KUCHING: The Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) Sarawak, Trienekens Sarawak Sdn Bhd and World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Malaysia have inked a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to jointly publish a solid waste management and environmental education book.
The signing was done virtually via Zoom yesterday (Feb 9).
The book targets primary school students, particularly Kelab Pencinta Alam Sekitar (PALS Club) members, and will be the first of its kind in the state. It focuses on teaching the younger generation the fundamental knowledge, best practices in solid waste management and environmental sustainability.
One of the key strategies in managing the challenges in solid waste management is to create greater and consistent awareness through education.
“Environmental issues such as air and water pollution, severe storms and extreme weather conditions due to climatic change, resources depletion and other similar challenges can potentially turn into ecological nightmares.
“No single agency, group or certain sections of the society can single-handedly shoulder the responsibility of protecting and managing the environment or solve these problems,” said state NREB Controller of Environmental Quality Peggy Ronin Edin.
She said the MoA marked a strategic collaboration between NREB Sarawak, Trienekens Sarawak and WWF-Malaysia to work together towards improving the current situation through education and reaching out to the younger generation.
The PALS Club is an environmental education programme established by NREB Sarawak with support from the Education Department since 1999.
The club focuses on inculcating awareness, love and good practices for the environment, and has about 391 members comprising primary and secondary schools statewide.
According to Trienekens Group CEO Stephen Chin, the publication of the book was planned to provide an educational resource and framework that specifically addressed solid waste management issues.
“In order to change the mindset and behaviour of our society on solid waste management, we need to reach out and educate our young from an early age,” said Chin.
“We are in need of an appropriate educational material specifically on solid waste management which can complement the current educational syllabus.
“We are pleased to be collaborating with NREB Sarawak and WWF-Malaysia in this project and contributing towards creating quality educational materials on the subject,” he said.
WWF-Malaysia, led by its Education for Sustainable Development Programme team, will assist in developing, among others, the book’s overall concept design and contents, covering key chapters such as sustainable solid waste management, impacts of waste on the environment, illegal dumping, waste management hierarchy, best practices such as recycling, anti-littering, composting, waste as resources and circular economy.
WWF-Malaysia conservation director Dr Henry Chan said the publication of the book was timely and would complement the existing environmental education resources in the country.
“We look forward to working with NREB Sarawak and Trienekens in this project as it will help improve the level of environmental awareness and education efforts among the school children and lead to better protection and conservation of precious natural resources,” he said.
