturday by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman together with Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun at Gaya Island.

Also on hand were Senior Vice President of Broadcast and Operations, Astro, Rohaizad Mohamed and Vice President of Community Affairs, Astro, David Yap.

The clean-up programme will be carried out for a week at 14 dive sites surrounding the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park with the aims to create greater awareness on marine conservation as well as promote eco-tourism among Malaysians.

Guinness World Record officials would closely supervise the 140 divers aged 21-63 from Malaysia, France, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, USA, Lithuania, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the Netherlands whom would be taking turns to dive to collect rubbish underwater for 168 consecutive hours (night and day).

Astro Kasih has received an overwhelming response to participate in the underwater clean-up with over 700 entries from both local and international volunteers.

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Indonesia, Malaysia Agree to Save Last 100 Sumatran Rhinos

Sumatran rhinos (Photo by Dedi Candra / Yayasan Badak Indonesia)

 

The governments of Indonesia and Malaysia today agreed for the first time to collaborate on saving the Critically Endangered Sumatran rhino, the smallest and last form of the two-horned rhino in Asia that has lived on the planet for 20 million years.

The last wild populations of Sumatran rhino, Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, amount to fewer than 100 rhinos in total. They survive on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and in Sabah, Malaysia on the northern part of the island of Borneo.

The agreement was reached at the Sumatran Rhino Crisis Summit convened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) at the Singapore Zoo with a wide range of international and national organizations.

Experts gathered at the summit proposed a two-year emergency action plan as an immediate follow-up to the event. The two governments now need to formalize the collaboration and agree on the next steps to tackle the Sumatran rhino crisis, brought on by an increase in illegal hunting and consumer demand for rhino horn.

Datuk Dr. Laurentius Ambu, director of the Sabah Wildlife Department, detailed some of the initiatives the two countries will take to conserve the last Sumatran rhinos.

“We would like to reiterate Sabah’s commitment and our willingness to further discuss with Indonesia opportunities to exchange reproductive cells of the species, move individual rhinos between our countries and to employ advanced reproductive technology as a parallel initiative in the Sumatran rhino captive breeding program,” he said.

Dr. Ambu made this pledge to more than 130 rhino experts, scientists, government officials and representatives of nongovernmental organizations from around the world gathered in Singapore this week to address the Sumatran rhino crisis.

They made their plans in view of lessons learned from previous conservation successes of other rhinos and species such as the Californian condor, the black-footed ferret and Hawaiian forest birds.

“Serious steps must be taken to roll back the tide of extinction of the Sumatran rhino,” said Widodo Ramano, executive director of the Indonesian Rhino Foundation, Yayasan Badak Indonesia, a nongovernmental organization.

“This could be our last opportunity to save this species and, by working together as a collaborative unit, internationally and regionally, with an agreed vision and goals, a glimmer of hope has been clearly demonstrated,” he said.

“We need to act together urgently, hand in hand, replicating some of the inspirational successes of other conservation efforts and aim to stop any failures that might impede progress,” Ramano said.

“The Sumatran Rhino Crisis Summit has been transformational by bringing together the two governments whose representatives committed to positive and proactive bilateral collaboration which is critical for saving this enigmatic species,” says Mark Stanley Price, chairman of the IUCN SSC Species Conservation Planning Sub-Committee.

“Huge progress has been made in specifying the resources needed to improve rhino surveys, security and monitoring,” said Price. “We have also explored the potential of new technologies and the role of integrating the management of wild and captive individuals.”

Summit participants were encouraged by the agreement, although the recent past history of rhinos has been bleak.

Read more: Environment News Service

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Aluminum recycling facts

• A used aluminum can is recycled and back on the grocery shelf as a new can, in as little as 60 days. That’s closed loop recycling at its finest 

• Used aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled ., but other types of aluminum, such as siding, gutters, car components, storm window frames, and lawn furniture can also be recycled

• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours — or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline

• More aluminum goes into beverage cans than any other product

• Because so many of them are recycled, aluminum cans account for less than 1% of the total U.S. waste stream, according to EPA estimates

• An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now

• There is no limit to the amount of times an aluminum can be recycled

• We use over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year

• At one time, aluminum was more valuable than gold

• A 60-watt light bulb can be run for over a day on the amount of energy saved by recycling 1 pound of steel. In one year in the United States, the recycling of steel saves enough energy to heat and light 18,000,000 homes!

Source: Perstorp

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Tree plantation to against deforestation

To maintain proper ecological balance and to against deforestation, we should carry out tree plantation. The activity of tree plantation is known as reforestation or afforestation, depending on whether the area being planted has or has not recently been forested. Tree plantation is mainly established for soil protection. Tree planting is carried out in many different parts of the world and strategies may differ widely across nations  and regions and among individual reforestation companies. Many forestry experts claim that the establishment of plantations will reduce or eliminate the need to exploit natural forest for wood production. Besides that, we planted trees because they remove CO2 from the air as they grow. Tree plantation might need big companies to established it but we also could make a difference by planting more trees on our own yard.

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Mayor: Factories and work sites must be kept neat and tidy too

Photo: Insight Sabah

In his bid to make Kota Kinabalu City cleaner, Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir urged those involved in the industrial sector including developers, manufacturers and suppliers to work together with the City Hall to keep their compound and premises neat and tidy.

Abidin, who spoke at the launching of the International Property Expo (IPEX) 2013 at the Sabah Trade Centre on Thursday, said that this can be achieved through a sense of commitment, strict supervision, education, discipline and organisation by all.

According to Abidin, he was informed at the recent International Design Conference in Sabah that proper waste management in the industrial sector and especially on construction sites can effectively reduce on-site construction waste by 70 percent.

Abidin said he was heartened to see that the anti-litter campaign organised by the City Hall has begun to bear fruit as more and more people are responding well to it.

"The corporate sector, the tourism sector, as well as schools now appear to be making a real effort to keep their grounds litter-free," he said.

Abidin said that the City Hall has worked relentlessly towards making the city and surrounding areas cleaner and has similarly introduced a proper waste management programme for villagers  living on the nearby islands and along the city's coastal areas.

"We at City Hall hope that through our efforts, we can influence the thinking of  the public, thereby cultivating the habit of  cleanliness," he said. 

Source: Insight Sabah

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