Two Words to Save a Rainforest

I grew up at home watching nature shows from Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and National Geographic. More often than not, I would hear my parents say things like

“Only Westerners will have the heart and patience to care for these animals, or the environment…”.

And they are right because everyone I knew in Malaysia was focused on their careers and improving their quality of life. Over time, I subconsciously learned to associate Westerners as the people who are trying to save the environment while we in the developing world are the culprits behind environmental destruction. In reality, the Western World is nearer to the environmental apocalypse than they want us to believe. 

Countries like Australia and New Zealand are renowned to many of us for having rich biodiversity, and that they are the leaders in conservation of the environment. But did you know that they have lost more than 50% of their wild forested areas? They are leaders in conservation today because of the countless lessons learnt from the environmental losses in the name of economic development over the last century. Both countries’ rapid environmental degradation didn’t just happen in the last 50 years but began as early as the 1800s¹. 

From the once massive expanses of eucalyptus rainforests covering the Southeastern parts of Australia², to the lush forests that once spanned most of New Zealand³; these unique environments and their inhabitants paid the ultimate price before the people there started realising and putting pressure on the brakes. We can easily see evidence of this today by simply visiting Google Map’s satellite images and seeing how much land remains untouched by human activities.