Malaysian Conservation Leaders Honoured with WWF International Awards

Posted on 21 May 2010

Kota Kinabalu, 21st May 2010 – Three local conservation leaders were honoured with international awards during the 2010 WWF Annual Conference, which was attended by about 150 WWF representatives from around the world. It took place in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia from 11th to 13th May.

The WWF Award for Conservation Merit is given in recognition of demonstrated long-standing commitment to local, grass-roots conservation. This year the award was presented to two Malaysians: Yang Berbahagia Datuk Sam Mannan, Director of the Sabah Forestry Department, and Kevin Hiew Wai Phang, currently retired but who once served as Head of Marine Parks, Department of Fisheries Malaysia, and WWF-Malaysia’s Senior Advisor for the Coral Triangle Initiative. The WWF Gold Panda Award is given in recognition of significant financial contribution to WWF. This year, it was awarded to Puan Noraini Hashim in recognition of her long-standing and enthusiastic support of environmental conservation and of WWF.

A WWF Award for Conservation Merit was also presented to Ken Scriven, who founded WWF-Malaysia and has led conservation efforts in Malaysia since the 1970’s, although he was originally from the UK. WWF International President Ms Yolanda Kakabadse presented the awards to the winners.

WWF-Malaysia also recognised three conservation leaders with local awards. The WWF-Malaysia Local Community Conservation Leader Award was won by Pak Cik Karim bin Othman of Kampung Mangkok, Setiu for his significant contribution to marine turtle conservation. The WWF-Malaysia Champion of Environmental Citizens Award was presented to Hilary Chiew for her incisive reporting of green issues and environmental education leader Susan Pudin from Sabah.

During the Annual Conference, WWF delegates discussed various aspects of ecological footprints as well as global drivers that WWF will need to tackle to succeed in conserving biodiversity. The conference looked at how and why public sector finance institutions and the private sector should be engaged, what biodiversity loss could mean for the commercial world as well as how businesses can be a partner in conserving natural resources and sustainable development. In addition, other important areas were also discussed such as WWF’s Vision of market change, responding to sustainability issues and challenges in the palm oil industry and the protection of tuna in the Coral Triangle. In conclusion, the delegates analysed case studies of how best to engage with partners tackling diversity and footprints in Southeast Asia.

The WWF Annual Conference is always held in a different country every year with a different theme. This year the theme was on “Biodiversity, Footprint and Our Future”.

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Notes to Editor:
Short biographies of the award winners:

WWF Award for Conservation Merit

•    Yang Berbahagia Datuk Sam Mannan received his award in recognition of his long association with WWF-Malaysia and its forest conservation work in Sabah. Datuk Mannan is the Director of the Sabah Forestry Department, a post he has held since 2004. He has many conservation achievements to his name, to give but a few among them is his role in the creation of the concept of sustainable forest reserves in Sabah; in FSC certification of the Deramakot forest reserve, the first tropical forest to receive certification; in establishing Ulu Segama-Malua as an orang-utan conservation area; and in his commitment to implementing Reduced Impact Logging.

•    Mr Kevin Hiew Wai Phang received his award in recognition of his long-term support of WWF-Malaysia. Kevin Hiew has an impressive track record in marine environmental protection. Under his leadership as Head of Marine Parks, more than 40 islands were included as marine parks in peninsular Malaysia. He has supported biodiversity conservation, tourism development and fisheries management. Thanks to his hard work, Malaysia became a leader in the Coral Triangle initiative. He tirelessly laboured to build support in government at all levels, culminating in May 2009 when Malaysia’s Prime Minister signed Malaysia’s commitment to the Coral Triangle Initiative Regional Plan of Action. Kevin joined WWF-Malaysia as National Conservation Director in 2001. He has held a number of important positions since then, and last year was appointed their Senior Advisor for the Coral Triangle Initiative. Kevin Hiew retired in March this year.

•    Mr Ken Scriven received his award in recognition of his long-term involvement and support of WWF-Malaysia. Ken Scriven founded the WWF office in Malaysia and was its Executive Director from 1972 to 1991. His dedication and experience enabled him to manage more than 200 projects, ranging from the creation of protected areas to studies on endangered species (like the green turtle and orang-utan); and to establishing nature education programmes in schools. Under his leadership, WWF-Malaysia influenced nature conservation efforts on a national level. Ken has a great love of Malaysian birdlife and established a library and resource centre, sharing his own collection of photographs. He helped found the Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Foundation of which he is Chairman. Although retired from WWF-Malaysia’s staff in 1991, Ken Scriven is still active as Vice-President Emeritus.

WWF Gold Panda Award

•    This year, the Gold Panda was awarded to Puan Noraini Hashim in recognition of her long-standing and enthusiastic support of environmental conservation and of WWF. Amongst Puan Noraini’s many contributions to conservation is the key role she has played in securing significant funding for the protection of green turtles on Ma’Daerah beach. This is a critical nesting site for this endangered species and has become an important sanctuary for green turtles and other species. Her energies have also been directed towards encouraging young Malaysians to take up careers in conservation focusing on biodiversity and towards the development of climate change awareness programmes - two key areas of the highest priority for WWF.

During the Annual Conference, two WWF-Malaysia awards were also presented:

WWF-Malaysia Local Community Conservation Leader Award.
•    This award was presented to Pak Cik Karim bin Othman from Setiu, Terengganu. Pak Karim and his family have been associated with WWF-Malaysia and turtle conservation at Setiu for many years. He was honoured for his bold and brave protection of incubating eggs and nesting female turtles against poachers at the isolated hatchery at the Setiu river mouth.

WWF-Malaysia Champion of Environmental Citizens Award
There were two winners of this award.

•    The first was Hilary Chiew, who was a features writer on the environment with a leading newspaper in Malaysia. She has written on a wide range of issues pertaining to biodiversity conservation and wildlife trade, including several exposes about wildlife crimes in Malaysia which has helped raise government and public awareness. Hilary has produced documentaries on forest conversion and logging, and won a local film award.

•    The second was Susan Pudin from Penampang, Sabah. Susan has worked with boundless enthusiasm to advance environmental education. She helped establish the Sabah Environmental Education Network (SEEN) 5 years ago. Together with other organisations, Susan is involved in promoting a state-wide environmental education and incentive programme for schools called the Environment Friendly Schools Programme. And she has been deeply involved in launching and implementing the Sabah Environmental Education Policy.

About WWF-Malaysia:
WWF-Malaysia (World Wide Fund for Nature-Malaysia), the national conservation trust, currently runs more than 75 projects covering a diverse range of environmental protection work. Since 1972, WWF-Malaysia has worked on important conservation projects, from saving endangered species such as tigers and turtles, to protecting our highland forests, rivers and seas. We also undertake environmental education and advocacy work to achieve conservation goals. By conserving our natural resources, WWF-Malaysia is helping to protect our livelihoods, food and water supply, thus securing our good quality of life and our children’s bright future. We thank our supporters whose donations are our lifeblood. If you would like to donate to WWF-Malaysia or learn more about our projects, please call: +603-78033772 or visit our website at: wwf.org.my.

For media queries on the WWF Annual Conference, please contact:

Alvin Naden, Communications Manager, Borneo Programme, WWF-Malaysia (Sabah)
Tel (office): +088 266 420 (ext 19) Mobile: +6012 635 2207, E-mail: anaden@wwf.org.my

Angela Lim, SSME Senior Communications Officer, WWF-Malaysia (Sabah)
Tel: +60-88-262-420 Ext.18 Mobile: +60-12-833-2868, Email: ALim@wwf.org.my

Malaysian Conservation Leaders Honoured with WWF International Awards

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