Green: Ghazally on a mission

Suzanna Pillay, The New Straits Times 7 Mar 10;

The abundant animal and plant life of Malaysia's tropical habitats becomes less of a mystery when you scour the books of renowned scientist Dr Ghazally Ismail, writes SUZANNA PILLAY

NOT many people would find the lowly creeping flatworm an interesting creature. For scientist Dr Ghazally Ismail, however, it is the most fascinating resident in the Malaysian forest.

“It is the first symmetrical design in the evolutionary process that enabled an organism to move forward to hunt for food. It is more advanced than sponges and coral polyps that remain stationary and wait for food to pass by, and even more advanced than jellyfish that pulse aimlessly in the water in search of food. “The flatworm’s striking colours, which contrast with the forest floor, are beautiful too,” says this passionate naturalist and environmental advocate who has been up Mount Kinabalu six times.

And his pick of the most misunderstood creature? “The poor rhinoceros. These animals are being pushed to the brink of extinction because of a long-standing fallacy that their horns have medicinal value.

“Nothing is more erroneous than to believe that the horn has such properties when in fact its chemical composition is exactly similar to our fingernails — keratin, the most inert chemical component of our body parts.

“People who kill these magnificent beasts for their horns just need to chew on their fingernails!” The flatworm and rhino are just a few of the fascinating creatures you can read about in Dr Ghazally’s new book The Malaysian Rainforest Realm; Fascinating Facts in Q & A, which he co-wrote with his daughter Salina.

If you had ever wondered how the Brahminy Kite got its name, or why the slow loris has such huge eyes, then this is the book for you.

Written in question-and-answer format, the book offers facts and answers to a wealth of fascinating Malaysian flora and fauna simply but succinctly. Why did they opt for a Q & A format? “In learning, everything starts with a question,” says Dr Ghazally. The format was also inspired by the fact that Salina had earlier conceptualised a 13-episode science series in English for television, Just Curious, that explained the science around us.

“Our book is crafted to elicit interest and educate readers about wildlife and nature. People would have a deeper appreciation of the antics and marvels of nature when they know the answers to those nagging questions that arise about plants and animals during nature walks.

“This in turn would inculcate a love of nature, which ultimately, would move them into protecting it. This, we believe, is the key to nature education,” explained Ghazally.

“Echoing what Senegalese poet Baba Dioum said: ‘In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love what we understand and we will understand what we are taught.” A former Dean of the Faculty of Science and Natural Resources at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Sabah Campus from 1981-1992, Ghazally has contributed immensely to research and conservation of both terrestrial and marine ecosystems in Borneo.

One of his past career highs was in 1983-1984 when he met famed French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Then, Cousteau and his Calypso team were filming the mangroves in Sarawak and Kalimantan.

“We (Dr Ghazally and Sabah Parks) invited Costeau and his team to Sabah to do a requisition of the coral reefs at Sipadan Island. Then, Sipadan was hardly known to scuba divers and remained a well-kept secret as one of the most beautiful oceanic islands in the world.

Dr Ghazally was invited on board Cousteau’s research vessel The Calypso. He met the team of marine scientists and filmmakers that had so immensely contributed and educated the world on marine life. “I shook hands with the famous Sir Jacques Cousteau and his wife on board the vessel. It was indeed a memorable moment which I cherish to this day.” The visit resulted in Cousteau acquiring additional financial support to film a documentary on Sipadan featuring the tomb for sea turtles in the underwater caves of the island. This unravelled the mystery of the hundreds of turtle shells found in the underwater caves of Sipadan, stacked one on top of the other.

The documentary provided insight into how hundreds of giant sea turtles had drowned in the dark underwater caves.

Apart from The Malaysian Rainforest Realm, a second book by Dr Ghazally titled Taman Negara: A Bastion of Malaysia’s Biodiversity is due to be launched on March 21 in KL.

A third on the Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve is now in print. Published by UKM, it is to commemorate and signify the designation of Tasik Chini as one of the few Unesco’s Biosphere Reserves in the world. Dr Ghazally, however, is not resting on his laurels. Currently he is working on another book for UKM.

“It’s called Living Laboratories of UKM: Putting Ecosystem under the Microscope and is a book on the five research field stations run by UKM throughout the country: Hutan Simpan Bangi studying lowland dipterocarp forest; Fraser’s Hill for tropical montane forest; Sungai Pulai, Mersing Johor for mangrove forest; Tasik Chini for tropical freshwater ecosystem and Langkawi Geoparks for ecological and geological study of a tropical island ecosystem.

“Each represents a unique ecosystem providing opportunities for scientists to carry out long-term ecological study on different tropical habitats. The book hopefully will attract more researchers to carry out long-term investigations on the biodiversity and environmental changes in these tropical ecosystems,” he says.

What would be the one important green message that he could impart to Malaysians about forest and ecosystem? “Choose the right leaders. It is so much more important to change your leaders than to change your energy-saving light bulbs or switch to eating only organic vegetables.

“This is because leaders write the rules, set the standards and offer the tax incentives that drive market behaviour across the whole country.

“Whatever steps we take individually to become greener matter only to ourselves, becoming healthier and affecting our small household. But when leaders change the rules, you get scale change across the whole marketplace. And that is the enormity of change we need to see to make a difference.”

The Malaysian Rainforest Realm (RM69.90, Marshall Cavendish Editions) is available at all leading bookstores. Curiosity enriches the mind

Q: What books do you read? Who are your favourite authors?

GHAZALLY: I read anything that satisfies my curiosity ...health, science, technology and environmental issues, politics, when things just don’t make any sense whatsoever! My favourite authors only write very very occasionally ... Sir David Attenborough, Edward O Wilson and Lewis Thomas. All are hard-core naturalists and highly committed environmentalists.

Q: What is your favourite film of all time? What have you seen recently? What do you think is the best film on wildlife?

G: Eric Segal’s 1970 Love Story featuring Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neal. Why? It must be the impressionable age I was at when I watched that movie. It is a simple tale of young love defeated by death ...very simple storyline but emotive. Avatar is the latest movie I’ve seen. Science fiction verging on fantasy, but I think it is going to change the entire movie landscape of the future.

3-D viewing is in and I love it! Some of the issues raised in Avatar hits home when you love nature as much as I do.

The best film on wildlife must be Life In The Undergrowth by Sir David Attenborough.

Amazing revelations of the invertebrate world - the unseen world that we often take for granted but is vitally part of our existence in this world.

Q: Who is your favourite animal conservationist and why?

G: Sir David Attenborough and David Suzuki - both wildlife documentary makers. They are effectively spreading the message of conservation through film, and therefore, reaching a much wider audience. Their contributions reach global proportions.

Q: What is your favourite television programme on the wildlife channel?

G: National Geographic. There are more research and factual information that go into the script and narration. Other wildlife channels tend to emphasise more on commercial and entertainment values and less on educational content.

Q: What kind of music do you listen to?

G: All kinds of music — from keroncong to hip-hop because I love music for its rhythm and beats. Nonetheless, I do tend to gravitate towards ballads and evergreens of the 1980’s — Lionel Ritchie, Rod Stewart, sometimes folksy tunes like those of Alanis Morissette, Dido ...and even rap and hip-hop like Eminem and Black-eyed Peas.