By William Isau
SIBU, Oct 9: University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) is mulling to make it compulsory for new students to each plant a tree next year to help Sarawak achieve its target of planting 35 million trees within five years from 2021 to 2025.
“Next year, maybe we will make it a must for every new student to plant a tree each,” said UTS board of directors chairman Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee at the launching of the Le Tour De Restoration (LTDR) Greening Sarawak’s Campaign 2.0 Programme today at UTS.
Dr Annuar, who is also the Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation, and Talent Development, said although UTS is the first university in Malaysia to achieve a GBI (Green Building Index) rating, it could do more to conserve the environment.
He added that with assistance from the Forest Department Sarawak (FDS), UTS could use its 5-acre botanical garden to plant special species of trees on peat soil so that people would know about the LTDR programme.
“It is high time now that we use the garden not only to plant trees but to do a lot of other things in terms of research, such as in terms of how to improve the soil and how much we can gain by the amount of oxygen from the trees,” he said.
The Nangka assemblyman said UTS should look into introducing courses related to green technology and energy to prevent brain drain.
“We know that we want to be the champion in green energy. All this needs a lot of new brains that will propel us to be the champion of green energy. I am sure that UTS will spearhead with the help of the forest department and other agencies in making full use of our resources so that our students will not leave the country because they couldn’t find jobs in our State,” he said.
At the function, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between UTS, represented by its vice-chancellor, Datuk Dr Khairuddin Abdul Hamid and FDS, represented by its director, Datu Hamden Mohammad.
The MoU aimed to develop cooperation in activities related to human capital development and create good relations in the academic field and cooperation industry, including joint research and publication. — DayakDaily
