Earth Day Celebration Ceremony 2014 in UPM

(Translation)
Earth Day Celebration Ceremony 2014
launched by
YB Dato' Sri Dr. James Dawos Mamit
Deputy Minister of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
22nd April 2014 (Tuesday)
Banquet Hall, University Putra Malaysia (UPM)

My fellow sporty batchmates and university-mates who cycled all the way from residential colleges to Banquet Hall through a quite tough route to physically show their supports towards this event.

Honestly speaking, this was the first Earth Day Celebration Ceremony I attended for the past 20 years although I claimed that I am an environmental person. I got to know about this ceremony quite last minute so it's too bad that I could not write a trailer about it but still I am glad that I got the chance to attend this ceremony organised by the Department of Environment, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. What a pleasure to have YB Dato' Sri Dr. James Dawos Mamit to join us here in UPM! Each year, Earth Day celebration is held to instil the environmental awareness to the public in conservation and preservation of the environment. This year, the theme for this Earth Day celebration ceremony was 'Green Cities'.

The ceremony started by the flagging off the Envirocycle programme by our Deputy Minister of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vice Chancellor of UPM, Prof. Dato' Dr. Mohd Fauzi Hj. Ramlan and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Students' Affairs & Alumni) of UPM, Prof. Dr. Mohammad Shatar Sabran. Envirocycle is the cycling culture of students and staffs in the university. This morning, participants began their cycling journey from the Banquet Hall to The Faculty of Agriculture, a distance of 2km. UPM students are given a rebate of RM300 for bicycle that we purchased. Despite the physical work of cycling, it is actually comfortable to cycle within the campus as we have nice bicycle lane and people who really concern about the safety of cyclists (drivers often give way for us, feeling loved, haha).

The launching of programme Rakan Alam Sekitar (RAS) (translated as Environment Buddies) at university level was the spotlight of the ceremony. Captains of RAS of various universities including University Malaya (UM), University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), University Science Malaysia (USM) and so on were appointed to lead all RAS of respective universities in promoting environmental awareness among the public. Besides, the website of Enviro Knowledge Management Centre was introduced during the ceremony where we can get the information regarding the environmental issues and reports in the form of e-book. We just have to registered at the website for free to enjoy the knowledges provided.

Apart from the ceremony, there were also exhibitions on the environmental issues and green technologies. The person-in-charged of each of the exhibitions was very amiable and helpful. Here are some of the exhibitors:

The portable exhibition unit of  the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Cool, huh?

The Department of Environment, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.  

The Department of Marine Park Malaysia, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. There are a total of  40 marine parks in Malaysia excluding the one in Sabah which is not under the Federal government (and I have not visited any one of them!!!). To be gazetted as a marine park, the State government has to apply to this department for that particular area (mostly islands).

Paya Indah Wetlands under the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) Peninsular Malaysia,  the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. It is free of charge to visit unless you want to stay in the chalet or use other facilities there. The most important part is, it is not far from UPM!

The Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia (JUPEM),  the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Through the name we know that it is responsible in the physical measurement of the environment.

The Department of Biosafety, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. It is a rather new department established in 2010 with the Biosafety Act 2007. Now I just realised that we already have genetically modified products approved by this department in Malaysia. As of June 2013, there are 14 approved events and release activities of genetically modified products.

Asian Centre for Research on Druh Abuse by the University Science Islam Malaysia. There was a mini exhibition on drugs to create awareness in public towards the illegal use of drugs.

This ceremony was formal and serious (which was somehow out of my expectation as I wished it was a lively and fun one). Too bad that I did not have much time to look into each exhibition there, so I focused mainly on the departments under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. There are actually quite a number of departments under that ministry but yet we do not know about them. So this was the chance for some exposures. There are much more to explore!

Energetic young generations!