Volunteers From the Skuad Ceria Team of Sultan Ismail Petra Airport Carries Out Nursery Seedling Activity Under My Treevolution, a National Forest Restoration Project
KOTA BHARU - Malaysia Airports continues its pursuit for environmental excellence and a sustainable future by pledging full support to MyTreeVolution, a national forest restoration project that aims to reduce carbon release.
As an active signatory in the Aviation Industry Commitment to Climate Change 2008, Malaysia Airports has in place a Carbon Management Plan 2015-2020 which aims to reduce direct carbon emission by 9% from its current level. The airport operator is also a voluntary member in the ACI Airport Accreditation Program with the ultimate objective is to achieve carbon neutrality. The company has already implemented various green initiatives and technology in its operations such as internationally-certified green design building, solar farm and power system, and rainwater harvesting system, to name a few.
Thus, this collaboration with MyTreeVolution is the company's efforts to further inculcate the environmental consciousness amongst its employees by going down on the ground and participating in hands-onenvironmental-based activities. This green initiative is also part of the company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) framework under its community enrichment pillar.
To kickstart the inaugural environmental project with MyTreeVolution,Malaysia Airports sent 20 volunteers from the Skuad Ceria team of Sultan Ismail Petra Airport, Kota Bharu to the Kelantan State Forestry Nursery at Batu Tapong in Pasir Puteh to participate in the nursery seedling activity today. Volunteers were required to find wild seeds from the nearby forest reserve before bringing them back to the nursery to undergo the germination process. The officers from the state forestry department guided the volunteers throughout the activity and shared with the group on the importance of forest preservation. Apart from that, the officers imparted gardening knowledge to the volunteers who wanted to contribute to the green environment at home.
Commenting on the project, Malaysia Airports managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said that he was proud to see the enthusiasm shown by the volunteers in helping to preserve and protect the environment.
Badlisham said, “In tandem with the government’s commitment to reduce carbon emission intensity, Malaysia Airports is constantly ensuring that plans are in place to support this target. In fact, this year the klia2 terminal was awarded the prestigious Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Building (LEED) Certification.”
“But that is at the company level. We also want our staff to have environmental consciousness. We want them to realise that climate change is real and it requires concerted efforts to mitigate its effects. Malaysia is now ranked 30th in the list of countries with the highest carbon emission. Wouldn’t it be great if we all come together to ensure a better environmentfor our future generation?” he further added.
MyTreeVolution is an initiative within the CEO Faculty Programme 2.0 whose members are professors and lecturers from the various public universities in Malaysia. MyTreeVolution works with both public and private universities, industries, government agencies and the local communities to address environmental issues. After the first successful nursery seedling project in Kota Bahru, Malaysia Airports will continue to work with MyTreeVolution on other various green initiatives. More of such projects will take place in Kuching and Kota Kinabalu that will happen this month itself.