MTF: What has inspired you in your career so far, and what drives you now?
I spent most of my early work on research – from looking at the way people were using forest remnants to hard-core taxonomy; to be honest, it was always the villagers I have worked with that have given me the most inspiration. Seeing people not being respected by the “system” or being taken advantage of by expanding industries (plantations to tourism) are all my drivers for wanting to make things work – making business work for the environment and the communities they operate in.
MTF: What is your background and what initially prompted you to set up Wild Asia?
Our whole approach is to work from within, and so one of our biggest coups was to be drawn into one of the largest oil palm companies in the world.
Research, research, research. Well grounded in modern biological sciences but after graduating, I found myself working on conservation issues with WWF – from marine to forest conservation. Wild Asia was my next step really – to build a new platform to seek new approaches to conservation. It did not happen overnight though and our starting point was my first website – wildborneo.net – which was setup to assist travelers find village tourism enterprises and a means to bypass mainstream tourism operators.
MTF: Can you explain a bit more about what you do?
My day to day job is shared between nurturing Wild Asia – a team held together with very little cash, lots of motivation and very little free time – and also working as an adviser for a wide range of conservation projects. Usually these are projects funded by international aid but we find, more and more, that these are projects we have dreamt of, such as the natural corridor initiative.
MTF: How succesful has your work on Oil Palm plantations been and why is it important?
Our whole approach is to work from within, and so one of our biggest coups was to be drawn into one of the largest oil palm companies in the world. It took over a year to build their trust but we are now in a position to influence change – this has ranged from influencing the protection of natural areas; advising on approaches to sustainability and simply making plantation managers build better relationships with the local community. This is potentially of wide ranging consequence as these ideas now have a higher chance of being picked up by the other companies.
MTF: Why did you get involved in the tourism industry?
Tourism in Malaysia – or Asia – is most often than not based on natural areas and its people. These are the very environments we want to see conserved. We also saw that a clean “environment” and “local communities” is relevant for the entire tourism industry and not restricted to those so called eco-tourism operators. It was only natural, again, that we started looking at ways to influence this industry.
MTF: What are your hopes for the future, both for yourself and Wild Asia, and for the environment and world of travel?
Its a moving goalpost isn’t it? For whatever progress we make – we never quite seem to get there. Thats the nature of our times. What we see though is that we can make a difference, however small, its simply important to keep sharing, keep talking and keep connecting to connect with yet more like-minded people. Its this critical mass – whatever that may be – that I hope we can build which would kick start some major wins.
MTF: What advice would you give to a travel company that wants to make a real difference?
The one thing I have learnt is that to make RT work on the ground, you need patience and a strong financial base. Once you can get started and that you have a viable business, work to understand what responsible travel means; you can start by filling up our responsible tourism checklist!
More information:
- Listen to Dr. Reza Azmi on Kuala Lumpur’s BFM radio talking about Wild Asia and how it all got started.
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Interview: Reza Azmi Is Influencing Change In Malaysia
MTF: What has inspired you in your career so far, and what drives you now?
I spent most of my early work on research – from looking at the way people were using forest remnants to hard-core taxonomy; to be honest, it was always the villagers I have worked with that have given me the most inspiration. Seeing people not being respected by the “system” or being taken advantage of by expanding industries (plantations to tourism) are all my drivers for wanting to make things work – making business work for the environment and the communities they operate in.
MTF: What is your background and what initially prompted you to set up Wild Asia?
Research, research, research. Well grounded in modern biological sciences but after graduating, I found myself working on conservation issues with WWF – from marine to forest conservation. Wild Asia was my next step really – to build a new platform to seek new approaches to conservation. It did not happen overnight though and our starting point was my first website – wildborneo.net – which was setup to assist travelers find village tourism enterprises and a means to bypass mainstream tourism operators.
MTF: Can you explain a bit more about what you do?
My day to day job is shared between nurturing Wild Asia – a team held together with very little cash, lots of motivation and very little free time – and also working as an adviser for a wide range of conservation projects. Usually these are projects funded by international aid but we find, more and more, that these are projects we have dreamt of, such as the natural corridor initiative.
MTF: How succesful has your work on Oil Palm plantations been and why is it important?
Our whole approach is to work from within, and so one of our biggest coups was to be drawn into one of the largest oil palm companies in the world. It took over a year to build their trust but we are now in a position to influence change – this has ranged from influencing the protection of natural areas; advising on approaches to sustainability and simply making plantation managers build better relationships with the local community. This is potentially of wide ranging consequence as these ideas now have a higher chance of being picked up by the other companies.
MTF: Why did you get involved in the tourism industry?
Tourism in Malaysia – or Asia – is most often than not based on natural areas and its people. These are the very environments we want to see conserved. We also saw that a clean “environment” and “local communities” is relevant for the entire tourism industry and not restricted to those so called eco-tourism operators. It was only natural, again, that we started looking at ways to influence this industry.
MTF: What are your hopes for the future, both for yourself and Wild Asia, and for the environment and world of travel?
Its a moving goalpost isn’t it? For whatever progress we make – we never quite seem to get there. Thats the nature of our times. What we see though is that we can make a difference, however small, its simply important to keep sharing, keep talking and keep connecting to connect with yet more like-minded people. Its this critical mass – whatever that may be – that I hope we can build which would kick start some major wins.
MTF: What advice would you give to a travel company that wants to make a real difference?
The one thing I have learnt is that to make RT work on the ground, you need patience and a strong financial base. Once you can get started and that you have a viable business, work to understand what responsible travel means; you can start by filling up our responsible tourism checklist!
More information:
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