Directory: Youth leaders

Adeline is an advocate for the environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Ever since she and her friends embarked on a ‘Bring Your Own Container’ project in her university, she embarked on a journey to advocate for environmentally-friendly alternatives to lead one’s life. Adeline is the founder of Revofa, a local peer-to-peer clothing rental platform that allows the platform’s community to rent, resell, repair and reuse clothing to curb consumerism. She also founded Bumi and co, which is a platform to sell eco-friendly products and educate the public on environmentally-friendly and healthier alternatives to plastics and other toxic household materials.

Aidil’s passion is in speaking up about the social injustices that arise from issues like climate change and biodiversity loss in Malaysia. With a background in mass communication, he curates social media content to raise awareness and engage with young people, as well as speaks in events and conferences. To him, taking a human perspective and being inclusive — thinking of everyone in the picture — enables him to make a greater impact in environmental work in Malaysia.

In college, she joined a trip to a beach in Kuching and was shocked when she saw the state of the beach that she used to love as a little girl. Rubbish littered the area, staining the natural beauty of the place. This drove Alcila to found the Sarawak Beach Cleaners. Periodically, they would organize beach cleaning activities. She had herself in the past struggled with self-doubt and lack of confidence that she could make any difference but has since learned that those very self-doubts were what prevented so many from doing good. “One can contribute to conservation by the simplest actions,” she said. “Bring your own bottle, say no to plastic bags. It does not cost much.”

To Alex, change is most satisfactory when its impact can be measured. The ability to identify the number of individuals reached, measure awareness levels and behaviour change, and observe trends of change are all ways to measure the impact of an action. In his work in corporate sustainability, however, such impacts are difficult to quantify and communicate to others who expect faster change. Thus, Alex plays his role as the bridge between the two, recognizing that even among corporations, there is a common cause, no matter how small the action may seem to be.

Celine is a strategic communicator who possesses a background in conservation biology. As an avid researcher and advocate for environmental conservation and protection, Celine believes that a major challenge that needs to be overcome in environmental work is to combine effective scientific communication with environmental advocacy approaches to drive mindset and behaviour change among the local community. She believes that once people truly understand the consequences behind their actions, and see the proof with their own eyes backed by data, more persuasive messages can be sent to inspire others to take action in the fight against climate change.

Gabrielle finds her calling in conducting environmental advocacy work. She lends her voice to represent nature in fighting the war against harmful developments and pollution that risks harming the environment in Malaysia and around the globe. Over the years, she has done extensive work on environmental research, education, advocacy and policy projects. She is especially interested in developing workshops and resources that may attract the youth to participate in the cause, as well as to educate and spread awareness to others. Gabrielle also finds joy in attending conferences worldwide where she is able to connect and exchange views with others.

Haaziq is an engineer striving to solve the problems faced by traditional fisheries in Malaysia. Through the #DemiLaut project, he advocates a circular approach to benefit traditional fishers by preserving their heritage and helping them contribute to the needs of food security in Malaysia. Haaziq is also strongly involved in enabling fishers to help mitigate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Malaysia. He works closely with tech partners, NGOs and stakeholders to conduct fisher-centric research and development. The goal is to build a minimum viable product (MVP) to test and measure their approach and outcomes.

Jaspreet Kaur believes that educating others is one of the biggest challenges in environmental work. There are many myths and misconceptions that need to be broken, such as the view that being vegan causes climate change, or that sustainability does not relate to conservation efforts. Jaspreet believes strongly that the desire to make a change, and to contribute in small but consistent ways, is incredibly helpful if one feels overwhelmed with the environmental work that needs to be done.

Muhammad Hisyamuddin is a huge believer that raising awareness among the public needs to precede any environmental work or task. This comes after his experience of organizing a large-scale clean-up activity in a community. He was disappointed to see that it did not take long for the area to become messy again, which drives his belief that change needs to happen personally, then to those in one’s circle. To Hisyamuddin, what drives him is to fight for the future generation, where awareness of what one consumes and use will constantly affect the future in many ways.

Nur Diyana is a creative writer who enjoys writing of her own personal experiences and journey on clean eating and the environment. With a background in natural sciences, she found her niche in coupling her scientific mind with her wordsmithing expertise to help leaders communicate their ideas effectively and spread awareness on the needs of environmental work. As the digital marketing manager for Youth United for Earth (YUFE), Nur Diyana is now also working closely with youth to spread opportunities for involvement in climate and environmental action.

Nurfatin Najihah is a forest steward for the indigenous people of Malaysia. Believing that her generation and those of the future are especially vulnerable to climate disasters and illnesses, she doubles down on helping those in poverty receiving the brunt of climate change. She advocates strongly for the conservation of the forests and preservation of biodiversity, and is currently working hard to inspire and mobilize the youth to take action to overcome the effects of climate change.

From the stories of fellow grassroots members, particularly among the Orang Asli (indigeneous people), local farmers and fishermen, Nurul Shakila was inspired to participate in numerous projects and organizations, most notably the #hutanpergimana campaign that sought to pressure the local authorities against degazetting the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve. The experience, Shakila said, opened her eyes to the power people have when they come together for a common cause. Yet it was not all beds of roses for her. She has received numerous threats in her effort to protect nature. The problem, Shakila says, is that people misunderstand their intentions. People tend to believe that because one is passionate about saving trees, they are against development, yet this is untrue. “We are pro-sustainable development, not anti-development,” she said.

Yew Aun is the co-founder of Reef Stakes®, a role-playing game focusing on the marine environment that won the 8th International Education Games Competition. With a background in aquatic biology alongside biodiversity, conservation and management, Yew Aun demonstrates his passion for the conservation of wildlife and marine life through numerous activities that he does on the side. This is on top of his busy schedule as an assistant secretary for the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in Malaysia. From researching ocean life to coordinating conservation outreach activities, Yew Aun contributes where he can to do more for the environment.

Ruzaini Hanum is an advocate for recycling in Malaysia. Through Project Kita.R, he hopes to make a difference and contribute to the betterment of the country by understanding what is happening among stakeholders in the local recycling scene, identify and address the loopholes through community cooperation and empowerment, and work with industry players to create a new collection system for unrecovered items. To him, knowledge is empowerment, and the first step is through educating both producers and consumers on the contents of their products and packaging to know how to recycle effectively, thereby reducing the waste in the country.

Sahana Kaur is a youth advocate that champions human rights and climate action in Malaysia. Despite her young age, she has made headlines in Malaysia for her extensive involvement in local and international conferences, forums and events related to environment advocacy and climate change. One of her greatest feats was in co-organizing the Pre-Youth4Climate Workshop in 2021 with UNICEF Malaysia and Mogesh Sababathy, which allowed her to connect with local youth climate advocates. The exposure allowed her to explore and compile the ideas and solutions of the group to form an output report to drive youth empowerment.

Seri Mirza Mizani advocates for sustainability, whether in fashion, wellbeing, education, or in the spiritual sense to connect with nature and fight for its cause. As a former fashion student, she remembered feeling the dissonance when she understood that the clothes she designed and produced would take 200 to 300 years to decompose. It opened her eyes to the importance of recycling and reusing, and in minimizing waste and opting for sustainability in one’s life. Since then, she has participated in numerous events and programmes, from cleaning up local areas to developing herself as an advocate for climate change.

Zhai Yun spends a lot of her time researching and developing partnerships with like-minded, passionate individuals who dedicate their lives advocating for a sustainable, greener future for the next generation. Through the research and collaboration, she developed programmes that would attract the youth to join the cause. To her, it is high time that youth be involved in thinking about systemic problems and to generate solutions that can have a lasting, positive impact on the environment.

Zhee Qi is a Malaysian youth advocate who finds her voice in developing crucial conversations involving the community and youth for environmental action. She is actively involved in the Malaysian Youth Delegation, and has participated in numerous speaking opportunities that has taught her the power of having conversations for a common cause. Zhee Qi believes that everyone has the responsibility to overcome today’s climate crisis. Now, she is working to empower other youth in Malaysia to join the cause and make a difference to the climate crisis in the country.

Hung Yee is the managing director for Fly Technology Agriculture Sdn. Bhd., a company that provides sustainability consultancy to local councils, government agencies, and other industry players on proper waste management. He developed his passion for environmental work since he was young, during a volunteering programme that he joined in Mauritus. Since then, Hung Yee has been active in driving sustainable waste management in Sarawak. One of his achievements was in working with local hotels, food premises and markets in Kuching, where they managed to divert more than 1,000 tonnes of organic waste from landfills into better uses such as composting.

Jun Huo empowers the community with sustainable agriculture practices to demonstrate ways to live a sustainable lifestyle. Driven by his observation of pesticide use and overexploitation of land in unsustainable agriculture practices in the country, Jun Huo seeks to drive sustainability in the future of agriculture. Jun Huo, through the founding of the Greenbox project, has already pursued this line of work by working with the community and empowering youth in schools and universities to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. He hopes to do more in this cause and make a bigger social impact in the future.