By Ian Hall Nuclear Power has been in the Malaysian news recently after their government gave the go ahead for a nuclear power plant to begin operating from 2021 Environmentalists and NIMBY's are usually vocal in their opposition to such announcements and indeed the Malaysia Nature Society has been debating the issue for some time before the government announcement. As an environmentalist and a disciple of James Lovelock I felt the need to weigh in on the debate with a letter to the editor of Malaysian Naturalist magazine...

Plain-pouched Hornbills in flight photo by Jasmin & John Steed Other photos and text by Ian Hall 19th August 2008 It was five o clock in the evening and all the day’s heat was pouring out of the red earth of the bola sepak pitch. I had my umbrella to provide shade from the sun but it was awkward to hold binoculars and monitor a telescope with only one free hand. Luckily the evening hornbill flight does not really get going until 6pm but we had to be there at five to ensure that the count included the early...

I had heard of the Save Belum-Temengor Postcard Campaign but had no idea where Belum-Temengor was. An invitation to join the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Bird Group trip to Belum was a great incentive to find out more. The sum of my knowledge was that MNS had successfully motivated the Malaysian public to lobby the government on an issue of environmental conservation. The cessation of logging in Temengor and the gazettement of Royal Belum as a State Park are remarkable achievements and a source of optimism for protection...