KUALA LUMPUR April 13 2020 — Former Science Adviser to the Prime Minister, Prof Tan Sri Zakri Abdul Hamid, has been appointed ambassador and science adviser to the global Campaign for Nature, a partnership between the Wyss Campaign for Nature and the National Geographic Society.
The partnership works with a growing coalition of more than 100 conservation organisations around the world to call on policymakers to commit to a science-driven and ambitious new deal for nature, Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) said in a statement today.
Zakri, a former joint chairman of MIGHT, is now a senior associate at the government think-tank.
MIGHT said the campaign is of great urgency as evidenced by the COVID-19 global pandemic and the transmission of infectious diseases from wildlife to humans.
A 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services indicated that such transmissions might be exacerbated by human activities such as land clearing and habitat fragmentation.
The Campaign for Nature calls on world leaders to commit to protecting at least 30 per cent of the planet by 2030; help mobilise financial resources to ensure protected areas are properly managed; and approach biodiversity conservation in a way that fully integrates and respects indigenous leadership and rights.
MIGHT president and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Yusoff Sulaiman said Zakri has “played a towering role in Malaysia’s governance of science and is recognised worldwide as a leading science thought leader, particularly in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.”
Meanwhile, Zakri said this recognition is not so much for him as it is for Malaysia.
“Our country has been playing a constructive and proactive role in the governance of sustainable development since the Earth Summit in 1992.
“As one of the 17 megadiverse countries in the world, we have a heavy responsibility to ensure that biodiversity is conserved and use in a sustainable way,“ he said.
MIGHT is an organisation under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department which plays a key role in developing Malaysia’s high technology for business through its role as a think-tank and private-public consensus building and business-nurturing platform.
— BERNAMA
