This December, join us as we celebrate an exceptional milestone for The Habitat Group – the achievement of BCorp status. This is a measure of our commitment to be a purpose driven business which pays attention to the triple bottom line. BCorp status will drive us to continue to improve.
We also invite you to a special event at Penang Institute on 18 Dec. We will launch our new pocket guide on the Primates of Malaysia with a public talk and film screening. Learn about conservation initiatives and how you can help at the exhibitions and booths. Pick out some Xmas presents that support wildlife conservation! As always find out more about the latest Foundation activities and milestones and special festive offerings at Kommune Cafe and shop on Penang Hill!
In the November issue of Habitat Hub, Penang Hill shares the spotlight with our distant hill cousin, Maxwell Hill and the township of Taiping. Both places beautifully showcase our country’s natural heritage and the abundance of stories which we hope to tell through our visual storytelling initiative “A Tale of Two Hills” which is now underway. Read about Dr Liew Thor Seng’s study of snails and the delicious plant-based specials being served at Kommune Cafe.
In this issue of the Hub, read about our participation in the recent scientific expedition in Perlis State Park, and activities to introduce the Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve (PHBR) to students from the mainland.
Sign up for activities at our park and check out new products at Kommune in support of sustainable living. Also, don’t forget to register for ‘A Tale of Two Hills’, before 20 October!
In the September issue (our 50th issue!) of the Habitat Hub, we mark the 1st Anniversary of the designation of the Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO Man & the Biosphere Reserve programme. It’s Malaysia Day tomorrow, so do join us in celebrating Malaysians working in conservation in our Proudly Malaysian series. Find the links to these messages as well as to the recent short documentaries featuring THF funded projects on TV2 Galeri Mandarin.
Sign up for October’s Starlight Camping and check out new products at Kommune!
In this issue of the Habitat Hub: check out the programme for the Penang Hill Festival which starts on 5 Aug 2022. Be sure to sign up for the special events while there are still spots left!
Read about the important recent visitors to the park, sign up for this month’s Starlight Camping, and check out the products in our newly launched Kommune Penang Hill!
On the 4th of June 2022, The Habitat Foundation was invited to be part of an event organised by Penang Green Council in conjunction with World Environment Day. With the theme ‘Fuyoh’: Once Upon A Time, this bazaar at HinBus Depot aimed to recreate the memories of the 50s lifestyle where plastic does not exist. Local entrepreneurs, artists, performers were brought together to showcase their ideas and examples of sustainable living to the community.
In September 2021, Penang Hill was designated as a UNESCO site under the Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB). As a way to promote the beauty of Penang Hill as a natural site rich in biodiversity, history and culture, and to ensure that it continues to be preserved sustainably, The Habitat Foundation took this opportunity to listen to the voices of the people and to share about the Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve.
We set up a simple booth for people to vote on how they have been helping the environment and what they wish Penang to be in the near future. Through this interaction, there was a heightened awareness about Penang Hill as a UNESCO site and its importance for the people and the environment.
Wishing tree which displays some of the wishes of the people for the future of Penang.
The Chief Minister of Penang visited our booth and participated in the activities.
One of our younger participants adding her contribution to a greener Penang.Our staff shared about the importance of Penang Hill as a UNESCO site.
Children taking turns writing down their wishes for the future of Penang. A lady writing down her wishes for Penang.
Within a short period of time, we had received overwhelming responses from the crowd at our booth, ranging from both young and old. Below are the results of the voting at the end of the day:
Action in helping the environment
Votes
1. Saving energy
83
2. Volunteer with environmental-based organisations
48
3. Carpooling/walk/cycling
87
4. Making own composts
55
5. Recycling
101
6. Reusing waste
54
7. Planting
53
8. Bringing own containers
100
9. Using reusable bags
117
Actions taken by local Penangites to reduce carbon footprint on Penang Island
It was a fruitful day getting to know the community of Penang and understanding that hope and concern of the people towards the environment. More of such events will continue to take place around Penang as we commit ourselves to work for a greener environment.
Continuing the sustainability initiative by the Foundation which started last year, the Effective Food Waste Composter (EFWC) developed by Professor Dr. Che Zalina from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) has now been installed at The Habitat Penang Hill, where the machine is monitored by the staff.
Currently, the brown waste such as leaves, twigs and coffee ground and the green waste such as egg shells, fruit and vegetable peels are collected from the Penang Hill park, the staff working at The Habitat and some nearby food vendors. Thus far, two batches of composts, rich in nutrients, were produced with the machine.
The process of composting has gone through a few rounds of trials. Our team has provided some feedback to Prof Dr Zalina on the functionality of the prototype and the quality of the composts produced. Meanwhile, the staff are working diligently on obtaining the ideal proportion of the brown and green waste to yield compost, with the ideal humidity and texture, regularly.
Green Waste collected for composting.
Once the process is streamlined, The Habitat aims to expand our waste collection to the residential community around Penang Hill as well as other stakeholders on the hill.
The Habitat Foundation is pleased to support a research on the diversity of dragonflies and damselflies through our 2021 Research Grant. Dragonflies and damselflies are categorized under the order of Odonata and they are one of the least known species of Penang Island. This study aims to document the diversity of Odonata within the Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve and to produce an Odonata species list for the Biosphere Reserve.
