Curtin-MENGO Symposium 2009 at Curtin Sarawak to contribute to gender mainstreaming in biodiversity conservation

Miri – 23 April, 2009 – A two-day symposium aimed at contributing to sustainability through biodiversity conservation policy and application in Malaysia will be held at Curtin University of Technology, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) on 28 and 29 April 2009.

It is being jointly organised by Malaysian Environment NGOs (MENGO) and The Centre for Advanced Studies in Australia, Asia and the Pacific (CASAAP) at Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia, and Curtin Sarawak. About 50 participants from Curtin University of Technology in Western Australia, Curtin Sarawak, and non-government environmental bodies in Malaysia are expected to attend and present papers.

“The symposium will be an effective forum for the sharing of experiences and good practices in mainstreaming gender in natural resource management between Malaysia and Australia, and also developing practical tools for incorporating gender in biodiversity conservation,” says project leader for MENGO and one of the keynote speakers for the symposium, Dr Sundari Ramakrishna.

“The mainstreaming of the roles of both genders and the application of ecology will strengthen biodiversity conservation and sustainability in both the Malaysian and Australian contexts – through mainstreaming an understanding of the contributions of both genders in Malaysia, and in Australia, through raising awareness of the differences in sustainability values between genders,” says Dr Angela Wardell-Johnson, an environmental sociologist and research fellow with the CASAAP, and another keynote speaker for the symposium.

According to Curtin Sarawak’s Dean of Research & Development, Dr. Shenbaga Rajaratnam Kaniraj, such relationships between Malaysians and Australians exemplify a unique approach to biodiversity conservation accommodating both women’s and men’s value frames. He says the Malaysian practitioners can provide significant innovative input to the Australian context.

The symposium will also provide an opportunity for MENGO practitioners to exchange with Malaysian and Australian researchers knowledge about good practices of gender mainstreaming in environmental management in Malaysia. This will be advantageous to the ongoing collaboration between MENGO and researchers from Curtin University of Technology, as well as researchers and practitioners working in the Malaysian context.

Their collaboration entails a cross-cultural study of mainstreaming gender in environmental management through the application of a values perspective in order to situate gender as an integral value system in ecological management, thus creating ‘peaceful ecologies’. The concept of ‘peaceful ecology’ represents the definition of gender as values to be deconstructed within the values of the community and its relationship to its ecology. This allows a particular community to relate to biodiversity conservation at a personal level, and from a fresh perspective.

“The knowledge and practice tools we generate will contribute to an improvement in biodiversity conservation in Malaysia through explicit attention to the roles of both genders in generating conservation measures. It also has the potential to contribute a paradigm shift in the Australian context through the development of a biodiversity conservation approach that incorporates the social dimensions of gender and peace,” says Dr Angela Wardell-Johnson, adding that it is a unique opportunity to draw on contrasting cultural norms in the valuing of biodiversity.

It is anticipated that the output of the symposium will be applied in other contexts through Curtin University of Technology and its campuses through curriculum development, as well as through the international operations of the MENGO partners.

According to Beena Giridharan, Curtin Sarawak’s Dean of Foundation & Continuing Studies and coordinator of the symposium, the event is also expected to help develop more linkages and expertise required by the BioValley Park Project being developed at Curtin Sarawak.

Other prominent speakers at the symposium will include Dr Ratna Malar Selvaratnam, a peace ecologist representing the Peace Café, consultant for MENGO in mainstreaming gender within environmental management in Malaysia; Professor Janette Hartz-Karp, Professor of Sustainability at the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute (CUSP), and Dr Aileen Hoath, a researcher with the Research Unit for the Study of Change in Society at Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia.

MENGO provides an independent platform/network of Malaysian non-governmental organisations that is committed towards enhancing the environmental sustainability agenda at local, national and international levels. Formed in 2001 under the Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA) programme, it aspires towards an ecologically-sound, transparent, participatory and socially just society through sustainable development policies and practices related to natural resources management and biodiversity conservation.