In the first of this two-part “From The Frontline” special, we hear from Orang Asli women about the land disputes affecting communities across Peninsular Malaysia. Eliana a/p Tan Beng Hui, Diana a/p Tan Beng Hui and Rosdila Ngah Roslan, all Programme Coordinators from Apa Kata Wanita Orang Asli, share what losing access to land can mean for everyday life, livelihoods, culture and community, and why women are often at the forefront of these struggles.

From The Frontline is an ongoing series within Earth Matters, where we hear directly from communities whose lives and livelihoods are being shaped by decisions about the land around them.

In the first of this two-part “From The Frontline” special, we hear from Orang Asli women about the land disputes affecting communities across Peninsular Malaysia. Eliana a/p Tan Beng Hui, Diana a/p Tan Beng Hui and Rosdila Ngah Roslan, all Programme Coordinators from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/@ApaKataWanitaOrangAsli">Apa Kata Wanita Orang Asli</a>, share what losing access to land can mean for everyday life, livelihoods, culture and community, and why women are often at the forefront of these struggles.From The Frontline is an ongoing series within Earth Matters, where we hear directly from communities whose lives and livelihoods are being shaped by decisions about the land around them.

Climate change, ferocious weather and ‘the haze’ are now part our everyday lives. How are our lifestyles connected to them, and what can we do about it? What does the economy have to do with it? Earth Matters engages with activists and experts to explore our changing relationship with the planet that we only borrow from our children.

Earth Matters

From The Frontline: Life on Orang Asli Land (Part 1)

When we talk about Malaysia’s endangered wildlife, the Malayan tiger usually gets the most attention. But there’s another large mammal in serious trouble, and there may be fewer than 200 of them left in the wild. The seladang, or Malayan gaur, once ranged across much of Peninsular Malaysia, but today, only a few small breeding herds remain. Even in protected forests, their numbers aren’t recovering. So why are seladang struggling to survive? What do they actually need, and what can we do before we lose them? We speak to Datuk Dr John Payne from Bringing Back Our Rare Animals (BORA), and Dr Ahmad Zafir, a wildlife ecologist from The Habitat Foundation, who have been researching solutions to help bring seladang numbers back up.

When we talk about Malaysia’s endangered wildlife, the Malayan tiger usually gets the most attention. But there’s another large mammal in serious trouble, and there may be fewer than 200 of them left in the wild. The seladang, or Malayan gaur, once ranged across much of Peninsular Malaysia, but today, only a few small breeding herds remain. Even in protected forests, their numbers aren’t recovering. So why are seladang struggling to survive? What do they actually need, and what can we do before we lose them? We speak to Datuk Dr John Payne from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.bringingbackourrareanimals.org/">Bringing Back Our Rare Animals</a> (BORA), and Dr Ahmad Zafir, a wildlife ecologist from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.habitatfoundation.org.my/">The Habitat Foundation</a>, who have been researching solutions to help bring seladang numbers back up.

An SOS to Save Our Seladang

The haze is back - the air is smoky, visibility is down, and in some parts of the country, the air quality has reached dangerous levels. Fires across Indonesia, particularly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, are sending smoke across Southeast Asia once again. What's doubly worrying is that they are burning through one of the world's largest tropical peatland ecosystems. We've been living through and talking about Southeast Asia’s haze problem since the 1990s, we’ve had agreements, action plans, firefighting operations and repeated promises to tackle the problem at its source. Yet here we are again. Back in 2015, during one of the region’s worst haze episodes, environmental researcher Dr Teckwyn Lim sent a memo to Indonesia’s then-president Joko Widodo. Its title was simple: “Block the Drains, Stop the Haze.” The argument was that we need to look beyond the fires themselves, and ask why these landscapes are able to burn in the first place. So, eleven years on, what have we learned? And are we still dealing with the same underlying problem? Teckwyn, who has worked in the peatlands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, joins us to share more. 

The haze is back - the air is smoky, visibility is down, and in some parts of the country, the air quality has reached dangerous levels. Fires across Indonesia, particularly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, are sending smoke across Southeast Asia once again. What's doubly worrying is that they are burning through one of the world's largest tropical peatland ecosystems. We've been living through and talking about Southeast Asia’s haze problem since the 1990s, we’ve had agreements, action plans, firefighting operations and repeated promises to tackle the problem at its source. Yet here we are again. Back in 2015, during one of the region’s worst haze episodes, environmental researcher Dr Teckwyn Lim sent a memo to Indonesia’s then-president Joko Widodo. Its title was simple: “Block the Drains, Stop the Haze.” The argument was that we need to look beyond the fires themselves, and ask why these landscapes are able to burn in the first place. So, eleven years on, what have we learned? And are we still dealing with the same underlying problem? Teckwyn, who has worked in the peatlands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, joins us to share more.&nbsp;

Haze Again: What Haven’t We Fixed?

A plan to protect one of Sarawak’s remaining rainforest landscapes has instead ended with a major timber concession over the same forests, according to a new report about the Upper Baram. For years, Penan and other Indigenous communities in the region have pushed for their forests to be protected through what began as the Penan Peace Park and later became the Baram Peace Park. The idea eventually became a government-backed project with international support. But the report, Plundering the Baram Peace Park, says that while this conservation project was being developed, a major timber concession was granted over the same forests, and the project was eventually cancelled. So how did a community-led conservation vision reach this point, and what happens to the forests and the people who depend on them now? We explore this with Lerroy Lemen, a Penan representative from Long Lamai in Baram and a member of the grassroots organisation Keruan, and Tanja Meier, a campaigner with the Bruno Manser Fonds, which is behind the report.

A plan to protect one of Sarawak’s remaining rainforest landscapes has instead ended with a major timber concession over the same forests, according to a new report about the Upper Baram. For years, Penan and other Indigenous communities in the region have pushed for their forests to be protected through what began as the Penan Peace Park and later became the Baram Peace Park. The idea eventually became a government-backed project with international support. But the report, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.savebaramforest.org/en/report/">Plundering the Baram Peace Park</a>, says that while this conservation project was being developed, a major timber concession was granted over the same forests, and the project was eventually cancelled. So how did a community-led conservation vision reach this point, and what happens to the forests and the people who depend on them now? We explore this with Lerroy Lemen, a Penan representative from Long Lamai in Baram and a member of the grassroots organisation <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.facebook.com/p/Keruan-Voices-of-the-Penans-100075707032321/">Keruan</a>, and Tanja Meier, a campaigner with the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://bmf.ch/en">Bruno Manser Fonds</a>, which is behind the report.

From The Frontline: Life on Orang Asli Land (Part 1)

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