Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good Morning
I am indeed honoured to be here this morning, on behalf of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia to extend my warm welcome to all of you for attending this opening ceremony of the Workshop on Future of Nature Conservation Education in Malaysia, jointly organised by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Peninsular Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Malaysia Program.
I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to the organizing committee, for inviting me to grace and officiate this workshop. I am confident that the your presence here this morning would undoubtedly provide us the much needed impetus and motivation to strengthen conservation education as the nation moves towards a developed nation status by the year 2020.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The role of conservation education is extremely important especially in this era of rapid industrialization and extensive economic development in our country. The lack of integration in the conservation of natural resources in the midst of rapid economic development has brought about various environmental related problems. This is evident in Malaysia and also in most developing countries where most of the world’s biodiversity hotspots are located. To this day, haphazard land development and loss of habitats have invariably led to the depletion of our flora and fauna.
The declining size of natural habitats as over the decades, have inadvertently elevated the importance of conserving the remaining forested areas either in the form Wildlife Reserve, National Parks, State Park or Forest Reserve. However, conserving these remaining natural habitats in the present state of accelerated economic growth is a challenge and at the same time an opportunity for the management agencies that are entrusted to manage these precious national resources. Therefore, it is hoped that this Workshop would provide the platform for meaningful discussions and deliberations between the conservation educationists, academia and natural resource managers.
It can be considered a challenge because we may lose more of our natural heritage if we do not possess the right knowledge and skills to conserve these resources. On the other hand, it can be considered an opportunity because this can bring about an increased awareness even among top decision makers to give priority to conservation issues. One way to ensure that the present state of natural resource management could be turned into opportunity is by ensuring that the natural resources curriculum in our tertiary institutions provide the necessary platform for the attainment of such knowledge and skills among our younger generations who will eventually manage the natural resource, either in the DWNP or in other natural resources related agencies, NGO’s or even in the private sectors.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Malaysia is indeed fortunate to possess an environmental conscious Prime Minister who has given increasing attention in the conservation of natural resources in our country. The Honorable Prime Minister and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment are very concerned in conserving our natural resource heritage and the Prime Minister even chairs the National Biodiversity and Biotechnology Council, where conservation issues are being given priority. As a result, since last year the capacity of the DWNP and other natural resources agencies have been strengthened and thereby providing greater opportunities for young undergraduates to contribute towards the management and conservation of natural resources. The DWNP is expected to double its human resource strength over the next two years and a major portion of the new position will be filled by undergraduates. However, the DWNP and other natural resources agencies are dependent on the local institutions of higher learning to supply the bulk of the professional work force who are expected to deal with an ever increasing complex conservation issues.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The task to manage natural resources based on mere knowledge based conservation education may not be sufficient to bring about sustainable use of our natural resources. The DWNP and other natural resource management agencies would need future undergraduates to possess conservation leadership qualities to address the increasing complex conservation issues. Among them that I can point out based on my experience are the integration of conservation among state governments and development agencies; identifying sustainable use practices; involving diverse groups and communities in natural resource management; working across agency boundaries and communicating conservation issues to decision-makers at federal and state levels. The possession of such leadership qualities coupled with a strong foundation on conservation knowledge will provide the right dosage to meet the future challenges and opportunities in natural resource management as the nation races towards achieving Vision 2020.
Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to the organizing committee, including Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) organizing this workshop and also to other agencies and staff that help to materialise this workshop. The US State Dept is also acknowledged for their support. I am confident that the cooperation that we have today as evident by your kind participation would further strengthen our commitment to strengthen the teaching of natural resource conservation so that in the near
future we could officially sustainably manage the natural resources of our country. With that I hereby officially open this
Workshop.
I thank you all once again!
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