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MENGO Monthly Digest May 2008 -
By Chrissy
Phoong
Starting the
new month
with Labour
Day, one
might be
fooled to
thinking of
May as a
laidback,
uneventful
month. This
was not the
case for
MENGOs. From
dialogues to
dinners,
conferences
to
competitions,
the MSU
event
whiteboard
was filled
with
scribbles of
ongoing or
would-be
activities
for the
month of
May. The
main
highlights
of the month
was meeting
ministers
newly
appointed
after the
elections
and also
fellow NGO
members.
Dialogue
Sessions
with
Ministers
With a
greater
spirit to
preserve the
environment
by
cooperation
between the
government
and the
NGOs, three
dialogue
sessions
were
organized
this month.
We had
dialogue
sessions
with the
Minister of
Natural
Resources
and the
Environment,
Minister of
Tourism and
finally with
YB Ms
Elizabeth
Wong Keat
Ping, the
Exco Board
of Chairman
for Tourism,
Consumer
Affairs and
Environment
of the
Selangor
State
Government.
These
dialogue
sessions
were very
helpful in
clarifying
environmental
issues and
in
brain-storming
problem-solving
methods.
YB Ms
Elizabeth
brought up
many issues
which were
heavily
discussed
with fellow
MENGO
members
during the
meeting.
Amongst them
were the
lack of
corporate
responsibility
(CSR)
demonstrated
by
small-medium
industries (SMI),
the need for
improved
laws to
better
promote
sustainable
development
in Selangor
and also
land rights
of the
Indigenous
People.
Fellow MENGO
members from
MNS, CAP,
SUSDEN, WWF,
ENSEARCH and
MSU further
brought up
many other
concerns:
sustainable
tourism in
Batu Caves
and Kuala
Selangor,
‘Zero
Plastics’ to
promote the
3R
campaigns,
water
management,
the
potential
risks of
GMOs and
lastly,
training
programmes
for the
local
authorities
(town
councils and
municipalities).
The dialogue
ended with
YB Ms
Elizabeth
requesting
for guidance
and
assistance
from MENGO
members in
legislation
and
enactments
for
environmental
conservation,
stipulation
of protected
areas, and
improving
interagency
coordination
in Selangor.
2nd
Workshop of
‘Sharing of
Experience
among NGOs
and CBOs’
On the 9th
of May, the
2nd
part of the
workshop
trilogy,
‘Sharing of
Experience
among NGOs
and CBOs in
Co-management,
Sustainable
Use and
Conservation
of
Biodiversity’
was held. In
this
workshop,
members of
the MENGO
network had
the
opportunity
to at last,
present
their case
studies
which they
selected
after the
first
workshop to
other fellow
members. The
accepted
case studies
would then
be
short-listed
for the last
round to
which the
best case
study would
be selected
to be
published to
the outside
world. After
the
enlightening
presentation,
the case
studies
presented
were
classified
to 10
categories
to which
involving
stake-holders,
development
of CBOs &
its
challenges,
and project
management
were the top
3 themes
discussed.
The sharing
session
ended with
the
agreement
that the
published
work would
include
summaries of
the 10
categories
and cross
referencing
for easy
reading.
To conclude
the rather
informative
workshop,
there was
the breakout
session
revolving
around two
main
premises
which were
obstacles
faced by
MENGO in
both
administration
and
environmental
conservation
matters, as
well as
other
implementations
that MENGO
could pursue
to improve
on those
problems. It
was a
helpful
feedback
system. The
main
problems
recognized
are the
long-term
commitment
and
communication
amongst
MENGO
members in
addition to
the ever
challenging
matter of
financial
sustainability.
Several
improvements
were
suggested,
ranging from
better
publicity
and
partnerships
to more
training and
awareness
campaigns.
More events
follow suit
to complete
the month of
May. A
public forum
on ‘Youth
Perspectives
on National
Development’,
talks on the
melting of
icebergs and
climate
change, a
conference
between the
Commonwealth
ministers, a
photography
competition
and many
others.
And this is
the end of
this month’s
digest. With
this
event-filled
month, more
lessons of
the
environment
were learnt
and thus,
hopefully
more
effective
conservation
efforts can
be taken.
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