I do believe there is a need to review how we celebrate environmental events to quantify and qualify the kind of impact the events are meant to bring about. Over the last decade, I have witnessed a surge in student-led initiatives aimed at driving through awareness on environmental protection.

“In a world that stresses on credible and accountability, it is time we witness more accountability and smart planning from our young students.”

While many of such events start off with good intention, often ignorance, lack of awareness on the actual state of environment and lack of engagement with external stakeholders contribute to reducing the impact of such student-led efforts.

So what I want to bring about is this. Start thinking about WHY you are running such events. Get to defining the purpose of your event, and making sure that the purpose has indicators that can be measured and assessed.

In a world that stresses on credible and accountability, it is time we witness more accountability and smart planning from our young students. With guidance and mentoring, young Malaysians may be able to pave a more tangible way to impact-driven environmental initiatives for the country and its people.

“…The real people we should be celebrating are our volunteers, as they are the ones who are making a difference…”

Putrajaya, 4 March 2019 - EcoKnights, an environmental non-profit organization received the “Inisiatif Sukarelawan Negara Taman” Award from Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the National Landscape Day 2019 (HLN 2019), held at Putrajaya Botany Garden. The award recognised EcoKnights for their outstanding volunteering efforts in restoring and rehabilitating degraded landscapes in the country.

“Winning this award was a pleasant surprise. It’s great to be recognised for our volunteer programs. I think it shows that small efforts such as this can grow to shape and encourage the general public to address environmental challenges by taking action.

The real people we should be celebrating are our volunteers, as they are the ones who are making a difference. EcoKnights is merely a vehicle, and the real heroes are the young, the middle age and the senior citizens whom we will be celebrating with soon.” said Yasmin Rasyid, EcoKnights Founder and President.

EcoKnights have initiated a diverse range of volunteerism projects over the years and includes volunteerism efforts aimed at restoring and rehabilitating degraded areas in and outside of the city. From beach and river clean-ups to household waste management campaigns, the EcoKnights volunteerism efforts are often conducted in partnership with government agencies, community groups and businesses such as HSBC Bank, Vanke Malaysia, Starbucks Malaysia, DHL Express Malaysia, Shell Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia, Maybank Foundation, ASEAN Foundation, Edaran Tan Chong Motors, Gamuda Land, Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Holdings Berhad (MHB), Kenanga Investment Bank, MISC, UEM Sunrise, Aveda, edotco, DBKL, MBPJ, MBIP and more.

“…This year we are targeting to plant 300 trees and to have 20 clean ups especially along the rivers within Klang Valley. We are keen to have more collaboration with various partners in achieving this goal…”

This 2019, EcoKnights is pursuing higher goals in continuing the effort of restoring and rehabilitating degraded landscapes around Klang Valley. Volunteerism programs and efforts are already in place in which EcoKnights will be promoting to encourage more public and private participation in its endeavour and effort to restore and rehabilitate degraded landscapes around Klang Valley.

"We are thankful to all of our corporate partners, donors and supporters for the environmental volunteer initiatives. This year we are targeting to plant 300 trees and to have 20 clean ups especially along the rivers within Klang Valley. We are keen to have more collaborations with various partners in achieving this goal,” said Fadly Bakhtiar, EcoKnights Programme Director.

The National Landscape Day was initiated on the 3rd of March 1998 as an annual celebration, the effort is aimed at mobilising a culture of love for landscaping among the people in line with Core 1 of the National Landscape Policy, namely, to popularise love for landscaping.

27th February 2019, Sentul - EcoKnights in partnership with HSBC held a Community Log Boom Clean Up in Gombak River beside PPR Sri Terengganu from 9.30am to 1.00pm.

The clean up run successfully with 40 volunteers coming from HSBC group, assisted by 15 EcoKnights team members and 2 ERE consulting group officers. The objectives of this Community Log Boom Clean Up are to engage more people with the river within River Of Life project area, and encourage people to do waste segregation & proper waste disposal at their home to avoid the rubbish ending up in the river.

The result for the clean-up is unexpectedly high, with a total collection of 510.9 kg of waste.

Apart from the Log Boom Clean Up, the volunteers also learnt about mudball and its river-cleaning effect in the workshop handled by EcoKnights team members. The workshop took about 30 minutes in total, 20 minutes for the workshop and 10 minutes for the “Mudball Throwing” activity.

If you wish to join our river conservation action or to have some sustainable workshops for your area/school/company, feel free to contact us at info@ecoknights.org.my.

Check out the data on the waste collected here.