Youths urge govt to protect rainforests

GERIK: The Green Rangers Malaysia — Voices of Youth Summit, held in conjunction with the Belum Rainforest Summit (BRainS 2016), has urged the government to support the conservation of rainforests.

The resolution came after a twoday Belum Adventure Camp in the Belum-Temengor rainforest last month. Attended by 27 students from Malaysia and Bali, Indonesia, they learned about the tropical rainforest, deemed to be one of the oldest in the world.

To teach them the importance of conservation, the camp held exercises for students to navigate the rainforest and learn about its flora and fauna.

Some of the activities included the flying fox and bamboo rafting in Temengor Lake.

The camp, an offshoot of the BRainS 2016, featured a talk by the summit’s speakers, such as Manoj Gautam of the Jane Goodall Institute in Nepal and Dr Mark Rayan of WWF Malaysia.

Participants were told that leaving a legacy for others was the first step in raising awareness. These words resonated and inspired them to come up with a resolution.

“We challenge governments to implement reforestation to replace our logged forest habitats.

“We challenge them to block access points for poaching activities.

“More opportunity should be given for students and youth nationwide to visit and learn about the flora and fauna of Belum forest, as well as the threats it faces from poaching and logging.

“We challenge the Pulau Banding Foundation to organise yearly school visits to Belum,” read their resolution.

The youth also presented their research on Belum-Temengor in front of experts and conservationists at the main BRainS summit this year with poetry and videos at www.brainsfeed.org.

Their wish list for environmental support will be presented at the United Nations Environment Programme conference in Bangkok next month.

Being immersed in the rainforest with advocates, who are greatly concerned about ecological issues, encouraged the students to make personal pledges.

The students also hosted a campaign to raise global awareness of rainforest ecosystems through #YouthSummit2016, #GreenRangers2016 and #GetInvolved.

For details on Green Rangers Malaysia — Voices of Youth Summit, visit www.brainsfeed.org, BRainSfeed’s Facebook and @brainsfeedlive on Twitter.