TEACH THE YOUNG TO APPRECIATE NATURE
MALAYSIA is recognised as one of 12 top mega-biodiversity countries in the world. Our country is home to natural resources that provide for the wellbeing and economic development of its people.
However, the pursuit of growth at the expense of the environment poses threats to the resources and the people who depend on them.
There has been an alarming decline in forest cover across Malaysia, and this contributes to flooding and pollution of rivers from fine sediment washed from the land surface.
The loss and fragmentation of natural habitats, made worse by poaching and illegal wildlife trade, have caused a collapse of wildlife populations in our country. This is evidenced by the listing of several Malaysian species as critically endangered in the International Union Conservation Nature’s red list of threatened species.
Off our coastlines, unsustainable fishing to feed demand for seafood has caused 90 per cent of demersal fish stock depletion in Malaysian waters since the late 1990s, while related pollution and bycatch threaten a range of other marine life.
We believe that education is key to protecting our planet and its natural resources.
Education is the foundation — everything a child sees or learns becomes a part of him, and helps shape his perception and attitude towards the world. Therefore, early exposure to environmental issues is a critical step towards conservation — it creates good citizens.
The Pakatan Harapan government’s aspiration to be business friendly and balance economic growth with environmental protection requires a holistic environmental education (EE).
There should be focus on young people, but this education should also be directed at parents, teachers, lecturers and administrators.
We have four recommendations for EE.
FIRST, the formulation and introduction of a policy on Education for Sustainable Development. This will help emphasise that EE plays an integral part in the education system and needs to be addressed in a holistic manner across all discipline areas.
Currently, there is no systematic approach to the integration of EE in the classroom — it is taught ad hoc and left to the personal efforts, priorities or time available to those involved in teaching and education;
SECOND, we advocate the Education Ministry to establish smart partnerships with students, parents, teachers, education advisers, private organisations, research institutions, environmental and social nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and business regulators, as well as local communities.
This will allow all partners to advance their common interests and learn from each other’s expertise in order to provide mutual support and increase commitment to a particular set of decisions they all consider important;
THIRD, the ministry must harness the network of higher learning institutions, research institutes, environmental and social NGOs to capitalise on their technical expertise and capacity for leadership.
Now, most research outcomes related to EE are not integrated within curricula or approaches to teaching and learning.
Harnessing the expertise available to us is crucial in designing curricula for all levels of education, adopting best practices in teaching (enquiry, investigative, case study, etc), and educational approaches (classroom, field trips, etc); and,
FOURTH, we are aware that funding is an essential part of the implementation process; hence, we encourage the ministry to make available resources for the successful delivery of EE, as well as monitoring so that its success can be evaluated.
It is imperative and timely that we realise EE is more than just information about the environment. EE allows and inspires students to consider and balance environmental issues along with other matters.
It develops their critical thinking and reasoning skills that will enhance their problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
MALAYSIA ENVIRONMENTAL NGO COALITION MEMBERS AND SPECIAL REVIEW PANEL MEMBERS FROM EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WORK GROUP