This blog was written by Aisyah binti Badrul Azmi, a participant of the YELL Conservocation Programme.
Follow Aisyah binti Badrul Azmi’ blog to learn about her experience as a Conservocation Programme participant.
During my extended stay in Kampung Cunex, with the help of a local teacher, I carried out a simple activity with children and youths. I asked them to draw or write anything that came to mind when they heard the words alam persekitaran. The activity conducted was open, there were no fixed definitions or guiding questions. The teacher explained alam persekitaran in Temiar using words close to everyday life, such as sekeliling and hutan. These were words the children already knew, not something new introduced for the activity.
The following are depictions and descriptions of alam persekitaran by children and youths aged 8–20
Why understanding the perspectives of children and youths regarding alam persekitaran matters
What the children and youths showed tells us something simple but important that alam persekitaran is understood through daily experience, from what they notice from their surroundings, things they value in their daily lives, rivers they play in and forests they walk through.
This matters because many conversations about protecting nature often start far away from these realities and often rely on terms, plans, and targets that do not always connect to how people actually live. When that happens, care for the land can start to feel distant or imposed, rather than something rooted in everyday relationships.
However, these drawings do not tell the whole story. What is not drawn or written is just as important. Pressures on land, changes to forests, and decisions made outside the kampung shape these children’s surroundings, even if they are not named directly. These conditions sit quietly in the background of how alam persekitaran is understood.
Paying attention to how children and youths describe their surroundings is not about finding perfect definitions. It is about listening to what is already there and recognising that any effort to protect the land must begin from how it is lived, not only how it is talked about.
Thank you, Aisyah binti Badrul Azmi for sharing your experience at COAC!
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