Wild Asia - Tourism, Environment & You

Tourism, Environment & You - a training workshop

by Khing Ju Li

Wild Asia recently conducted a workshop for Malaysia Airlines staff. The workshop aimed to equip staff with an understanding of environmental issues using case-studies from our Responsible Tourism Initiative. JU LI KHING reports.

On Thursday, 12 August 2008, Wild Asia and Malaysia Airlines joined forces to facilitate a workshop about responsible tourism and the environment. The workshop was attended by approximately 20 representatives from different departments in Malaysia Airlines. It was conducted by Dr Reza Azmi of Wild Asia and was divided into three parts over the course of the day. Mr. Mustapha of Malaysia Airlines provided additional insights into MAS's Go Green programme.

After a brief introduction and outline of the day, Dr Reza went on to highlight issues such as waste management, recycling, and greenhouse gases. Due to the informal nature of the workshop, participants were free to interrupt and ask questions to clarify certain terms and concepts. This ensured that the participants better understood the material. Initially, the session was aimed at spreading awareness about the impact of daily lifestyle on the environment, and vice versa.

The talk then moved on to the impact of tourism on the environment. Dr Reza's main point during this session was the topic of waste management. "People don't know where their waste is going," Dr Reza said during his presentation, showing pictures of a landfill. "Have any of you been to Tanjung Rhu?" He went on to talk about the landfill that was upstream of Tanjung Rhu, leaching from which leads to water-borne diseases like E. coli.

Participants were encouraged to support local businesses after learning that more than 50% of the annual profit earnings from tourism go to foreign companies. Subsequently, the workshop moved on to sustainability in businesses, which introduced Wild Asia's Responsible Tourism Award for sustainable tourism businesses. The award is based on a checklist of indicators created by Wild Asia, and has gained regional recognition since its establishment three years ago. Participants had the opportunity to watch a video by Wild Asia on Responsible Tourism, which showcased the aforementioned sustainable businesses.

Mr. Mustapha took over during the second part of the day. His talk gave further insight into the workings of Malaysia Airlines. He spoke of the efforts taken by Malaysia Airlines to decrease its carbon footprint on an overall scale. To explain this, he walked participants through flight procedures, pointing out aspects that were harmful to the environment and then explaining the various solutions used by MAS to rectify such problems.

The talk given by Mr. Mustapha was highly detailed; he highlighted problem areas present before the flight, at the airport, during the flight, and after landing. His explanation showed the gradual transformation of MAS into a sustainable corporation. There was real effort put into this measure, such as improving plane engines and aircraft structure to optimize fuel efficiency, encouraging e-tickets to decrease paper usage, and shortening of plane routes to decrease travel time, to name a few.

As a result of the detailed nature of this session, participants became more acquainted with the roles of other departments within the company that were previously unknown or vague. Due to the diversity of the participants, each had different levels of knowledge about the environment. The disparity in awareness became clearer when discussion leaned towards the activities of MAS that pertained to responsible tourism. While some people knew a bit about the Go Green campaign, a few admitted that they had no idea before this workshop. However, during the course of the day they sought clarification from each other as well as Dr Reza and Mr. Mustapha.

"This workshop is a good eye-opener for me," said Ms. Norwati from Controller/Computer Services. "We would need more people to attend," She also suggested that more of these workshops be given to the rest of the staff. "Because everybody must know - to build their interest... and awareness,"

During the last part of the day, the participants were separated into groups and asked to come up with tasks for MAS in terms of social, environmental and economic objectives. The result was a wide range of ideas ranging from suggestions for community work within the staff to more abstract goals for the company. After the groups had presented their results, Dr Reza then stimulated further discussion to compile all four sets of results. All four groups agreed, with variations, that education and proper waste management were the most important measures to safeguard the environment.

The emphasis of the workshop, however, was on proactive action.

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Original URL: http://www.wildasia.org/main.cfm/RTI/Tourism,_Environment_&_You

Published: 25 August 2008