KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Assistant Minister Datuk Joniston Bangkuai called on young people to be in the forefront in protecting the environment by utilising their invuable knowledge and creative potential.
Joniston said commitment demonstrated by younger generation towards environmental crisis and fighting climate change should be encouraged and pursued.
“Youth involvement in protected conservation areas and their management has becoming more important and increasingly recognised in recent years.
“We see in the media that young activists are rising up and speaking out about environmental and climate change issues. This shouldn’t come as a surprise given that these are the generation born into the reality of global warming,” he said.
Joniston was delivering his opening remarks at the 2nd Asia Parks Congress – Youth Forum here, on Thursday.
Held at the Sabah International Convention Centre, more than 200 students and young professionals participated in the forum aimed at helping like-minded youths to learn about current conservation issues and share their works.
Joniston stressed that there is an urgent need to confront this situation from the perspective of young people as their fresh ideas and passion could make a huge difference.
Joniston, who also chairs Sabah Touriam Board, stressed that climate change must be addressed with a sense of urgency, adding even attraction areas in Sabah are experiencing sign of global warming.
He cited Kundasang highland and Semporna as examples of places where climate and ocean temperatures are rising.
Towards the end, Joniston commended Sabah Parks for their efforts to involve youth in conservation project, while also expressing confidence that the youth engagemenr programme would be continued in its current form going forward.-TheBorneoGazette
