We are at the end of 2023 – as always, it's been quite a year for our environment and natural resources, so we take a look back at the year past with the co-founders of environmental journalism portal Macaranga, Wong Siew Lyn and Law Yao Hua, who will remind us about some of the big stories from 2023. In particular, we discuss the achievements of the (now former) Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry (NRECC) and the challenges that remain ahead, before we focus on Pahang, and some of the state's achievements, including the gazettement of the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tigers Reserve. We also discuss our oceans and the increase of Marine Protected Areas in Malaysia, before taking on rare earth mining, which is big business for countries with reserves like ours, but how are we working on ensuring transparency and accountability in the rare earth industry? Then we discuss the European Union's new regulation to curb the EU market's impact on global deforestation and forest degradation, or the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and how that could impact Malaysia, before finally discussing how a changing climate has impacted our food security in Malaysia.



Image Credit(s): 

Shutterstock/Paman Aheri, Zeti Akhzar

Kementerian Ekonomi

Reef Check Malaysia

Lynas

World Animal Foundation

We are at the end of 2023 – as always, it's been quite a year for our environment and natural resources, so we take a look back at the year past with the co-founders of environmental journalism portal <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://macaranga.org">Macaranga</a>, Wong Siew Lyn and Law Yao Hua, who will remind us about some of the big stories from 2023. In particular, we discuss the achievements of the (now former) Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Ministry (NRECC) and the challenges that remain ahead, before we focus on Pahang, and some of the state's achievements, including the gazettement of the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tigers Reserve. We also discuss our oceans and the increase of Marine Protected Areas in Malaysia, before taking on rare earth mining, which is big business for countries with reserves like ours, but how are we working on ensuring transparency and accountability in the rare earth industry? Then we discuss the European Union's new regulation to curb the EU market's impact on global deforestation and forest degradation, or the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and how that could impact Malaysia, before finally discussing how a changing climate has impacted our food security in Malaysia.Image Credit(s):&nbsp;Shutterstock/<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/boat-cross-lake-chini-pahang-malaysia-139688785">Paman Aheri</a>, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bukit-raja-malaysia-9-april-2019-1375197260">Zeti Akhzar</a>Kementerian EkonomiReef Check Malaysia<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://lynasrareearths.com/products/how-are-rare-earths-mined/#:~:text=Rare%20earths%20tend%20to%20be,collectively%20referred%20to%20as%20REOs.">Lynas</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://worldanimalfoundation.org/advocate/deforestation-statistics/">World Animal Foundation</a>

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.

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