WELL DONE: Ali (second right) presenting a scroll to the winner of a poster design contest held in conjunction with the conference. FRIM head of eco-tourism Dr Noor Azlin Yahya is at left. — Photo by Kong Jun Liung
KUCHING: Schools are encouraged to conduct field visits to reserves and national parks for their students to
heighten their awareness on the importance of conserving the environment.
Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) managing director and chief executive officer Datu Ali Yusop said reserves and national parks could become their classrooms to learn more about the environment and conservation efforts.
“I understand that schools today are committed to facilitating environmental education for their students. I therefore encourage them to use our reserves and national parks.
“I hope schools will remain committed in making environmental education effective for a healthy and sustainable world,” he said when closing the Urban Forestry Conference 2012 at Samajaya Nature Reserve here yesterday.
Ali believed that nature reserves such as Samajaya were vital, particularly for children to acquire hands-on experience and be involved in environment-related activities to preserve Mother Nature besides serving as an effective platform to impart environmental messages to the younger generation.
“Environmental education is essential as everything we do has an impact on the environment. Sarawak Forestry’s environmental conservation education team understands this and continually strives to upgrade their skills in this area.
“We will also organise more activities to engage communities surrounding our protected areas.”
He thanked Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) for bringing the conference to Kuching as well as contributors and supporters for making the event a success.
To the participants, he hoped that they would adopt relevant ideas when implementing and managing urban parks besides improving environmental education in their respective organisations.
Earlier, FRIM head of eco-tourism Dr Noor Azlin Yahya said the conference had resolved to encourage healthy lifestyle among the communities on top of playing a role to see more sports facilities built for the purpose.
Azlin, who is also chairperson of the conference, added that environment friendly facilities and sustainable resource management would be the way forward for conserving urban forests and green space in Malaysia.
“Community involvement is equally vital as we look forward to a sharing of responsibility in promoting healthy lifestyle and human well-beings.”