Getting Back to Nature or Getting Nature Back?

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABLE DESIGN [ARC 1413]

Project 2: Nature and Us

Tan Foo Wong (0310004)

Lucas Wong Kok Hoe (0309421)

Group Task: Nature and Us; Getting Back To Nature or

Getting Nature Back?

With the rapid growth of humanity on this Earth, the demand of natural resources has

drastically increased and caused severe damage to our natural surroundings. Natural resources,

including water, energy, vast fertile lands, minerals and materials are being exploited for the greed

of mankind in our daily basis life. This does not only affect the inhabitants of this earth but the

climate change and sustainability of the environment. According to the Friends of the Earth,

mankind have been extracting around 50% more natural resources than they have been since 30

years ago, at the rate of 60 billion tonnes of raw materials in a year. When more natural resources

such as trees are being logged, the climate changes affect the world which then causes global

warming.

In Malaysia, illegal logging has been an issue which causes not only many natural habitats to

be destroyed but also creating tonnes of floating barrage of tree trunks to be forces into the rivers,

clogging river dams. In the Figure 1 above shows the massive amount of tree trunks floating in the

mighty River Rajang covering up to 90% of the water surface from one end to another end. The

length of the clogged river was estimated to be at least 50km long. The question to this problem is

where did all these wooden debris come from? In relation with the reserved National Park of

Malaysia, illegal logging can still be seen deep in the forest where high quality wood, such as Resak,

Meranti and Merbau are being exploited and processed into papers and wood products which are

then sold for high prices in the market. Many sawmills were seen nearby the Taman Negara, which

provided them the nearest pathway to harvest timber from the forests.

Figure 1 Wooden Debris found floating in the mighty river Rajang.

Source: http://underthebanyan.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/malaysias-million-dollar-question-where-did-the-logs-come-from/ , 2014

Figure 2 Statistics showing the percentage of forest loss in 10 different countries.

Source: http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1115-worlds-highest-deforestation-rate.html , 2014.

According to the statistics above by mongabay.com, Malaysia had the highest rate of forest

loss worldwide in between the year 2000 and 2012. The major states of illegal logging in Malaysia

are mainly focused on the East, Sabah and Sarawak. This is due to its vast area of rainforest coverage

throughout the states compared to West Malaysia. Therefore, as our earth loses its forest coverage

year after year, many industries have been increasing by numbers causing air pollution mainly from

factories. For example, carbon dioxide produced by machineries and factories have rapidly affected

the atmosphere of the earth due to great reductions of trees. If deforestations are not being limited

or controlled, the future generations will have to face extreme situations when the earth no longer

provides them natural resources. Taman Negara is a protected and reserved rainforest by the

government and logging should not be allowed in the boundary because the forest is a habitat for

many primitive species of floras and faunas. The Taman Negara of Malaysia is currently ranked to be

the world’s oldest rainforest; the average age of a tree is about 130 million years. Illegal logging will

severely destroy the rainforest because the law enforced by third parties such as Malaysia Timber

Council and Malaysia Timber Industry Board are being ignored.

As one of the main incomes of country, stopping the activities is almost impossible.

However, the damage of this activity can reduce by enforcing reforestations before the depletion

happens. As future architects, we should not destroy the environment for the sake of our design.

Instead we should include the environment as a part of our design.

As a consumer, we have the power to stop supporting companies who produce illegal wood

products with bad environmental practices. On the other hand, companies can influence consumers

and suppliers to make an impression on the introduction of zero-deforestation policies in a way that

has a minimal impact on the nature. We as future architects can convince our clients to maximize

the usage of post recycled materials in the designs to reduce the impact towards the nature.

The Taman Negara management department should take these issues seriously by strongly

going against illegal logging and at the same time educate or influence tourists on how to protect the

natural environment. Any logging activities happening within the boundary should be ceased once

and for all in order to create awareness to the public. In addition, the management of Taman Negara

needs to be more responsible in taking care of the rainforest by reducing pollutions from the

restaurants and hotels in the area. Replantation of trees in the areas of logging at the same time can

develop it as the useful tourist attraction site. The development of accommodations should be

saving nature instead of destroying it. The materials used for the construction and designs should be

eco-friendly. For example, hotels in Taman Negara should be utilizing the advantages of the

environment into the interior by increasing the ventilation of the building and eventually reducing

the use of electrical energy. The removal of unnecessary elements such as air condition should be

implemented since the atmosphere in the Taman Negara is fresh and cooling. As a tropical country,

the density of the rainfall will cause landslides if the growth of trees and excavations of lands are not

handled properly.

Individual Reflective Essay

Tan Foo Wong (0310004)

When the ESD lecturer announced that we were having a 3 Day 2 Night trip to the most

extensive protected area of evergreen rainforest in Malaysia - Taman Negara which located in

Pahang, the first expression that came to my mind was very excited because I never went to Taman

Negara and I'm looking forward to experience a true jungle activities by getting back to nature. Taman

Negara in my deep impression was an excellent environment surrounded with rich ecosystems, and

maybe I can get many inspirations for my architecture project. Our three main activities in Taman

Negara basically were Night Jungle Walk, Jungle trekking and visitation of the Orang Asli Village.

The first activities we having there was the Night Jungle Walk. All of us thought the night

jungle walk was the most interesting part in the whole activities, because we had to walk through a

jungle without a proper walkway and may at any time we can see very rare night activities animals,

insect, flower that normally we won’t see at day time. But in fact, when we really went through the

activity, some disappointed me and can’t have the feeling of “Night Walk” that I really thought because

the entire explore became like a man made travel, no more walking on mud but on the proper steel

structure walkway. The most terrible part of these

activities was some of the insect we saw in the jungle

was only a specimen. I believe that the night walk had

brought some negative impact. Examples like the light

pollution that bring out from the touch light in disrupting

ecosystems, light pollution poses a serious threat in

particular to nocturnal wildlife, having negative impacts

on plant and animal physiology. It can confuse the

Figure 3 Panoramic View of the Floating Restaurants

Source: Tan Foo Wong, 2014

Figure 4 Studying of Plant

Source: Tan Foo Wong, 2014

migratory patterns of animals, alter competitive interactions of animals and cause physiological harm.

The Taman Negara management should be more seriously on controlling the numbers of people that

came into the jungle to reduce the touch light amount brought in to the jungle, same as reduce the

noise created from tourists. Therefore, by reducing these negative impacts, will increase the chances

to spot the wild nightlife animals without affecting their activity.

Before we produced to the second day activity, we stayed overnight at the hotel that just

beside the Taman Negara. Usually the night temperature of the forest area was being cold enough to

provide a comfortable space for humans to stay overnight without using air-conditional. But the hotel

didn't full apply these advantages into their

accommodation and serious damage to the

environment. As we know that the global

warming is getting serious and the air Cond is

one of the main factors. I think the Hotel

should getting nature back by using the

advantages that can be found in the

surrounding environment. On the next day we

went to jungle trekking. The jungle trekking

was quite similar with the night jungle walk,

but I had saw many trees logging activity

happen in the forest and clearly discover the

hotel and restaurant that inside the forest had

created much pollution to the environment.

The sewage system and the waste handle

was inadequate and they let the unprocessed

or filter foul water flow into the river. During the jungle trekking, I also saw many rubbish that created

by the tourists, reason because we can’t found can't find any rubbish bin through the whole walkway.

And the walkway seems to damage the forest during the construction. They had to cut down the tree

in order to create a better pathway for tourists to visit the rainforest. Although it was a good idea to

lower down the dangerous level when during jungle trekking but it reduce the real experience by

getting back to nature. In additional, the canopy walk was a very good experience for me the explorer

the jungle in a higher level.

At last, we went to visit the Orang Asli village to experience their life. But we had to take the

boat to reach their village. The boat riding was the coolest activity that we having in Taman Negara,

we had truly experience the stimulate river rafting. Although the activities were cool, but the pollution

made by the boat was very serious, it released the polluted air to the forest and same time also

affecting the ecosystem of the river. When we reached Orang Asli Village, I felt that their living

environment and life quality wasn't very good compare to us, even lower than a normal village on

outskirt of Malaysia. They use the resources can be found in the surrounding environment and fully

apply it as daily necessities, such as fire, food, hunting tools and more. Basically their education level

Figure 5 Jungle Walkway along the hillside

Source: Tan Foo Wong, 2014

not very high, so their main occupation are fisherman or ranger or staff in Taman Negara. In other

hand, due to the limited education and inconvenient lifestyle, I realised that the way of their waste

handle was very bad also. Some of the rubbish and cooking waste direct throw into the jungle or river,

so on the way of river rafting, I had saw some rubbish float on the river. I think the staff of Taman

Negara should seriously take action to fix up this problem and increase the education and living

quality level of the orang Asli.

In conclusion, the overall of the trip to Taman Negara was very nice and interesting; I learn

many new knowledge from the ranger during jungle trekking and experience the lifestyle of orang asli

and the local people. Taman Negara is a good place for us to get back to nature, but the management

of the Taman Negara, all tourists and local people should be work together to keep the cleanliness of

the forest in order to return Taman Negara back into a true “green” nature.

Individual Reflective Essay

Lucas Wong (0309421)

The Taman Negara 3Days 2Nights has been a very pleasant trip as we were able to get closer

and study what nature has to offer to us as well as what we were able to offer to the natural

surroundings. During the activities, we were given the opportunity to expose ourselves to things that

we have never imagined we could get from nature itself. During this trip, we did a few activities

which include the Jungle Night Walk, Jungle Trekking, Canopy walk, Rapids Shooting and visit to the

local Native settlement.

The difference between jungle trekking and jungle night walk the animal activities which

happened during the time difference. According to my opinion, night walks give a very good

experience for us to expose ourselves to the nature activities during the night. Besides being able to

observe the nocturnal activities by some insects and reptiles, we were able to grasp the behaviour of

the plants to adapt themselves during the dark period. Despite the advantages of what the nature

has provided to us, there are some disadvantages which came along during our presence in the night

walk. As an observer in the activity, I noticed that the insects and animals present during the walk

were very well adapted to the human activities. This includes the sound of human voices and the

flashing of torch lights. These human activities does not only disrupt the nocturnal activities but also

posed a severe threat to the ecosystem by restricting the boundary of the animal activities during

our walk. The reason to this was during the walk, more insects were seen instead of nocturnal

animals as insects were very less affected by the light given out from our torch. The lights given out

by our torches have created an issue to the nocturnal animals which prevented their approach to

our presence. In order to minimalize this negative impact on the animal activities, I would

recommend a suggestion of the usage of 1 torch by the jungle guide instead of having one for each

person. This would greatly reduce the light pollution and increase our attentiveness towards the

natural surrounding when focused under one direction of light.

Figure 6 Ginger Flower by the Jungle Walkway

Source: Lucas Wong, 2014

In the jungle trekking and canopy walk, we were able to clearly differentiate the plants and

animals which appeared along our way. One example of a very useful plant was the ginger flower.

The usage of this plant has a very great advantage for trekkers who got lost during the jungle

expedition. It provides a great amount of water as it stores water in its flower. However, despite the

advantages it provides for us humans, they were threatened as they were plucked and thrown after

the explanations were done by the jungle guide. This shows that we as humans have caused a

disruption in the natural surroundings. However, I wouldn’t say that this should not be done as

explanations are needed to be shown so that we would know about its functions when the situation

is needed. On the other hand, I would recommend pre briefing regarding the plants and animals

which we were about to be exposed to so that no harm would have been done along our journey.

Figure 7 Canopy Walk Tied to a Tall Tree

Source: Lucas Wong, 2014

During the rapids shooting activity, I actually noticed the color differences of the river when

we were on our way to the local native settlement. This shows that human activities such as diesel

spilling of the engines of boats and the dumping of waste into the river have caused a severe threat

towards the natural surrounding instead of preserving its original state. This would not have

happened if the floating restaurants were restricted from dumping their wastes into the river. This

would greatly reduce the amount of oil spills found on the surface of the river water.

In conclusion, I would say that wherever human activities exist, it poses a threat to its

natural surrounding by first destroying the ecosystem of the natural resources. I would say that no

preservations are needed if it requires destroying in order to preserve. This example can be seen

where some trees were removed in order to build the wooden pathway for the jungle trekking in the

forests. I wouldn’t say that this is not supposed to be done but this is also one way to bring us back

to nature itself to reflect ourselves on how we could help to bring the nature back to our natural

environment.

Reference List

TED Case Studies. (1999, August). Retrieved June 15, 2014, from www1.american.edu:

www1.american.edu/ted/malayprk.htm

Butler, R. A. (2013, November 15). Malaysia has the world's highest deforestation rate, reveals

Google forest map. Retrieved June 12, 2014, from ww.mongabay.com:

http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1115-worlds-highest-deforestation-rate.html

Friends of the Earth Europe (2009). Our use of the World's natural resources: From Overconsumption?

[http://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/overconsumption.pdf]. Retrieved from http://www.foe.co.uk

Shanahan, M. (2010, October 11). Under The Bayan. Retrieved June 12, 2014, from

http://underthebanyan.wordpress.com:

http://underthebanyan.wordpress.com/2010/10/11/malaysias-million-dollar-question-

where-did-the-logs-come-from/