Posts

Pinnacle of passions

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  Away in Kuching on this March Escapade’23, I have a good overall view of what   I have done in Bintulu on the Kambatik Park.    Sometimes we need moments of detachment to figure out all what has been done at the nature park and evaluate it for better understanding and focus, and then what’s next? As a project that has taken more than ten years of development, I can say that it is the culmination of many strengths.   Firstly, the project has to be sustainable before any further commitment can be poured into its further investment in terms of time, efforts, funds and future planning.   To this end I can safely say that this has been achieved as I have managed to stay on with the project and passionate about it despite having to juggle time, money and efforts on daily basis to care for the place till presently. One thing that I have done in Kuching on this trip is to create a new blog called “Kambatik Ecopreneurship”.   With some major success being achieved, I can now look back at
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The Lowland Forest rainforest ecology

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The preservation of lowland tropical rainforest at the park while at the same time being integrated into agro-forestry practice in the Kambatik tradition has for the last 15 years brought renewed hope in an ecological oil palm farming model.  This model is sustainable even without any government help or subsidy and goes a long way to prove that competitive posture by small holders is a better bet for the preservation of ecological diversity in Sarawak.   The richness of the flora quality here even at lowland level i.e. about 30 meters above sea level (baseline= mouth of Kemena River) amazes me.  The resulting freshness in the air is beyond description when compared to the air quality in Bintulu town.  The hiatus of music from the birds at any time of day and the company of small animals (tree shrews, frogs, crickets, squirrels etc) are a boon to normal living. Though the trees have been the main reason for preservation of the evergreen jungle,  other plants like epiphytes, climbers, st
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Eco-marketing the Kambatik Park

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  The year is coming to a close and I'm thinking of what to do for the Kambatik Park next year.  For one thing it took me a good 3 years already to develop the eco-farm into a nature park.  I have created awareness of the park since last year with continuous blog postings (2013=150 ; 2014= 292 as to date).  So I think the next level is to do some serious eco-marketing of the park.  Marketing is an interesting topic because it enables me to understand what business I'm in (value proposition) by looking inside out (organisational effectiveness) and outside in (customers needs and benefits they buy).  My business value proposition in simple words,  I'm in the business of oil palm farming the ecoway.  But business is again a much misunderstood concept.  The western industrial economics tradition have pushed profits as the main motive.  Though environmental economics come into play, its position as an appendage to industrial economics has its limitations and resulted in ways tha
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Traditional Malay Kampung environment in Bintulu

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  In 1957 I used to walk from my house which was situated next to the Bintulu town to Kampung  Datok where my grandma lived.  I have fond memories of the walking through a series of small kampungs before reaching Kampung Datok.  The distance was about less than 500 meters.  But for a young kid it was a long walk.  The tiny village road that led to my grandma's house passed through many Malay and Melanau houses that were made of timber and belian roofing shingles.  Over-topping these houses were various types of palm trees and fruit trees.  They constituted a very important aspect of Malay culture and cuisine.  More significantly it was the presence of many birds around the houses feeding on fruiting trees that imprinted in me the love of plants and wildlife at an early age.  The B&W picture above is reminiscent of the forested environment of the Malay kampungs in Bintulu in the 1950's.  In contrast the same Malay kampungs today are devoid of any forest or landscaping enviro
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An Ecological Patch in History

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  21 July, 2018. An Ecological Patch in History I could have written a book on it. A documentary film or even a dissertation. There are so many possibilities but I just stick to what was most important and urgent all these years. Just tell the story regularly with a minimum of words and mostly pictures. Yes, I believed in visual communication, simple narrative and blogging.  That was what I felt since I started the blog ‘The Kambatik Park, Bintulu’. The Kambatik Park is an ecological patch in history.  I have blogged on it since 2013.  It has been 6 years of visual or pictorial history, case study and biographical account.  Upon reflection I believe that this is the way to go for future history writing, especially in the millennial age of visual communication through social media platforms where the users prefer popular history that can catch their imagination and at the same time search for identity in today’s challenged green planet.
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Greenifying businesses – the four Ps and marketing challenges

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  Greenifying businesses – the four Ps and marketing challenges  a discussion paper by Mahmud Yussop 3 March,2016  Introduction  Green Marketing has been a growing trend globally especially with the prominence of the environmental issues advanced by many layers and groups in society across the globe. Green marketing is taking shape as one of the key business strategies of the future. This is because of the increasing environmental consciousness which leads consumers to believing that shifting to the more environmental friendly products and services are an effort to help improve the environment. Businesses need to adapt to this unstoppable trend and supply end users or consumers what they demand to capitalise the current market prospects. It is worth noting that Green Marketing is also sometimes referred to as Environmental Marketing, Ecological Marketing and Eco-Marketing. There is no official definition as to what Green Marketing is, but the writer would define it based on three defin
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Sassy Pink Footpath Project

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The above is a view from the south-east. Observe the tall trees that have been there hundreds of years ago, and recently introduced ones like the oil palm tree, coconut tree and banana trees that occupy the lower section of the hill. My equipments and tools are temporarily parked at the valley floor in the foreground.   Sassy Pink Footpath Project This is Vegetation Island No.1. In this hill are tall original trees that constituted the jungle behind my chalet , about fifty meters away. In the far background is Vegetation Island No.2. The total area of these two vegetation islands are an acre and a half in size. These two small hills and the valleys around them make up the area to be developed as Heliconia Valley. But one thing at a time. Today I shall focus on the first footpath to be cleared i.e. the sassy pink footpath in respect to the beauty and splendour of heliconia 'sassy pink' species. This morning ( 23 June) my project involves the demarcation of the footpath as above,
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