Newsletter

Global Center of Excellence (GCOE)
Kyoto University-University of Malaya

Special Coordination Funds for Promotion Science and Technology
Strategic Program for Fostering Environmental Leaders

Kyoto University Global COE Program

Global Center for Education and Research on
Human Security Engineering for Asian Megacities

International Center for Human Resource Development inEnvironmental Management
Kyoto University
Graduate School of Engineering

JSPSJSPS-Asian Core Program (IWM)
JSPS-ACP (IWM) meeting with Japan
coordinator; Prof. Yoshihisa Shimizu (sitting,second from right) and chaired by Prof. Dr. Nik
Meriam Nik Sulaiman (sitting, third from right).
Together with a visit from EML committee; Dr.
Hidenori Harada (standing, second from left)
and EML’s doctoral student; Nurul Aini
Kamaruddin (standing, end left)(Nov 21, 2011).

2011.12.

Issue

Vol. 1

Prof. Yoshihisa Shimizu (end right) and
Dr. Nobumitsu Sakai (end left) visit to Facultyof Civil Engineering, MARA University ofTechnology (UiTM), Shah Alam
(Nov 23, 2011).

GCOE KU-UM is an international program under:

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Zeeda Fatimah Mohamed1abd*, Noorshahzila Idris2a, Azizan Baharuddin3acd,
Nik Meriam Nik Sulaiman4d and Amran Muhammad5acd
aDepartment of Science & Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, Universiti Malaya,50603, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiabCentre for Waste Management, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiacCentre for Civilisational Dialogue, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiadSustainability Science Research Cluster, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Optimism on the power of religion to create large-scale and deep-seated ecological transformation plus the strong
religious socio-demographics of the country has encouraged policy ideas in enhancing the role of religious
communities in the adoption of environmental practices in Malaysia. However, these are mostly discussed at thetheoretical and conceptual level with little systematic empirical observation on the ground. Moreover, discussion on
the role of religious communities in Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) is extremely limited in themainstream literature, with only a few exceptions.
This study is aimed at reducing this gap by providing early empirical evidence on the potential role of religious
communities in enhancing public adoption of recycling as a form of environmental practice. The three key objectivesof this study are:•
To examine the potential role of religious community in the adoption of recycling activities amongst different
religions in Malaysia.
•
To ascertain the key drivers or factors in recycling activities by the religious communities.
•
To identify and document best practices of environmentally sustainable innovation being undertaken bydifferent religious communities in Malaysia.
From a set of successful cases in Malaysia, we have observed that religious communities have the potential toplay their role in recycling for several key reasons: the systematic way in which they operate, their ability to conduct
long-term recycling programmes, the advantages of their institutional structure as an established platform for recycling
activities, their multiple motivational drivers for recycling and their collective potential to expand their programmes tovarious parts of the broader community. The findings have also shown that the potential role of religious communities
in environmental practices, such as recycling, has to go beyond general idealism on the positive influence of religious
teaching for environmental protection - but due emphasis also needs to be in place to appreciate the unique socioreligious elements of each community and how it can be useful to support different aspects of the recycling
programme. It is the latter that can provide more concrete explanations on why religious ideals can be translated into
practical actions, and how they can be executed on the ground. From the research findings, one could begin to see thatdifferent institutional settings within each religion could provide different types of support and orientation to recycling
programmes.
It is important to note, however, that the findings in this paper are based on a very limited number of cases, within theparticular context of an urban community in Malaysia. Hence, the evidence in this research can only provide early
insights on the role of religious communities in recycling. In order to ascertain whether this idea demands further
policy attention, we are planning to extend in other contexts, covering more cases involving diverse institutional
structures within each religion, be it houses of worship, NGOs, associations, foundations and even schools. At the
moment, our research assistant, Miss Norshahzila is conducting an in-depth research on the role of Muslim
communities (especially focusing on the ‘Mosque’ as an organizational platform) in the adoption of 3R practices in

GCOE KU-UM | Issue 2 December 20111

Nonetheless, even with this limitation, we envisage that the evidence presented in this paper could provide usefulempirical evidence for decision makers to begin thinking more tangibly about the role of religious communities insupporting the adoption of environmental practices such as recycling, particularly in countries where religion has
strong influence on its social-cultural landscape and day-to-day activities of public life. For more information about
the ideas and findings of this research we invite you to read the following journal articles, published recently in the‘Journal of Waste Management’ and ‘Resources, Conservation and Recycling’:••

Zeeda, F.M., Norshahzila, I. and Azizan, B. (2011). Editorial: Religion and Waste. Waste Management 31(9-10).
Zeeda, F.M., Norshahzila, I., Azizan, B., Nik Meriam, N. S. and Amran, M. (2011, forthcoming). The Role of
Religious Community in Recycling: Empirical Insights from Malaysia. Resources, Conservation andRecycling.

Finally, we would like to convey our sincere appreciation to our young research assistants, Miss Siti Maisarah (Islam),Miss Pei Sang (Buddhism), Miss Jing Xuan (Christianity) and Miss Nagaletchumy (Hinduism) for conducting
preliminary work for this study and to the University of Malaya for providing the required financial assistance. For
further information, visit our website at http://cmsad.um.edu.my/index1.php?pfct=innovethics&modul=Research.

GCOE KU-UM | Issue 2 December 20112

Dr. Maiko Ikegami
Laboratory of Environment Risk
Analysis, Department of Environmental
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Kyoto University, Japan

Prof. Minoru Yoneda
Supervisor
Laboratory of Environment Risk
Analysis, Department of Environmental
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Kyoto University, Japan

Research location: Kuala Lumpur
and Terengganu, Malaysia
Research term: 2009-2011

Message from supervisor:
Dr. Ikegami’s study is important for understanding the heavy metal risk level of living environment in each country of Asia. Her
proposed method is very simple, cheap, and effective for clarifying the risk level. Her study results will be helpful for improving
living environment especially for children and her method is expected to be used in many countries.
Research:
Children can be exposed to many chemicals from surrounding environment today, because these chemicals are used in various
materials in living environment. It is possible that young children may ingest harmful materials by their hand-to-mouth behaviors.
Exposure pathways of hazardous substances such as heavy metals and suspended particulate matter depend greatly on dietary
habits, structure of cities and houses, and so on. Therefore, it is estimated that exposure to hazardous materials is considerably
different from city to city. In this study, children’s exposure to metals by contacting with various surfaces such as play sets, doors,
floor, and so on was investigated, focusing on metals in their living environment. We conducted the wipe-off experiment on living
environment and hands and fingers of children in some Asian cities whose life styles are different from each other. The
investigated five cities are Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Terengganu, Bangkok, Manila, and Kyoto. In this research, we examined theamount of metals in soil, dust, paint of play sets that children may touch directly in a preschool of each city. We also conducted theinvestigation about quantity of metals on children’s hands and fingers by wiping off those of children in these different cities. Hereis a part of results of these investigations. In a preschool of one city, main components of soil were more attached to young
children’s hands than other preschools. From the viewpoint of the placement of play sets, in the playground of the preschool of thiscity, a large sandbox is arranged in the center and play sets are set up around the sandbox. It is thought that children in this school
have many opportunities to touch soil and sand while playing, and therefore, that many soil particles were attached on their hands.
In this study, it was found that the more heavy metals around children’s living environment there are, the more heavy metal will beadhered to hands of children. We conducted the wipe-off experiment on living environment and hands and fingers of children insome cities whose life styles are different from each other. The results showed that various kinds of metals were attached to hands
and fingers of children and their amounts were different from city to city. Furthermore, a large amount of metals which may bederived from soil was attached to hands of children who have many opportunities to touch soil directly. It was found that if there
are heavy metals such as lead around their living environment, the amount of heavy metals adhere to their hands correspondingly.
This study indicated that children’s exposure to metals through contact is affected by their living environment such as play setting.

GCOE KU-UM | Issue 2 December 20113

Ms. Nurul Aini Kamaruddin
Prof. Shigeo Fujii

Doctoral candidate, Environment-friendly
Industry Technology Laboratory,
Graduate School of Global Environmental
Studies, Kyoto University, Japan

Supervisor
Environment-friendly Industry Technology
Laboratory, Graduate School of Global
Environmental Studies, Kyoto University,
Japan

Research location: Kota Kinabalu,
Sabah, Malaysia
Research term: 2010-2012

Message from supervisor:
Ms. Nurul Aini Kamaruddin obtained her Master Degree of Science in Universiti Malaysia Sabah under the supervision of Prof.
Ann Anton, with whom I have had more than 10 years of experience on research and education collaboration. The mostimportant project between us was the JSPS-VCC Core University Program between Kyoto University and Universiti Malaya
during FY2000 – FY2009, but we also conducted other collaboration projects. Ms. Nurul was one of the members involved in
one of such projects, and had a chance to come to my previous laboratory (Research Center for Environmental Quality Control,
Kyoto University) in Otsu for internship study in 2 weeks in 2007, when she was a Master course student in UMS.
Since the JSPS-VCC program provided MEXT scholarships, I asked my Malaysian friends to recommend me excellent students
who had intention to study in Japan. Ms. Nurul was such a student recommended by Prof. Anton. She came to Kyoto University
as a research student, and then became a student in the doctoral course. I suggested her to study on mangrove issues as her
dissertation topic. This topic is not easy to complete, but I expect her to conquer it with her highest efforts even if it takes time,
which could result in strengthening research collaboration between us and Malaysian researchers.
Research:
Sabah state has the most extensive mangrove forest coverage of 59% (341,000 hectares) in Malaysia. The important uses ofmangrove forest areas in Sabah are for forestry, fisheries and eco-tourism activities. However, the pressure of increasing
population simultaneously with the expansion of agricultural land, aquaculture and urban development has caused destruction of asignificant proportion of the Sabah’s mangrove forest reserve (Jakobsen et al., 2007; Polpanish 2008). Uncontrolled exploitationof mangrove forest has led to degradation of coastal environment such as coastal erosion, floods and wave action. Remote sensing
could be a useful technique for monitoring changes in mangrove forest cover and to assess impacts of human activities on it overthe past few decades. In this study we have used Landsat-TM images and the latest remote sensing techniques of image
classification along with spectral analysis tools and GPS based field verification to examine mangrove forest cover change in
Sabah. The main objective of this study is to develop a methodology for interpretation of LANDSAT-TM data using classification
techniques for mangrove forest areas in Sabah.
K-Means classification (i.e., unsupervised) followed by the Maximum Likehood classification (i.e., supervised) method
are mainly employed. K-Means uses minimum distance between pixels to determine number of classes based on the user defined
criteria.
While the Maximum Likehood assumes that statistically each class in each band follows normal distribution, thencalculates the probability of the given pixel belonging to the specific class. As a summary, five broad land cover classes wereidentified which are water, forest, mangrove, and two unidentified vegetation types (Vegetation 1 & 2) (Table 1). Figure 1 shows
the spectral patterns of mean reflectance in all classes. Mean spectral reflectance for water bodies show the lowest reflectance for
infrared bands (4-7) in both of unsupervised and supervised techniques. Reflectance of the other identified classes with vegetation
coverage resemble each other as indicated by the low reflectance at the red (band 3) and higher reflectance at infrared (band 4),
but the magnitude of reflectance in band 4 are different. A spectral pattern with higher reflectance in band 4 was from forest areas
and mangrove areas.. Vegetation 1 and Vegetation 2 have low reflectance for band 4 compared to mangrove and forest, so we
assume it could be due to the effect of moisture such sea grass or floating algae.

GCOE KU-UM | Issue 2 December 2011

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This preliminary study has used LANDSAT-TM images to classify common land cover types in mangrove areas in the coastal
part of Sabah, Malaysia. Unsupervised followed by supervised classification techniques were used to identify land coverclasses. Similarity of spectral pattern of each land cover classes could be a good starting point for future assessment inmangrove areas. It was found that interpretation of vegetation classes (such as forest, mangrove and aquatic phytoplankton)
and built-up area might require other image processing tools and field verification. A field survey was recently conducted inthis study area. However, the results of this survey are still being analyzed. The conclusive results from this study will be
used to further develop a methodology to estimate changes in mangrove coverage areas in the state of Sabah.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Environment Management Leadership (EML) Program in Kyoto
University for offering me to join this beneficial program and subsequently providing fund during my long-term internship in
Sabah, Malaysia. During the 2 month internship, I had the chance to visit several mangrove areas in Bagan Lalang, Selangor
and also conducted my site survey in the mangrove area of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. This internship also gave me theopportunity in experiencing and identifying current environmental problems in Asia especially in Malaysia affecting
mangrove areas. In addition I would like to take this opportunity to thank my current supervisor Prof. Shigeo Fujii for kindly
accepting me into the GSGES PhD program and recommending me for this EML internship Program. Besides that I would
want to thank deeply my previous Msc. supervisor, Prof. Datin Dr. Ann Anton for having the faith in me recommending me tocontinue my PhD studies at Kyoto University. Thank you as well to Dr. Binaya Raj Shivakoti, currently attached to Institute
Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) in Tokyo for his utmost kind support in my research.

GCOE KU-UM | Issue 2 December 20115

The Project Coordinators:

Abdul Aziz Abdul Raman

Zeeda Fatimah Mohamad

Noor Zalina Mahmood

Associate Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering,
University of Malaya

Senior Lecturer
Department of Science & Technology
Studies, Faculty of Science,
University of Malaya

Senior Lecturer
Institute of Biological Sciences,
Faculty of Science,
University of Malaya

Project activities

Objective

Progress

Used Cooking Oil

To create awareness, provide facilities as well as In the beginning, response from the community was amechanism for a systematic used-cooking oil little bit slow, thus initiatives were made by thecollection. This oil can then be sold to generate side- associates (TM, Unilever, UM, Kondo Rakyat) toincome for the community. Mitigation of water induce the community in this project. These included
pollution can also be addressed through this projectgiving monthly rewards for those who collect thehighest amount of used cooking oil and also putting
awareness posters in the area of Kondo Rakyat. These
measures make the community started to realize theimportance of used cooking oil. Until May 2011,nearly 60 kg of used cooking oil was collected. On 29
June 2011, five winners were announced to receive
their rewards.

Kitchen Garden

To fully utilize empty lands in the Kondo Rakyat One day of training and demonstration program wascompound by planting various species of edible held on 7th May 2011 at Kondo Rakyat. The
plants. These plants can be used personally by the professional trainers went there to help the community
community or can be sold at the Green Bazaar. The in making their own organic kitchen garden.
concept of ‘1 Rumah 1 Pokok’ (1 Plant per Home)
will also be introduced in the project.

Composting

To train the community of Kondo Rakyat about One day of training and demonstration program wasthcomposting techniques and to deliberate the held on 7 May 2011 at Kondo Rakyat. The
possibility of establishing composting facilities in the professional trainers went there to show to thecommunity about the eco-enzyme and conventional
Kondo Rakyat.
composting. Eco-enzyme will take about 3 months to
be done while composting requires only 1 month.

Green Bazaar

To set-up an iconic green bazaar for recyclables and The first Kondo Rakyat Green Bazaar was held on
environmentally friendly-based products at Kondo 22nd May 2011. It was concurrently done with otherRakyat. This project will encourage the practice of Kondo Rakyat activities were nearly 1500 visitors
recycling and entrepreneurship activities amongst the came and 95% of them visited this Green Bazaar. This
Pantai Dalam community.
program will be an annual event for Kondo Rakyat.
The net profit from this Green Bazaar will be given to
the Kondo Rakyat for their community needs. The
first Green Bazaar were supported through a program
called “From Community to Community”. The
second Green Bazaar was held on 3rd December 2011.

GCOE KU-UM | Issue 2 December 20116

PROGRAM TIMELINE

Note:
A.R. = Action Research

Programs and its duration under international collaboration between Kyoto University and University of Malaya

Programs Contact Information —————————————————————————————————————————
HSE program:
Urban Human Security Engineering Education and Research CenterC Cluster, Kyotodaigaku Katsura, Nishiyoku, Kyoto 615-8540, Japan

E-mail: contact@hse.gcoe.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Phone: +81-75-383-3412/3413
Fax: +81-75-383-3418
Web: http://hse.gcoe.kyoto-u.ac.jp
EML program:
Kyoto University EML Office

Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan
E-mail: eml-core@ges.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Phone: +81-75-753-5925
Fax: +81-75-753-5923
Web: http://www.ges.kyoto-u.ac.jp/cyp/modules/jst/english
Asian Core program:Research Center for Environmental Quality Management
Kyoto University

1-2 Yumihama, Otsu 520-0811, Japan

E-mail: shimizu@biwa.eqc.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Phone: +81-77-527-6221
Fax: +81-77-524-9869
Action Research:
Dr. Zeeda Fatimah Mohamad

Department of Science and Technology Studies
Faculty of Science,University of Malaya
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Email: kr_actionresearch@um.edu.my
Phone: +603-7967 7164
Fax: +603-7967 4396
GCOE KU-UM Contact Information ——————————————————————————————————————–GCOE Kyoto University-University of Malaya
Level 6,
IPPP Complex & Central Research Laboratories,
University of Malaya
50603, Kuala Lumpur MALAYSIA.
E-mail: meriam@um.edu.my / azieaxis@gmail.com
Phone: +603-7967 4635 Fax: +603-7967 7813

GCOE KU-UM | Issue 2 December 20117