In conjunction with the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre’s seventh Environment Day, 35 of its team members, led by the Centre’s Safety, Health and Environment Department and Orang Asli (indigenous) volunteers from Sungai Buloh, spent a day protecting and conserving 160 endangered trees at Taman Tugu Negara (National Monument Park).

Elaborating on the Centre’s seventh Environment Day, Alan Pryor, the centre’s general manager said, “We are delighted to contribute to positive environmental initiatives that assist to protect mother nature and the sustainability of our environment.  It was great to see our team members working alongside the Orang Asli, to preserve endangered native rainforest trees by assisting them to relocate these protected species to the Malaysia Nature Society (MNS) Nursery.”

Once fully nurtured and rehabilitated at MNS Nursery, they will be replanted at Taman Tugu Negara and other forest areas to help stabilise our ecosystem and encourage natural regrowth of Malaysia’s flora and fauna.

The Centre also achieved its eleventh consecutive EarthCheck certificate. Applauding the team members’ ongoing commitment to the environment, Pryor continued, “The effort and dedication demonstrated by everyone is integral to maintaining this important environmental benchmarking certification. This achievement reaffirms our commitment to being an internationally recognised convention centre that operates its business in a responsible and sustainable manner.”

The EarthCheck benchmarking process encompasses eight areas of assessment, Energy, Community Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Paper, Water, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Waste and Pesticides and Cleaning Products.

“We earned regional leader ranking in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and minimising our paper product usage and aim to reach best practice level on the remaining assessment areas next year,” Pryor said.

Other than on-going sustainability and conservation efforts, the Centre also implements environmentally-friendly practices such as use of biodegradable cleaning products, minimal use of pesticides and energy saving systems, such as finely-tuned lighting controls and on-demand escalators.

In addition, the Centre has its own tree planting initiative under the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia’s (FRIM) Conservation Culture Programme and collaborates with industry partners such as the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau’s (MyCEB) to promote their ‘Let’s Meet & Green’ treeplanting programme to offset carbon emissions.