(Bernama) — Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili has urged the people to not misunderstand the use of the words ‘nuclear’ or ‘atom’ that were quite often linked to destruction.

He gave as example X-ray technology as one form of nuclear technology used in the field of medicine.

“Actually we are not aware that nuclear technology has provided much benefit to the community at large,” Ongkili said at a ceremony to sign a memorandum of understanding between the Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia) and Growarisan Sdn Bhd.

He added that nuclear technology in Malaysia was not only limited to the medical field but was also used in other socio-economic sectors like agriculture, industries, manufacturing, engineering and the environment sector.

“For example the use of nuclear technology is in ensuring the standards of oil and gas plants; sterilising medical products; disinfecting agriculture products and flowers for import and export; water resource research; air pollution research; and much more,” Ongkili said.

He said the government was considering nuclear power as an additional source of energy under the national energy policy.

Earlier, the managing director of Growarisan Sdn Bhd, Azlan Nasir Yeo, said his company had set up a department for X-ray film audits called the X-ray Quality Assurance centre.

The department was important as it was responsible to ensure that X-ray film sent by X-ray centres registered with Growarisan followed procedures set out by the Health Ministry.

The company set up in December 2006 has 225 panel doctors, 67 X-ray centres and 20 medical laboratories throughout Sabah.

At the ceremony, Nuclear Malaysia director-general, Datuk Dr Daud Mohamad, and Azlan signed the MoU for technical and training services cooperation in the field of radiology medicine.

The agreement relates to the desire by both organisations to strengthen cooperation to develop medical radiology services in the aspect of quality assurance as well as to develop expertise in X-ray use through training and continuing medical education (CME).

Meanwhile on Monday, Ongkili said Sabah received an allocation of RM16 million from his ministry under the ‘Technofund’ grant for six projects.

Technofund is an allocation scheme introduced by the ministry for research and development (R&D) priority projects besides meeting the needs of industries in the country.

Ongkili said the grants were given to six Sabah firms as industry partners with the ministry for R&D.

Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the ministry has distrubuted allocations totalling RM800 for 263 projects, whereby 90 of the projects were implemented this year.

“On the whole, the government has allocated RM2.7 billion under the Ninth Malaysia Plan for the ministry for R&D work,” Ongkili said at a dinner with the recipients of the Technofund grants here.

Ongkili said Sabah had very large potential in the field of biotechnology from its biodiversity resources including marine life and insect biotechnology.

In that regard the ministry will strive to find industrial partners in Sabah to develop new technology approaches that still had not been explored.

“This includes enhancing traditional knowledge on herbal medicine through science,” he said, adding the government would do so under the 10th Malaysia Plan.

-ameinfo.com-

The Malaysian Prime Minister has said that the World Future Energy Summit will play a significant role, alongside Copenhagen, in accelerating the uptake of renewable, the future of the energy sector. He will be one of the speakers the Plenary Welcome Session, that will open the World Future Energy Summit for the third year from 18-21 January 2010. Other speakers in the session will include HE President Karolos Papoulias, President, Greece; HE Mohamed Nasheed, President, Maldives; HRH The Crown Prince Felipe de Borbón y Grecia, Spain and HRH The Crown Prince Frederik André Henrik Christian, Denmark.

Mohd Najib, Prime Minister of Malaysia commented on the challenges surrounding the adoption of renewable energy sources, “Each and every one of us has a role to play in driving the swift adoption of renewable energy. For a developing country like Malaysia, the cost of renewable energy generation is still high and is not economically viable because generating a return of investment takes a long time. It is therefore not easy to convince businesses to consider power generation from renewable resources as an attractive business opportunity.”

“Hence why, to jumpstart the development of renewable energy, introducing the right policy support and providing an environment that is conducive is a vital issue that governments must address and Malaysia is working actively towards that. However, it must also be said that this responsibility must be complemented by other stakeholders such as the private sector, industry, banking communities including the general public,” he continued.

The Malaysian government has played an instrumental role in promoting the use of renewable energy having included fiscal incentives in the annual budgets since 2001. The strategy adopted for the growth of renewables in the country is focused towards market forces delivering the intended outcomes. Malaysia has successfully attracted more than US$3 billion in Foreign Direct Investment in the solar PV manufacturing industry and is poised to become a solar PV manufacturing hub.

Mohd Najib, went on to comment on the World Future Energy Summit, “I feel that it is important for me to attend the World Future Energy Summit and partake personally in the development of renewable energy in the global scene. I do believe that the World Future Energy Summit will play a significant role alongside Copenhagen, as renewable energy is the future. The World Future Energy Summit will continue to be one of the global drivers that will accelerate the uptake of renewable energy development in our pursuit of environmental sustainability for the sake of the future generation.”

-The Star- KUALA LUMPUR: The climate changes and high-moisture waste were the factors that made garbage disposal dumps the sole method for efficient garbage disposal in the country.

The other method, the incinerator like that used in Langkawi was unable to meet the disposal of more than 19,000 tonnes of garbage generated daily by the nation apart from consuming a lot of power.

The cost for constructing an incinerator was also much higher when compared to that for constructing a garbage disposal dump. The former was also able to dispose garbage of much lesser amount.

The other factor was that incinerator was also not cost-effective when coming to garbage disposal.

“A RM1.5bil incinerator can only dispose up to 1,200 tons of garbage daily, but a sanitary garbage disposal dump built at the cost of RM120mil like that at Bukit Tagar is able to dispose more than 3,000 tons of garbage daily”, according to civil engineer Mohd Fatimi Said.

According to a source, the government will upgrade 30 of the 175 existing waste disposal dumps into sanitary facilities by the end of 2010. The move did not include the nine to be constructed sanitary garbage disposal sites to be constructed.

Among the locations marked for the construction of these sanitary garbage disposal dumps were Sungai Udang (Melaka, Lahat (Ipoh, Perak), Bukit Jembalang (Kemaman, Terengganu) and Ladang Tanah Merah (Negeri Sembilan).

Plus the seven existing sanitary garbage disposal dumps, this will bring the number of such facilities nationwide by the end of the Ninth Malaysia Plan to 46, said the source.

For the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (PPSPPA), the agency has initiated several measures to overcome the shortage of garbage dumpsites and existence of illegal dumps in the country.

Among them was the implementation of solid waste management strategy based on ‘waste hierachy’ to reduce the volume of garbage sent to disposal sites, as practised in many developed nations.

Among the measures undertaken were the reduction of wastes at the source at all premises, encouraging reuse and boosting the quality of items that can be recycled.

It was learnt that the approach was taken as it did not involve provisions of the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act 2007 (Act 672).

The government had encouraged the private sector to invest in green technology in the effort to boost efficiency of more environmental-friendly energy usage towards facing the changes in the global climate.

At the recent United Nations Organisation Conference On climate Changes in Copenhagen, Denmark, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak stated Malaysia’s commitment to cut the percentage of carbon dioxide emissions by 40% by the year 2020 with assistance from the developed nations.

The media has reported that the government had carried out a pilot project on waste separation at source in Putrajaya with the aim of improving public awareness on recycling to reduce the volume of wastes needed to be disposed.

The joint-venture effort by the PPSPPA, Solid Waste Management Department, Putrajaya Corporation, Alam Flora and Konsortium SSI-Schaefer was aimed to reduce by 40% the volume of garbage sent for disposal.

“The Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act focuses on recycling and has a special allocation for separation of wastes at the source,” Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha was quoted as saying in the media.

The pilot project that began last Aug 29 involved 170 apartments at Precint 8, 276 houses (Precint 9) and 105 houses (Precint 10) where each household was provided with two garbage bins of different types, one for organic waste and the other for non-organic waste that can be recycled.

This way, the respondent would be able to recycle and reduce the amount of rubbish sent to disposal sites and at the same time the organic waste can be turned into compost and used for other purposes.

In other words, the separation of garbage at source will assist to lengthen the lifespan of a garbage disposal dump.

PPSPPA Chief Executive Officer Datuk Zaini Md Nor said the corporation viewed the issue based in the overall context and not limited to collection of garbage and construction of dumps.

He said the PPSPPA, established under Act 673 – the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation Act 2007 that began operations on June 1, 2008, was responsible to monitor, supervise and enforce solid waste management and public cleansing in the country.

Among its roles was to enforce Act 672 and made improvisation recommendations whenever necessary.

PPSPPA was also responsible to inculcate public awareness and encourage public participation for sustainable management of public waste and cleansing such as reduction in waste and lodging reports on illegal dumping.

The corporation was also responsible for new technology research related, among else, to recycling technology, ‘waste to energy’ technology, and waste treatment facilitating technology.

According to Zaini, in the short run the corporation would manage the implementation of closing non-operating garbage disposal dumps, upgrading and construction of new disposal sites as planned by the Solid Waste Management Department in the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

“The corporation is the implementor of policies determined by the department”, he said.

The PPSPPA also collaborated with the concessionaires to improve the garbage collection schedule that frequently received complaints from the public apart from providing feedback to the local authorities.

The garbage collection issue should be dealt with first before the public’s mentality on recycling is changed.

The corporation, with the staff count of 900 at 52 district and state offices nationwide, was optimistic towards implementing its responsibilities in making Malaysia a clean country as required by its vision.

“To make the vision a success, we need the support of the society”, said Zaini, adding that PPSPPA was conducting a survey on public awareness for recycling that involved over 45,000 respondents nationwide since last August.

“The study is expected to be completed by end of this month. Through it, we will know the level of public awareness, problems and their suggestions in this issue,” said Zaini. — Bernama

-The Star- KOTA KINABALU: Policies and incentives are needed for the harnessing of renewable energy from Malaysia’s massive oil palm industry.

State owned POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Dr Pang Teck Wai said that at present, there were not sufficient incentives for oil palm players to consider renewable energy.

Although Dr Pang agreed that there were enough empty fruit bunches from oil palm industry to harness renewable energy. However, he said, nothing compelled the players to reduce their carbon footprint.

He cited the example of Eco Biomass Energy Sdn Bhd, a South Korean investor in the Lahad Datu palm oil industrial cluster (POIC Lahad Datu), which has encountered great difficulties in accessing biomass for its proposed biomass power plant.

“It’s been more than two years now and the eco-biomass company is still unable to secure sufficient long term supply of these bunches.

“The potential suppliers waver in their prices and terms, waiting to take advantage of the situation. There’s no urgency because selling the bunches has never been a major part of an oil palm mill’s income.

“There is no serious enforcement of laws to compel them to dispose of their bunches, which are a major contributor of methane gas when they rot, and methane gas is 20 times more harmful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide,” he added.

Statistics showed that Sabah produced over 30% of Malaysia’s palm oil but little of its biomass was being commercially utilised, he noted.

He said POIC Sabah had intended for EBE’s plant to produce power and steam to supply the various palm oil-related industries at POIC Lahad Datu, which, to date, has 24 investors in refinery, bio-diesel, fertilisers and logistics.

Dr Pang was commenting on reports quoting Malaysia Palm Oil Board chairman Datuk Sabri Ahmad as saying that Sabah could tap its power-generating potential from oil palm biomass, including methane gas, from what was known in the industry as palm oil mill effluent.

Dr Pang said a biomass policy that, among others, spelled out government incentives and strict environmental requirements was necessary for both the production of renewable energy and the country to take advantage of the huge volume of oil palm biomass.

“Unless there are incentives or laws or both, not many mills will bother to capture the gas,” he added.

He also pointed out the numerous difficulties faced by players to claim carbon credits and complying with the Clean Development Mechanism principles under the United Nations.

“We have received feedback that the auditing process is very cumbersome and a disincentive for millers to try for some of the money to fund their carbon-saving activities,” he said.

-The Sun-

MIRI (Dec 28, 2009) : Sahabat Alam Malaysia can be deregistered as a  non-governmental organisation (NGO) if there is proof that it is involved in activities which threaten the nation’s interest, says Datuk Mohd Alias Kalil of the Registrar of Societies (ROS).

He said the ROS office had yet to receive an official complaint against SAM which had been actively involved in activities against commercial logging and plantation development, besides the building of dams in Malaysia, reports Bernama.

Speaking at a news conference while visiting the ROS office here yesterday, he said more information was required before they could take action against the organisation which had been active for over 30 years.

He assured that the ROS office would monitor SAM closely and any other NGO which acted in an extreme manner while fighting for their cause.

He said the relevant agencies under the Home Ministry should also take follow-up action to ensure that the organisations do not operate illegally after their registration with ROS had been cancelled.

Mohd Alias said throughout the year, 705 organisations were deregistered.

He said only a small number of cases were caused by their flouting regulations which allowed them to operate legally.

“Most of the organisations were deregistered because they failed to submit  their annual reports,” he said.

When contacted by theSun SAM’s honorary secretary Meena Raman said that the NGO was shocked by Mohd Alias’ statement and said the organisation had no idea how these allegations came about.

“Instead of undermining the nation’s interests, SAM has been protecting the environment for the past 30 years without any problems,” she said.

Meena added that their work was in line with what Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said in the recent world climate summit in Copenhagen about Malaysia’s voluntary effort to reduce its carbon footprint.

By Syed Azwan Syed Ali

This is the first part in a series of two features on garbage disposal

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 (Bernama) — The bustling economic growth experienced by a developing country like Malaysia demanded the effective disposal of its domestic solid wastes.

The government’s commitment in this aspect was proven with the existence of the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry as well as agencies such as the National Solid Waste Department and Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (PPSPPA).

The National Green Technology Policy was also drafted.

In the international level, Malaysia had signed the Kyoto Protocol 1997 to deal with the climatic changes and global warning due to the green house effect.

However despite this commitment, there were several issues that needed immediate action and improvement particularly in the management of garbage disposal in the country.

SEVEN SANITARY DISPOSAL SITES

Only seven of the 289 garbage disposal sites in the country were environmental-friendly sanitary sites.

This means less than 2.5 percent of the existing garbage disposal sites in the country were being well managed while the rest were operated on the ‘open-dumping’ basis.

For Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)’s Prof Ir Dr Hassan Basri, this scenario reflected that solid wastes disposal system in the country was still inefficient.

“It is critical in the long run,” said the professor in environmental engineering.

Hassan’s statement was based on the environmental pollution risks posed by the open-dumping garbage disposal sites.

WATER, AIR POLLUTION

The implication of using open-dumping garbage disposal sites were the permeation (seepage) of ‘leachate’ into the underground water resources and the release of methane gas (CH4) caused by decomposition of the garbage.

The open-dumping sites also required high maintenance costs apart from causing depreciation in the value of the surrounding real estate.

“There are also constraints facing the opening of new open-dumping garbage disposal sites posed by the infrastructure requirements due to the limited land available,” said Dr Latifah Abdul Manaf, a lecturer on environment from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

A visit by this writer to the sanitary garbage disposal site at Bukit Tagar found the facility to have several ‘pleasant’ features.

The site has a ‘liner’ to prevent seepage of the leachate into underground water sources apart from a system of underground pipes that pool the leachate and channelled the susbstance into a treatment plant.

The site was also equipped with the ‘daily cover’ made up of clay and plastic used to cover the garbage to prevent it from being accessible to pests like rodents and crows.

Hence, Bukit Tagar sanitary garbage disposal dump was a much welcomed garbage disposal facility as compared to the open-dumping sites that discharged foul odour that can be smelled kilometres away.

THE BEST CHOICE

Sanitary garbage disposal sites also have a pipe system that absorb the methane gas released from decomposition of garbage that can be used for power generation.

In the case of the Bukit Tagar garbage disposal site, its ‘advance cell’ that was closed in November 2007 after operating for two years, now generated 1.0 Megawatt of electricity used for operations at the site.

The existence of the pipes prevented accidental combustion of green house gases.

The latest example on this was the fire at the 300 feet high garbage pile-up at the illegal dump at Kampung Sungai Kertas, Gombak early last September.

The problems related to disposal of solid wastes was not only faced by Malaysia but also in other countries due to rapid economic development, population boom and limited land.

POPULATION INCREASE

In Malaysia, with the population jump forecast at 2.4 percent or 600,000 a year (since 1994) more solid wastes was expected to be produced, reducing the life span of the garbage disposal dumps.

The scenario was further worsened with the statistics that showed 113 of the 289 garbage disposal sites in the country were no longer operating. Most of them were waiting for ‘decomissioning’.

However the operations of several of theze sites had to be extended, like tha garbage dumps at Sungai Sedu, Banting that received garbage flow from Sepang and Putrajaya. The site was supposed to be closed last June!

And, most of these 113 dumps were not sanitary garbage disposal facilities. Another interesting fact was that these garbage disposal sites were managed by the local authorities or their appointed firms.

According to the PPSPPA, 114 garbage disposal sites were under the management of the local authorities with 58 in the Peninsula and Labuan Federal Territory, 41 in Sarawak and 15 in Sabah.

LIMITATION, SOLUTION

For Prof Hassan, this issue was rather complex coupled with factors like the shortage of funds and expertise, lack of public awareness apart from the ‘grey’ legal aspects.

Parliament passed the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Act 2007 on Aug 30, 2007 but due to certain reasons, it had yet to be implemented.

According to industry sources, the delay was due to the privatisation of solid waste management which was yet to be finalised despite the fact that the management of solid waste was being handled by Alam Flora, SWM Environment and Idaman Bersih Sdn Bhd according to their respective zones since 1996.

Presently, the ‘employers’ of these garbage disposal firms were the respective local authorities.

Back to the garbage disposal dumps issue. The government had implemented the Action Plan 1988 that was aimed at boosting the efficiency of the garbage disposal sites in stages.

The stages — controlled disposal (phase one), sanitary fill-up with daily covers (phase two), sanitary fill-up with leachate circulation system (phase three) and sanitary fill-up with leachate treatment (phase four).

However, it appeared that this action plan was not working well as proven by the fact that only seven garbage disposal dumps in the country were sanitary facilities and they were operated by the private sector.

Three of these sanitary garbage disposal dumps were in Selangor and one each in Kedah, Pahang, Melaka and Johor.

RECYCLING LENGTHENS LIFE SPAN OF DISPOSAL SITES

The situation was further compounded by the society’s lackadaisical attitude on the recycling campaign launched in 1993 and 2000. This was proven by the percentage of recycling being a mere 5.0 percent.

This was a great distance away from the government’s target of 22 per cent by the year 2020. What more when compared to a developed nation like Japan where the recycling percentage was at more than 50 percent.

The time has arrived for the government to come out with a more effective measure apart from conducting campaigns and advertisements.

Problems associated with garbage disposal such as the unregular collection of garbage should be dealt with in a transparent and wholesome manner as the amount of solid wastes was continuing to pile up everyday and expected to reach 30,000 tonnes within the next 11 years.

Hence, the society does not really have much choice except to recycle, and this can begin right in the home.

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By: Ramjit

–>

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-The Star-
GEORGE TOWN: The Forestry Department and several environmental NGOs have planted more than five million mangrove saplings nationwide over the last five years and they are not slowing down.

Penang Forestry Department director Mohd Puat Dahalan said since 2007, 88,000 mangrove saplings have been planted on 22ha of land with a survival rate of more than 70%.

“We are working closely with NGOs like Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) and the Penang Inshore Fishermen Welfare Association (Pifwa) in the planting effort which covers locations from Perlis to Johor and Sabah and Sarawak.

“We’ll monitor the saplings to make sure our efforts are not wasted,” he said during the fifth mangrove replanting programme in commemoration of the tsunami at Kuala Sungai Haji Ibrahim in Sungai Acheh, Nibong Tebal, yesterday.

More than 50 fishermen and their children took part, digging up the mud to plant 600 mangrove saplings at the site which was not spared the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

SAM council member Mohideen Abdul Kader said cooperation from the community was vital in ensuring the success of the planting effort as they were able to monitor the situation closely.

“Volunteers are also simultaneously planting 3,500 of these plants in seven other locations in Langkawi, Kerpan, Merbok, Tanjung Dawai in Kedah, Pontian in Johor, Kuala Kurau and Segari in Perak,” he said.

Pifwa chairman Ilias Shafie said mangrove trees were often sacrificed for modern development.

He said mangrove trees were instrumental in blocking the effects of the 2004 tsunami.-

-The Star-By DATUK DR HALIM MAN

In James Cameron’s newest film Avatar an alien tribe on a distant planet fights to save their forest home from human invaders bent on mining the planet. The mining company has brought in ex-marines for ’security’ and will stop at nothing, not even genocide, to secure profits for its shareholders. While Cameron’s film takes place on a planet sporting six-legged rhinos and massive flying lizards, the struggle between corporations and indigenous people is hardly science fiction.

For decades real indigenous tribes around the world have faced off with corporations—mining, logging, oil and gas—determined to exploit their land. These corporations, much like the company in the film, usually have support from the government and access to ’security forces’, sometimes in the form of ex-military or state police. Yet unlike the film, in which the indigenous group triumphs over the corporate and military invaders, the real-life stories of indigenous tribes rarely end justly: from Peru to Malaysia to Ecuador their struggles continue.

Spears versus guns

Kayapo shaman in Brazil

In Avatar the indigenous tribe, called the Na’vi, use poison-tipped arrows to defend themselves against the guns, gas, and explosions used by the human invaders. Art imitates life: in June of this year, violence erupted in Peru as heavily-armed police clashed with indigenous protestors, some carried spears, others were unarmed.

The indigenous tribes were protesting nearly 100 new rules pushed through the Peruvian government—led by President Alan Garcia—that made it easier for foreign companies to exploit oil, gas, timber, and minerals on indigenous land. The violent skirmish that followed led to the deaths of 23 police officers and at least 10 indigenous people—with indigenous groups saying the government went to great lengths to hide/dispose of bodies to make it appear that fewer natives were killed. Bodies were allegedly dumped in rivers.

What is known is that 82 protesters suffered gunshot wounds and 120 in total were injured in the melee. Protesters say tear gas was used; in addition some say machine guns—shown in photos—were fired at them.

Peruvian security forces killing indigenous protesters in Peru. Photo © 2009 Marijke Deleu

Just weeks after the bloody incident, Texas-based Hunt Oil, with full support of the Peruvian government, moved into the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve with helicopters and large machinery for seismic testing. A scene not unlike Avatar, which shows a corporation entering indigenous territory with gun ships. The seismic testing alone involves 300 miles of testing trails, over 12,000 explosive charges, and 100 helicopter land pads in the middle of a largely-untouched and unknown region of the Amazonian rainforest. The reserve, which was created to protect native peoples’ homes, may soon be turned into a land of oil scars. Indigenous groups say they were never properly consulted by Hunt Oil for use of their land.

Many of the rules put forth by the government that led to the protest have since been determined unconstitutional, while Garcia has rescinded two rules. Still Garcia says—as evidenced from Hunt Oil—that he plans to move forward with controversial oil and gas development on tribal lands in the Amazon.

Areas of the region slated for development are also home to uncontacted Amazonian tribes. Garcia has repeatedly called into question the existence of any such tribes, though aerial photos recently showed uncontacted natives armed with spears near the area in question. The leases under protest are a part of the Free Trade Agreement signed by both the United States and Canada.

In the film the Na’vi are dismissed as “blue monkeys” and “savages” by the corporate administrator. Both the corporation and their hired soldiers view the Na’vi as less than human.

In Peru, President Alan Garcia has called indigenous people “confused savages”, “barbaric”, “second-class citizens”, “criminals”, and “ignorant”. He has even compared tribal groups to the nation’s infamous terrorists, the Shining Path.

There is no end in sight in the struggle between the indigenous people of Peru and government-sanctioned corporate power.

Decades of oppression in Borneo: violence, rape, murder

In March 2006, the bulldozers belonging to Interhill, a Malaysian logging company, reached Ba Abang, a Penan village in the Middle Baram region. Since the late 1980s, Interhill has been cutting down rainforests in a 55,000 hectare timber concession in Sarawak’s Middle Baram region. Photos and captions by the Bruno Manser Fund

Across the world, another people are fighting to save their homes from corporate exploitation. The Penan people of Malaysian Borneo have suffered greatly from industrial loggers entering their ancestral home: not only has the tribe lost forest land and important tribal sites, including burial grounds, to bulldozers and chainsaws, but the Penan people have faced violence, rape, and even alleged murder.

The struggle began when industrial logging first appeared in the area in the 1980s and today shows no sign of abatement or resolution. In fact, a new threat has risen in recent decades as logged forests are swiftly turned into industrial oil palm plantations, excluding any chance of the natural forest returning after logging or of natives receiving their land back.

The Penan—some of whom live as nomadic hunter-gatherers in the forest—have fought corporate loggers through lawsuits and road barricades. In turn they faced violence from Malaysian police and security forces hired by powerful logging companies. Some even fear for their lives. In 2008 longtime Penan chief, Kelesau Naan, was allegedly murdered for his long activism against logging on tribal lands. When his body was finally found—after two months—it was discovered that several of his bones were broken, leading the Penan to believe he was murdered for his opposition to the destruction of his tribe’s traditional lands. Prior to this, two Penan activists disappeared mysteriously in the 1990s and Swiss-activist, Bruno Manser, who fought long and hard for Penan rights, vanished in the region in 2000.

Recently, Penan girls have come forward to say that they were raped, beaten, and sexually abused by logging employees. A 110-page report released this year by the Malaysian Ministry for Women, Family and Community Development has documented their stories, while a government team investigating the matter stated that at least eight allegations of rape or sexual abuse were “certainly true”. Girls as young as ten were assaulted and raped, some becoming pregnant. The Penan girls, who receive rides to-and-from school by loggers, have said that it was common to be sexually abused during these rides. Yet a probe by the police into the matter went nowhere due to lack of evidence.

Former regional Penan chief of the Upper Baram region, James Laloh Keso (center). Photo courtesy of the Bruno Manser Fund.

Just this month the rapes were dismissed by government official, James Masing, the Sarawak Minister for Land Development. The Minister told the BBC that in regards to the rapes the “Penan are very good story tellers. They change their stories, and when they feel like it.”

Most recently, the Penan people have tried a new strategy to preserve their dwindling home. Seventeen tribes of the Penan declared a ‘peace park’ covering 163,000 hectares of their ancestral home in order to bring light to their situation and pressure the government to halt plans for logging in the area. The government refused to recognize the status of the peace park and logging is slated to continue.

Few indigenous people have faced more tragedy, despair, and humiliation over the past thirty years than the Penan.

The curse of oil

A battle of a different kind is ongoing in Ecuador. Oil giant Chevron is currently in a $27 billion lawsuit with Ecuadorian indigenous tribes for environmental damage caused by Texaco, a company acquired by Chevron in 2001. In court Texaco has admitted to dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic waste inside Ecuador’s rainforest from 1964-1990. A court expert found contamination at every one of Texaco’s former well sites, estimating oil damages 30 times larger than the infamous Exxon-Valdez spill and spanning an area the size of Rhode Island.

The case, known to some as the ‘Amazon Chernobyl’, involves 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorian plaintiffs. The toxic spill impacted six indigenous tribes, one of which has vanished entirely. The court has found that over 1,400 people have suffered untimely deaths from cancer due to contamination from the oil spill.

Despite these facts, Chevron has gone to great lengths to avoid reparations for environmental damage. In 2008 it was revealed that Chevron hired key political players, including former Senate majority leader Trent Lott and John McCain fund-raiser Wayne Berman to lobby United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab, members of Congress, and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte to threaten suspending US trade preferences with Ecuador until the lawsuit was dropped. But the corporation’s attempt to use US political power to disenfranchise 30,000 indigenous people failed.

Then this September Chevron released a video that it said proved Ecuadorian officials, including the presiding judge, were taking bribes on the case. However, the video turned out to be a fake: the business man in the video is in fact a convicted drug felon and another person in the video is an Ecuadorian contractor who has received payments from Chevron. Both the bribe and the bribers in the video were faked and others appearing in the video say the footage was heavily edited. Chevron denies that they were in any way involved in making the video.

The lawsuit has been ongoing since 2003 and a ruling has not yet been made. But Chevron has stated publically that even if it loses the case it won’t pay any damages.

“We’re not paying and we’re going to fight this for years if not decades into the future,” according to Chevron spokesman Don Campbell.

This year a documentary Crude detailing the struggle by indigenous people to hold Chevron accountable was released in theatres. Chevron’s responded with a PR campaign to disparage the film-maker and the indigenous victims [Editor's note: Chevron's PR efforts included posting comments on mongabay.com articles].

No happy Hollywood ending

Oil and gas blocks in the western Amazon. Solid yellow indicates blocks already leased out to companies. Hashed yellow indicates proposed blocks or blocks still in the negotiation phase. Protected areas shown are those considered strictly protected by the IUCN (categories I to III). Image courtesy of PLoS ONE

While the film Avatar ends with the indigenous aliens securing their home from corporate and military invaders, in reality that outcome is rare. Often these conflicts drag on for decades with the indigenous tribes, despite best efforts, tragically losing their home bit-by-bit. Forests are decimated, biodiversity lost, carbon released into the atmosphere, and the tribe is slowly weakened and destroyed from without, their culture and traditions attacked at the same time as their territory is knocked down.

Despite the repeated unjustness, rarely do these stories reach the mainstream media in the industrial world. Companies act with impunity, devastating forests and homes in part to feed the insatiable appetites of developed and emerging economies for furniture, oil palm, gas, and crude oil.

While Avatar is a fun, showy film that many may view as simple sci-fi entertainment, the film clearly alludes to struggles and injustices that one doesn’t need to travel across the galazy to see, but are occurring right here on planet Earth.

-Malaysiakini.com- byDr Helmy Haja Mydin

The recent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen was organised on the background of the growing international acceptance that the environmental changes that modern society are witnessing are iatrogenic in nature and that corrective mechanisms should be put in place in order to reverse the trend of a gradually warming planet.

However, the fact that climate change is also a public health issue is not at the foremost of public consciousness despite the fact that our health can be affected by climate change through a number of ways:

Decrease in resources

The gradual decline in fresh water and arable land will be causes of insufficient potable water and malnutrition. The demand for such resources in an atmosphere of dwindling supply will also lead to the inexorable increase in levels of poverty, arguably the most important factor in public health.

Spread of infectious diseases

The change in mean temperature brings about subtle changes to an ecosystem’s flora and more importantly, its fauna. Effects tend to include changes in range and seasonality of outbreaks. This is of a particular importance with regards to insect vectors especially mosquitoes and flies, who are together, the most dangerous animals known to man.

Natural disasters

People can be more directly affect by floods and famine; not only to such events predispose entire societies to diseases such as cholera and dehydration from heat waves, but entire working populations can be wiped out with the end result of psycho-social displacement that leads to further increase in healthcare inequalities and a decline in national economic growth.

Just as importantly, the factors that are said to contribute to global climate change can have just as devastating an impact to our personal health. This includes the increased rates of asthma exacerbations from air pollution and the growing epidemic of diabetes and coronary heart disease from our penchant to indulge in a meat-centred Western diet.

It is perhaps a relief then that mitigating climate change has the added effect of improving our health. In fact, the benefits can be more readily apparent when applied to our individual well- being as opposed to that of the planet.

There are many things that can we can do on a personal level. These activities do not need to be at the cutting edge of science, but rather more pragmatic day-to-day behavioural changes. These would include less aversion for the use of public transport, a reduction in the quantity of meat that we consume and decreasing the tendency to overuse air-conditioners. There are plenty of resources, especially over the Internet, from which one is able to reach for a comprehensive list of advice.

The Malaysian federal and state governments should also be more discriminating when taking up their roles in these matters.

From a healthcare point of view, appropriate resources should be allocated or obtained to serve areas that are most in need of assistance. It is a known contradiction that those who need the most healthcare input tend to be those who have the least access to it.

Plans should already be in place to ensure that our healthcare system is able to cope with any surge in capacity, and that we have improved surveillance mechanisms to detect changes in disease progression. It would also be useful to invest in training the workforce and encouraging further promotion of public health issues, as at the end of the day, changes will only be able to be implemented if there are sufficient public education and awareness.

More generically, policies can be implemented to help limit the effects of climate change as well as its detrimental effects on our health. These would include tax breaks for green entrepreneurship, promoting competition to boost the anaemic state of our public transport system and even gradually decreasing the subsidy that is given for fuel consumption.

The caveat is that these policies will need to be introduced in a step-wise and practical fashion; we will need to prevent the introduction of negative health effects such as exposure to traffic danger when crossing the road to the nearest LRT station.

Change is never easy and politicians might be reluctant to introduce changes that might displease the rakyat. Unfortunately, we will all have to bite the bullet soon and make the conscious decision to take steps to improve not only the state of our health, but the fragile state of our planet.

Although Lord Stern (who released an economic report of climate change for the UK government) has described the Copenhagen summit as the most important since the end of the Second World War, it is clear that we cannot rely on the actions of governments to push ahead with the agenda for change – at the end of the day, we should take individual responsibility for our actions and not leave it to the state

The writer is Healthcare Policy Fellow, Malaysia Think Tank.