With the climate change impact now being felt at every corner of earth, Malaysia included, it is timely for communities and corporations to both step up their effort in ensuring that livability is sustained for as long as humanly possible. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have laid out a series of indicators that are relevant for participating countries to achieve in order to ensure a prolonged sustainability is achieved.
Malaysia has achieved at least 52% available SDG indicators in year 2019 compared with only 41% in year 2018. However, civil participation at an individual level is still considerably low due to an individual’s limited resource and lack of power (in enforcement). Hence, there’s nothing much that they can contribute to.
In this 2 day experiential conference, we aim to enable and empower participants to realise their respective abilities in contributing to the SDGs indicators. The first day (13 Jan) consists of a conference which will focus around the challenges of rising sea levels to urban dwellings of coastal cities like Penang, while on the second day (14 Jan), participants are invited to join an experiential learning trip to the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS).
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
View the notes from DAY 1 HERE.
DAY 1 (CONFERENCE AT PENANG INSTITUTE)
Conference details:
Theme: Challenges of rising sea levels to urban dwellings in coastal cities like Penang
Date: 13 January 2023, Friday
Time: 9 am – 5pm (Registration begins at 8 am)
Venue: Penang Institute
Speakers:
1. (Keynote) YBhg. Prof. Emeritus Dato’ Ibrahim Komoo, Chair, Environment & Sustainability Cluster, Academy Professor Malaysia (APM)
2. (Keynote) Prof. Dato’ Dr Aileen Tan Shau Hwai, Director, Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), Universiti Sains Malaysia
3. Prof. Emeritus Dato’ ChM. Dr Mazlin Bin Mokhtar, Deputy Head (Research), United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network – Asia Headquarters (UN SDSN-Asia), Sunway University
4. Prof. Dato’ Dr Zulfigar Yasin, Head, Heritage & Urban Studies Programme, Penang Institute
5. Prof. Datin Paduka Dr Fatimah Binti Mohamed Arshad, Senior Fellow Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS)
6. Mr. Jared Loo, Managing Director, Terasek E Hydra Sdn. Bhd
Programme:
8.30 am – 9. 00 am: Registration at Penang Institute
9.00 am – 9.15 am: Opening remarks
9.15 am – 10.00 am: Keynote 1: Debris Flood Disaster – Experiences from recent events in Sungai Bentong, Pahang and Sungai Kupang, Kedah by YBhg. Prof. Emeritus Dato’ Ibrahim Komoo
10.00 am – 10.30 am: Coffee break and press conference
10.30 am – 12.00 am: Panel 1: Climate and Survival
- Integrated Water Resources Management within the context of Water Sector Transformation 2040 and SDGs 2030 by Prof. Emeritus Dato’ ChM. Dr Mazlin Bin Mokhtar
- Intertidal and coastal readiness for climate adaptation and resilience in Malaysia by Prof. Dato’ Dr Zulfigar Yasin
12.30 pm – 2.30 pm: Lunch Break
2.30 pm – 3.15 pm: Keynote 2: Living with microplastic pollution by Prof. Dato’ Dr Aileen Tan Shau Hwai
3.15 pm – 3.30 pm: Tea Break
3.30 pm – 5.00 pm: Panel 2: Climate Adaptation and Action
- Food Security and Safety: Sustainability and Resiliency by Prof. Datin Paduka Dr Fatimah Binti Mohamed Arshad
- Water Management by Mr. Jared Loo
5.00 pm: Programme ends
DAY 2 (EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING TRIP TO CEMACS)
Programme:
7.30 am: Transport depart from PI to Teluk Bahang
8.15 am – 8.30 am: Participants arrive at Penang National Park Teluk Bahang
8.30 am – 9.00 am: Depart to CEMACS by boat
9.00 am – 9.30 am: Briefing on safety and solid waste collection and aggregation
9.30 am – 10.30 am: Solid waste collection and aggregation at Teluk Aling (CEMACS)
10.30 am – 10.45 am: Break
10.45 am – 11.00 am: Debrief on programme
11.00 am – 12.00 pm: Visit to the Climate Change and Biodiversity Gallery
12.00 pm – 1.00 pm: Lunch at CEMACS
1.00 pm – 1.30 pm: Boats depart to Teluk Bahang
1.30 pm: Conference ends
NOTE: PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT THE REGISTRATION FOR DAY 1 AND DAY 2 HAS REACHED FULL CAPACITY. PARTICIPANTS WHO ARE INTERESTED TO VIEW THE DAY 1 CONFERENCE MAY VIEW THE LIVESTREAM ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE OR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AT THE STIPULATED TIME.
For further enquiries, kindly contact Pan Yi Chieh at 017-421 0426 or email yichieh.pan@penanginstitute.org
Conference Speakers’ Profiles
YBhg. Prof. Emeritus Dato’ Ibrahim Komoo
is Professor Emeritus of of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and currently Founder/ CEO of Geopark and Geotourism Creative Solutions Sdn Bhd (GGCS). He graduated from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and obtained his BSc (Hons.) in Geology (1972-1976); and later at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow (1976-1979) where he obtained his PhD in Engineering Geology. His fields of specialisation include Engineering Geology (landslide; geohazards management); Environmental Geology (geoheritage conservation; geotourism; geopark); and Sustainability Science (environmental sustainability; regional sustainable development). He was appointed as Fellow, Institute of Geology, Malaysia (FIGM) (1995) and Fellow, Academy of Sciences, Malaysia (FASc) (2002). He received Darjah Dato Setia Negeri Sembilan (DSNS) conferred by the Sultan of Negeri Sembilan (2007), Langkawi Award (2009), Emeritus Professor UKM (2012), Science Excellence Award 2012 (Environmental Geology) from International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) (2013), Malaysia Geoscientist Award (2013); Honorary Member of Geological Society of Malaysia (GSM) (2014), Langkawi Tourism Personality Award (2015) and ASEAN Biodiversity Heroes (2022).
Prof. Dato’ Dr Aileen Tan Shau Hwai
Aileen Tan is the Director of Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS) in Universiti Sains Malaysia; Fellow of Academy Science Malaysia; Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific University-Community Engagement Network (APUCEN) and Vice Chair of UNESCO IOC of Western Pacific. She is also a Board member of Partnership for Observations of the Global Oceans (POGO). She serves as international steering committee in several organisations such as CoastPredict, Global Ocean Corps and EquiSea.
Prof. Emeritus Dato’ ChM. Dr Mazlin Bin Mokhtar
“Mazlin Mokhtar, BSc. (Tasmania), PhD (Queensland), FASc., FMIC., DSDK (Kedah), PMP (Perak) is Deputy Head (Research), United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network – Asia Headquarters (UN SDSN-Asia) at Sunway University, Malaysia. Prior, Mazlin served UKM for 37 years including as Director of LESTARI 2005-2013 & 2019-2022; Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research 2014-2017; Founding Director of Centre for Public & International Relations (PUSPA) 2001-2004; and Lecturer at UKM Sabah Campus in Kota Kinabalu 1988-1996. He is Chairman of the Environment Committee of Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM); Member of Malaysia’s Environmental Quality Act’s Appeal Board; and Nomination Committee of the Merdeka Awards (Environment Category). Mazlin was the winner of the Langkawi Award 2018; and recipient of 2010 best social science FRGS award by Ministry of Higher Education for his research on national chemicals management.
Prof. Dato’ Dr Zulfigar Yasin
Zulfigar Yasin is a marine environmental ecologist and is currently an Hon. Professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia. He was involved with the establishment of many of Malaysia’s Marine Parks. He led the country’s marine expedition to Antarctica and subsequently headed various national expeditions cataloguing the marine biodiversity in the region. Born in Penang and always passionate about the sea, he subsequently studied in the UK where he took up Scuba diving. He later became one of the country’s earliest diving instructors. Over the years, his research had led him to work in many distant locations including the Galapagos, Namibia, the Seychelles, the Amazon, Tasmania, Komodo, California, Japan, Suzhou and South India. In this journey he always felt humbled by the humility and generosity of the locals and their love of the sea.
Prof. Datin Paduka Dr Fatimah Binti Mohamed Arshad
Fatimah Mohamed Arshad is a research fellow at the Laboratory of Agricultural and Food Policy Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia specializing in agricultural marketing and policy analyses. She was a member of the country’s National Agriculture Advisory Council, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, Malaysia (2018-2022). Her research areas include; agricultural marketing and economics issues, policy analyses, and agricultural market structure, conduct and performance. She has done various policy research studies particularly on the role of agricultural subsidies and incentives in the paddy and rice industry, food security, agricultural cooperatives, food supply chain and marketing, price analyses and forecasting and commodity and agricultural sector modelling. She has developed a vintage model for estimating oil palm production, system dynamics analyses on pertinent issues in agriculture such as food security, industrial commodity issues and modelling of the paddy and rice sector in Malaysia. She believes that the role of the smallholders in agriculture can be further enhanced through knowledge empowerment and treading the path of collaborative commons particularly cooperatives for sustainability, equity and growth.
Mr. Jared Loo
Managing Director, Terasek E Hydra Sdn. Bhd. Established since 2016 (Pioneer In Malaysia Reclaim Water Treatment Plant). As the world is short of resources, my aim is to cut down water shortages by treating recycle water much more effectively. Being a leader in sustainable solutions, focusing on the area of water and energy, I am committed to provide cost-effective and innovative solution that contribute to resource optimisation to the communities and industries.