Events Calendar
Kota Samarahan, 5 October 2017 – The Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation (IBEC), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), conducted a public outreach event on World Animal Day, entitled “Sarawak Biodiversity Evening” at DeTAR Putra, UNIMAS, yesterday.
The event was sponsored by Shell Chair with an objectives is to impart conservation message to the general public, offer skills relevant to ecotourism, promote biodiversity as a science, to expose students of possibilities of undertaking exciting research on plants and animals, and finally, collaborate and create synergy with other like-minded organisations in nature conservation, research and ecotourism.
The conference was officiated by Director of IBEC, Professor Dr Gabriel Tonga Noweg who spoke on the University’s commitment to biodiversity research and conservation, starting with the establishment of IBEC as a Research Institute, way back in 1994.
A series of speed-talks were organised, mostly using staff expertise, including marine mammals (Cindy Peter), birds (Andrew Alek Tuen), crabs (Jongkar Grinang), butterflies (Sing-Tyan Pang), medicinal plants (Gabriel Tonga Noweg), water (Lau Seng), wildlife conservation (Jason Hon), and people and biodiversity (Alexender Sayok).
In addition, 10 exhibitors set up stalls, promoting their respective cause, ranging from nature conservation, to animal welfare, sustainable living to public education on environmental protection. These include WormingUp, Malaysian Nature Society, Wildlife Conservation Society Malaysia, World Wide Fund for Nature, Sarawak Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Milk Shop, Maestro Swiss, etc.
A special event was the display of large maps of the world’s continents and regions, showing their animal biodiversity in the form of Schleich educational material, comprising hand-painted toys of the world’s wildlife.
There were accompanying information sheets on each animal alongside the models, providing relevant data, including names, ranges, conservation status and interesting biological facts.
The international highlight of the event was an exhibition of the world’s largest collection of stamps (including postage stamps and other philatelic material) on the theme of amphibians (frogs, salamanders, newts and caecilians), which is an official Guinness World RecordsTM event (entry number: 161123094024tlco).
The exhibition included about 1,500 stamps, issued by 178 countries and other postal agencies from around the world, as well as postal stationery and other philatelic material relevant to amphibians.
Products and services on offer included Maestro Swiss, who vended chocolate drinks to thirsty participants, UNIMAS Publisher, which show-cased its latest offerings in the field of natural history and the presence of food trucks outside the venue lent the event a carnival-type of atmosphere.
Sarawak Biodiversity Evening is part of the globally-celebrated World Animal Day, commemorated since 1931.
This event on UNIMAS campus is part of the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the university and was organised by the students and staff of the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, with several other Faculties providing support.
It is a timely opportunity for imparting conservation education to the general public, from school children and university graduate students to city folks from Kuching and other part of the State, in a friendly, informal format.
