THE ‘SUSTAINABILITY & CLIMATE CHANGE IN SE ASIA

PROGRAMME’
ORIGIN & DEVELOPMENT
Notes by Stephen Sutton of the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu (RCKK)

In August 2009 I was asked by Edward Sung Burongoh, an RCKK Past President and a Past District
Governor of Rotary District 3310, to prepare a presentation for the District Conference, to be held in No-
vember 2009, on the subject of

‘Raising Climate Change Awareness – What Can Rotary Do?’

Rotary District 3310 is a constituent of Rotary International, which coordinates policy in all the Rotary
clubs (33,000 clubs, 1.2 million members) worldwide. District 3310 consists of 65 clubs and 2,000+
members spread over Malacca and Johor in West Malaysia, also Singapore and Labuan , and Sarawak,
Sabah and Brunei on the island of Borneo. With this number of members and geographical reach, Dis-
trict 3310 has considerable clout amongst decision makers in government, business and the professions,
which are the very sectors of the community from which it draws its own members. I therefore took care
to produce a detailed proposal, as this seemed to me an excellent opportunity to reach people who were
not aware of the urgency of the climate change problem and who could themselves influence decision
makers.

In preparation for this conference: Former District Governor Edward prepared a Resolution (see Ap-
pendix 1) which was adopted by the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu (RCKK) expressing the Club’s con-
cern about climate change and its resolve to do something about it. Once accepted by RCKK we were
then able to request the same Resolution be debated at the District Conference. Thus it was that I gave
the presentation on raising climate change awareness and immediately afterwards President Frankie Fu
of RCKK proposed that Conference adopt the Resolution.

To our satisfaction the Resolution was passed unanimously. Rotarians generally, it may be said, have
not been perceived as being overly concerned about climate change.

That a conference of 250 of the most senior Rotarians in this large region could pass unanimously a
Resolution of this nature suggests that attitudes are changing rapidly. It also suggests that it may be pos-
sible to mobilise SE Asian Rotary clubs to raise awareness amongst decision makers in the region.

Further good news came when RCKK was installed as the 1st Gold 50 Member of the Sutainability
Trust, an e-organisation of Rotary Clubs committed to a more sustainable use of global resources
(www.cO2offsettrust.org) RCKK is the first Gold 50 club in South-east Asia and as such is in a position
to show the way forward to other clubs in the region.

At this District Conference November 2009 another RCKK Past President , Haji Zainie Abdul Aucasa,
was formally accepted as the incoming District Governor for the year running from July 2011. DGE Haji
Zainie is CEO of a property development company linked to the State Government of Sabah, Malaysia.
He is also the President of the Sabah Wetlands Conservation Society and Chairman of the Tree- for- Life
Borneo, a joint initiative between the State Government of Sabah and local NGOs to plant 1 million trees
within the next 5 years.
 He proposes to make his Governorship a ‘Green Year’, raising awareness, and taking action on, climate
change and sustainability. The principal activity that he has generated in this regard is a 2 day international
conference on ‘Sustainability and Climate Change in S E Asia’ to be held on the 29th Feb and 1st March
2012.

This will be followed on 2nd March by a one day ‘Practitioners Meet’ when the speakers, workshop lead-
ers and organizers can network, and discuss ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ and best practice in mitiga-
tion and adaptation to climate change and resource shortages in a world which needs 1.5 planets to support
the current population.

At the Conference a Resolution will be produced and the meatier papers and workshop results published
on the Rotary District website.

The lead club organizing this within the District will be RCKK. A significant plus is that the incoming
President for the Club from July 2011 will be Lawrence Thien, head of an international insurance com-
pany in Sabah. He is very supportive of the policy of a ‘Green Year’ for the Club and in fact has already
caused the production of a ‘Green Song’ (see Appendix 2).

Arguably, music is an effective way to cross the barrier between hard facts and people’s emotional en-
gagement. The Green Song has a catchy tune and is already being practiced by a choir consisting of the
spouses of RCKK members under the able musical directorship of RCKK members. There will be a con-
cert featuring the choir and a big band on the 3rd March 2012.

Although RCKK, with its critical mass of environmentally active members, is the natural lead club for this
Sustainability and Climate Change project, other KK clubs are playing a part. There is considerable ex-
pertise in the other KK clubs which we are tapping into via our Organizing Committee.
The ‘SC3’ (Sustainability and Climate Change Conference) 2012 organization has now reached the
stage where the subjects for the 2 days of talks and workshops have been agreed, and invitations are out to
experts to make the presentations and lead the workshops.

Funding for the meeting will be by sponsorship and a conference attendance fee of RM1500 (USD500)
Hotel accommodation has been booked. Of the fourteen speakers, half are likely to be from outside Malay-
sia and Singapore.

There is every indication that the local media in Sabah will be very supportive, as they are very active in
promoting environmental awareness. We in Rotary believe that we can support the media in making a
bridge to decision makers to bring the problems of sustainablity and climate change right home to them.

Rotary officers change yearly, and with them, to some extent, the policies they promote. RCKK wishes to
create a continuity to build on the impact of SC3, and therefore we are looking into ways to continue sus-
tainability and climate change activities in future years.

We welcome partnerships with other organizations with the same goals.

Appendix 1

Resolution passed unanimously at the District 3310 Conference in Johor, 14 November 2009

‘WHEREAS the effects of climate change have been directly and/or indirectly linked to the calamities and disas-
ters experienced throughout the world,
IT IS RESOLVED by District 3310 that clubs and Rotarians in the district consider minimizing/reducing the ef-
fects of climate change by undertaking projects/activities such as, but not limited to, tree planting, mangrove
swamp conservation, flora and fauna conservation, 3Rs(reduce, recycle, reuse), Earth Day, wetlands preserva-
tion and to seek ways to reduce carbon footprints.’

Appendix 2

The Green Song

Chorus:
The world we love, we must maintain
The air we breathe, we must sustain
Without, we cannot stay alive
We need their help now to survive
1st Verse:
This earth of ours has always been
A home for us to tend and clean
If we neglect to do this task
What did we do? Our children ask
2nd Verse:
The fossil fuels like oil and coal
Should not be our only goal
These precious things are running low
For now they will not last, we know
3rd Verse:
So wind or sun should be our aim
To serve our Earth by solar gain
Or hydro, tide or nuclear power
Should be the way to save the hour
4th Verse
The sea girt reefs of our fair land
The teeming forests close at hand
Orangutans in jungle deep
And native birds all must we keep
Dunia ini sejak berzaman
dihuni dan perlu..... di hargai
namun jangan.... lupa dan alpa
rasa cinta pada semesta
Tenaga hitam berkurun diguna
bukan lagi matlamat sejagat
semakin hari kian berkurang
menunggu hujung titisan
Bumi ini yang dicintai, moga abadi selamanya
Untuk ku hirup......udara segarmu
Tanpamu, ku tak bernyawa
Dulu kini dan selamanya
Walai kau dan aku
kuasa alam harapan kita
sinar mentari hidupkan dunia
bayu, air, badaian ombak
haluan selamat insan semua
lautan terbentang tanah tercinta
dedaun beralun di riba dunia
mawas di rimba hidup gembira
beburung riang kekal berkicau

Stephen Sutton
Chair, Organising Committee for the Sustainability & Climate Change Conference (SC3)
2012