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 worlds 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 wont see at day time. But in fact, when we really went through the
activity, some disappointed me and cant 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 cant 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 wouldnt 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 wouldnt 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/