Trash2Gather clean-up event at Kampong Buntal

Dear nature lovers,

As the rainy season is slowly coming to an end, it is time for another Trash2Gather clean-up event. This time the chosen site is Kampong Buntal, located on the Santubong Peninsula at the Bako-Buntal-Bay. We would like to call volunteers and members of Malaysian Nature Society to show your commitment to protect our natural resources and support the Trash2Gather project. Support can be cash donations, cleaning materials and tools, or volunteering hands-on during the clean-up event.

Here are the details for the coming clean-up event:

Program Name:        Trash2Gather

Date:                      10^th March, 2018

Venue:                    Kampong Buntal

Number of Pax:        Estimated 200 pax

For further details please see the info sheet attached. If you would like to volunteer hands-on during the clean-up event, you are required to register by filling in the registration form attached or register online at https://goo.gl/forms/NflcBTQL7vR7WMoH2.

For those of you who are not yet familiar with the vision and mission of Trash2Gather , please find our statement as follows:

Vision:

Trash2Gather is a project under Malaysian Nature Society Kuching Branch (MNSKB) with the vision to reduce the amount of rubbish present in our estuarine waterways in South Western Sarawak within a period of 5 years.

Mission:

The project aims to mobilize between 700 – 1500 community members and volunteers to clean beaches and estuarine areas by 2022.

Besides the cleaning of beaches and estuarine areas, other activities such as talks and campaigns will create awareness about the amount of rubbish present in our estuarine waterways and the consequences of such pollution among the communities and the general public.

Ultimately the project also targets to reduce the amount of rubbish produced through the 5Rs: Reduce – Reuse – Recycle – Refuse – Repair.

Strategies:

v  Organize regularly repeating clean-up events in selected areas to reduce the current state of pollution

v  Collaborate with issue-related organizations and government departments to find long-term solutions to rubbish collection problems in selected areas

v  Promote the 5 R’s (Reduce – Reuse – Recycle – Refuse – Repair) by demonstrating examples and encouragement through incentives

v  Monitor developments and provide feedback

If you are interested to donate or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at Trash2Gather@gmail.com or call our project facilitator  Nicki Neuner (+6011 12308849) or Rose Au (+60168909468).

Thanks & regards from the Trash2Gather team!

Love Life Love Nature

Film night -2

Dear Members

We are pleased to announce that MNSKB will be holding a film evening on Thursday, 8 March at the Islamic Centre from 7:30 to 9:30pm. To register to attend this evening of films, reply to this email,mnskuching@gmail.com

Come and enjoy and learn more about the powers of nature.

Love Life

Love Nature

Powerful Tools: Films

Day / Date: Thursday, 8 March, 2018

Time: 7:30 pm to 9:30pm

Venue: Islamic Centre, Jalan Ong Tiang Swee, Kuching

The Goethe –Institute of Malaysia in collaboration with Ministry of Education, Schulen, German-Malaysian Institute, Malaysian Nature Society, Pasch Schools, and The Association of Science, Technology and Innovation put together a large number of award winning films on nature and issues that surround it. The films entertain, educate and extend messages about the natural world. They capture the beauty and power of nature, together with threats.

About the Films

Two award winning films, will be shown in Kuching. The films are aimed at the upper secondary level and up to adults.

Bug Technology, directed by Kenichi Sugawara from Japan, highlights the amazing abilites of insects and how they are inspiring research

Wild Ways, directed by James Brundige from the United States films the conflict between human structures and the wild animals; there is hope as he then shows ways in which migration routes are incorporated into the planning.

Show Schedule

7:30 pm: Bug Technology 

8:15 pm: Wild Ways  

To register for this evening of films, reply to this email at  mnskuching@gmail.com. 

See you at the movies.

Love life

Love nature

 MNSKB Secretariat

Plight of the Helmeted Hornbill

Dear Members,

Plight of the Helmeted Hornbill

The Helmeted Hornbill is a remarkable creature. It is the largest Hornbill in Asia. It is the only Hornbill with a solid casque on its bill, used by males in mid-air head-butting contests. Unfortunately, that same casque may make the Helmeted Hornbill the Bornean bird species most likely to become extinct in the next decade.

Hornbill “ivory”, as the casque material is misleadingly known, has been a trade good between Borneo and China for centuries. From about 2012 onward, though, demand for Helmeted Hornbill casques in China has gone through the roof. Ounce for ounce, hornbill casques are now worth considerably more than elephant ivory on the Chinese black market.  As a consequence, poachers are rapidly wiping out hornbill populations in Indonesia, including in Kalimantan.  Sarawak’s populations may be next – and hornbill casques smuggled from Indonesia have already been confiscated in Kuching.  Last year, an international workshop was held in Kubah National Park to develop a global action plan to save the species.

Join us for a presentation on this remarkable bird, the threats facing its survival, and the efforts being made to save it.  Dr. Ronald Orenstein, drawing on presentations by international experts, will bring us up to date on the Helmeted Hornbill and its conservation throughout its range, and Oswald Braken Tisen will inform us about the situation here in Sarawak.  Both speakers are members of the IUCN Hornbill Specialist Group and its Working Group on the Helmeted Hornbill.

​

A public talk organised by MNS Kuching Branch.

Date:    Thursday 1st March 2018

Venue:  Lower Baruk, Islamic Information Centre, Jalan Ong Tiang Swee, Kuching

Time:    7.30pm - 9.00pm

In order to facilitate seating arrangements, please reply by return email if you wish to attend the talk.

Thank you & best regards,

Audrey Dominic Neng

Secretariat

MNS Kuching

Open letter from NGOs to Malaysia’s political parties: Make sustainable development a priority

http://www.eco-business.com/opinion/open-letter-from-ngos-to-malaysias-political-parties-make-sustainable-development-a-priority/

Recycling nature’s way through composting By Mary Margaret

NATURAL ecosystems are multiple complexly interwoven cycles – life, nitrogen, water, and carbon. Composting is a natural cycle in which organic matter – leftover vegetables and fruits, coffee grinds and tea bags, bones – through the action of decomposers such as bacteria, fungi and insects, are broken into components that plants can then use for growth – the cycle of life.

This ecologically sound method for recycling organic matter has been included in the ‘Green Initiative’ programme of the Kuching South City Council (MBKS), which operates a recycling centre at the Stutong Community Market, enabling residents to exchange recyclable items (plastic, paper) for household goods under its ‘Buy Back Programme’.

Commercial composting MBKS environment and health officer Kho Joo Huat said it is very expensive to get rid of plant and animal waste from markets. Commercial composting is a way to reduce costs, pollution and carbon dioxide production, while making high quality natural fertiliser.

In May 2011, he oversaw the setting up of the first MBKS Green Centre at the market and then another at the Petanak Market in 2013.

Kho and his team facilitated a talk and demonstration on composting recently, organised by the Malaysian Nature Society Kuching Branch at the MBKS Green Centre at Stutong Market.

The stallholders, who attended the training sessions, support this initiative and they also received high quality organic fertiliser – a win-win situation.

Although the MBKS Green Centre is a hive of bacterial activities, there is no smell as the organic waste is quickly turned into high quality fertiliser.

“It takes 24 to 48 hours to complete the composting cycle. The mixture has already stabilised for one month, resulting in a tremendous reduction of waste,” Kho explained.

He added that the high quality organic fertiliser is used to maintain the plants and gardens around the city, but the public can also purchase it.

Home composting

Homeowners and flat or condominium dwellers can make composting a way of life too.

Kho has introduced the super simple, smell-free Takakura Home Composting System.

I myself compost kitchen and garden waste, but have had some problems with texture, odour and insect invasions.

This is probably because I just dump the stuff and let nature do the work.

So I am going to try the Takakura Home Composting System, an innovative method, which enables householders while reducing the amount of rubbish produced, to make high quality fertiliser for home use.

The four-step process is described in great detail in brochures available as hard copies or soft copies from their website. Fariz, a composting technician at the MBKS Green Centre, demonstrated the steps.

The first is to make separate sugar and salt solutions which, after ageing for three to five days, are used to make the seed compost – equal parts of rice bran and rice husk.

This mixture matures in around seven days and then you are ready to compost the organic matter you produce in your home.

Amelie Ningkang, who is enthusiastic about the Takakura Home Composting System, said, “A great initiative which if applied individually has the potential of a positive impact on the environment. I’m very keen to try this at home and contribute my part.”

Most of us know that global warming is a result of human economic activities. Composting may seem insignificant but it is not.

By composting at home, we reduce the waste and carbon produced. We are can green up our gardens. So we become part of the solution.

For information, go to www.mbks.sarawak.my.

Walk from Kubah National Park to Matang Wildlife Centre along the Rayu Trail

Dear Members,

Walk from Kubah National Park to Matang Wildlife Centre along the Rayu Trail

Day/ Date: Sunday, February 4, 2018  Meeting Time: 9:30 in the morning at Kubah National Park Estimated Length of Walk: 3 hours Meeting Point: Kubah National Park Level of Fitness Needed: Good Cost: Park entry fees and bus  Transportation: Participants must provide their own from Kuching to Kubah National Park Headquaters Items to Bring: Refer to the attached list Facilitator: John Roland Tuton How to Register: email mnskuching@gmail.com

​ 

On Sunday, February 4, 2017 MNSKB will be organising a walk from Kubah National Park to Matang Wildlife Centre along the Rayu Trail. This trail goes through the heart of the park and ends at Matang Wildlife Centre.  Kubah is rich in plant and animal life, particularly palms, frogs and birds. Mixed dipterocarp forest covers much of the park and shades Rayu Trail.  

Mr John Roland Tuton  who is an active member of MNSKB, will lead and facilitate.  The start time is 9:30 in the morning from Kubah National Park headquarters. You need to be relatively fit for this 3-hour walk that passes through the uneven and steep terrain and it is not a suitable activity for young children.

Participants must provide their own transportation to Kubah National Park, which is approximately one hour from Kuching. We suggest car-pooling.  MNKB will arrange for a bus to transport walkers from Matang Wildlife Centre back to the park headquarters. The cost of the bus, per person (including children), is RM15 for members and RM25 for non-MNS members.

Entrance fees for the Park are RM10 for Malaysian adults and RM5, aged 6-18, while the fees are RM20 for non-Malaysians and RM7, aged 6-18.   Please note that non-MNS members will be charged and additional RM10 to join the trip.

What to bring:  

·  Footwear with good grip which may get wet (e.g. Kampong Adidas or trekking sandals)

·  Light clothes/outdoor wear

·  Rain coat/poncho

·  Sun cream & hat

·  Leech socks (In case you need to buy Leech socks,The Outdoorshop Montanic at Viva City 4th floor sells them).

·  Drinking water & packed lunch

·  Backpack

To register for this activity please email MNSKB at mnskuching@gmail.com by Wednesday, 31 January 2018. We are able to accommodate a maximum of 20 people and registration will be on the first come basis. 

Please include the following information in your email: 

·     Names of members of your group, including children

·     IC or passport number

·     Telephone number

·     MNS Membership Number

We are looking forward to you joining us in this walk in the park. 

• Please bring extra set of clothes and leave in your car. This is in case you got wet or sweaty you can change into dry clothes.

Love Life, Love Nature

MNSKB Committee.