Malayan tiger (Photo: Zaharil Dzulkafly)
With World Nature Conservation Day (July 28) around the corner, there is no time like the present for ambitious individuals in the discipline to file their applications for Biji Alam Conservation Society’s inaugural funding programme before its deadline on July 31.
In a bid to further the important work of mid-career conservationists across Malaysia, Biji Alam Awards was set up to financially support the efforts of unsung heroes working tirelessly to protect our natural world. The 2024 edition will grant two winners, one based in Peninsular Malaysia and the other in the Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak, RM25,000 each.
The applicants will be vetted by a panel of independent experts in the field, namely Dato Dr Dionysius Sharma, former head of WWF Malaysia; Dr Rahimatsah Amat, head of Sabah Environment Trust; and Robert Basiuk, director of Borneo Adventure Tours and co-founder of Batang Ai Conservancy in Sarawak. The three judges share decades of conservation experience combined and will select the winners using a carefully curated process.
The fund accepts individual candidates as well as teams or groups with outstanding, proven achievement. They will need to demonstrate the effectiveness of their current work and the changes they have instigated on the ground.
rafflesia_kerrii.jpg
“Conservation” is broadly used in the case of the award and rallies work on threatened species, biodiverse habitats, landscape integrity and marine, terrestrial or freshwater systems, under the same umbrella.
The scope on its website reads: “We recognise that there are many different approaches to doing conservation work and we will be open to innovative work that demonstrate the ways conservation is now growing within Malaysian society, such as community engagement, applied research, public education, policy reform, habitat management, law enforcement, ecological restoration, improved land-use and the revitalisation of cultures that respect nature.”
Applicants need to be Malaysian and working with a registered NGO. They are required to demonstrate deep knowledge of what they are seeking to conserve and a sound methodology as to how to achieve their aims with measurable outcomes. A well-thought out plan should be included on how the award money would be used to further their work.
Biji Alam is the brainchild of Britain-based Malaysian Natalie Yong, an ex-financier with a lifelong passion for nature.
“Whilst talking to conservationists in Malaysia, I realised that a big headache for them was to find funding, which they have to do on a yearly basis. This takes valuable time away from the main work of preserving nature. A seminal conversation was one with a highly qualified conservationist, with a PhD who had to quit early because of the financial pressure. What a terrible waste of valuable expertise,” she laments.
rhinoceros_hornbill_female_buceros_rhinoceros.jpg
“I have seen with dismay how, over the decades, our nature has been depleted with thousands of acres of our beautiful jungle replaced by development and plantations, and our iconic wildlife — ideas of which we instil into our kids through stories and books at a young age — struggling to survive.
“Conservationists, within and without the government, help to keep our wildlife alive, and therefore their habitats and us humans too, as we are all interconnected. I believe there are ways that can allow both nature and humans to exist more harmoniously and conservationists are the experts who can inform government and corporate policy on how this can be done.”
Yong is also a trustee of a UK-based charity, The Points Family Trust — which she established alongside her husband Jonathan Points — that provides grants and donations to organisations and projects in fields such as environmental protection, education, human rights, culture and medicine, that will benefit the public.
She roped in senior conservationist Dr Teckwyn Lim as co-founder of Biji Alam. Through his on-field engagements as managing director of Resource Stewardship Consultants, a local scientific research and consultancy company that focuses on the management of forestry, wildlife and plantations in Malaysia, he has yielded an acute awareness and understanding of the perils that threaten the environment.
biji_alam_awards_co-founders.jpg
“Malaysia already has the Merdeka Award that recognises lifetime achievements for contribution to fields including the environment. But I feel that there is, at present, no award scheme that gives recognition to mid-career conservationists. I was delighted to help Natalie set up Biji Alam as it aims to fill this gap,” he shares.
“We're looking at both what candidates have achieved and also their potential for future achievements. We want to reward people who can demonstrate a commitment to science-based approaches to conserving biodiversity. They will be required to report progress but unlike most grants, monitoring implementation is not the emphasis of our award scheme. As mentioned, our focus is on recognising and rewarding mid-career individuals involved in nature conservation.”
The idea of the Biji Alam Conservation Society is to champion conservationists heroes in Malaysia, Yong expressed. “We also wish to provide a direct route for individual Malaysians to help experts conserve our beautiful nature through donations.”
At the time of writing, the society is currently operating on a pro tem basis as it is still in the process of getting validated under the Registry of Societies of Malaysia. “It has been stuck in the ROS for a year and a half now with little explanation, which is very frustrating,” she says.
“Once this happens, we hope we can push it to become a bigger funding initiative with a lot more publicity for the winners, and establishing a network of expert mentors for the next generation of conservationists.”
For more information on eligibility and how to apply, see here. Donations are welcomed here.
