The community garden’s establishment has indirectly allowed the residents to take ownership of the river stretch and monitor the Sungai Keroh by becoming the eyes and ears of the river’s condition and any illegal dumping activities.
Public parks, community gardens and colourful murals are just some of the ways Sungai Klang and Sungai Gombak have been transformed through the River of Life outreach programme, which has helped educate the people on the importance of preserving our waterways.
Since 2018, FoSK TMR3 has carried out the longest continuous community gotong-royong in Malaysia, currently at 107 weeks and counting. Each Saturday, members and participants show up at the riverbank to carry out any task needed.
Faizal Parish, director of the Malaysian nonprofit Global Environment Centre who has worked on sustainable peatland management, fire prevention and transboundary haze for 30 years, believes Malaysia is right to adopt a more regional approach.
Global Environment Centre (GEC) said there was a higher than normal rainfall around this time that was usually a dry period. “So we may be heading towards the La Nina phenomenon. “However, the human or local factors are also big contributors to the problem,” said GEC director Faizal Parish.
“Key practitioners in ASEAN and Australia shared insights on the impacts and potential risks of the pandemic situation on ASEAN’s response to fire and haze events, as well as lessons learnt from the 2020 Mekong dry season and 2019 Australia bushfire crisis. Further, they shared preparedness actions for the upcoming dry season in the Southern…
Global Environment Centre (GEC) river care programme coordinator Dr K. Kalithasan said it was important for communities to take ownership of rivers and realise their role as custodians.
Global Environment Centre (GEC) river care programme coordinator Dr K. Kalithasan said, “Community empowerment has helped them become guardians of the rivers who act as ‘frontliners’ and report to the authorities when they come across illegal dumping activities.”
GEC is recognised as the Role Model for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO), given by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (KeTSA)under the “Program Penanaman Pokok Bakau dan Spesies-spesies yang Sesuai di Pesisiran Pantai Negara” (National Programme for Planting Mangroves and other Suitable Species on the coast). Read More
“Besides, we also make donations to tree planting organisations in Malaysia such as the Global Environment Centre (GEC).”
