Meet the Malaysian entrepreneur leading Penang’s eco-tourism charge
Penang's cultural and culinary charms are well historic, but the next frontier of tourism for this northern Malaysian island could mayhap be eco-tourism.
The Habitat Foundation – the NGO arm of The Habitat, an environmental discovery centre that opened in January 2016 on Penang Colina – is working hard to declare the 500 hectares of the hill a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Reza Cockrell is the Co-Founder and Director of The Habitat and Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Habitat Foundation. His idealistic vision, grounded in entrepreneurial nous, has created a truly special eco-destination.
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Although Cockrell was not raised in Penang, he maintains a strong connectedness to the island through his mother, who grew upwardly there. Cockrell was built-in in Saudi Arabia but raised in Hong Kong, and is unabashed about his dearest for Penang: "Hong Kong is domicile only I believe my middle actually is in Penang. I discover myself relaxed and at peace when I'g there, and accomplish another level of tranquility when I come upward Penang Hill. I sometimes joke that we started The Habitat only to requite me a adept excuse to spend more fourth dimension in Penang!" he said.
It was his begetter, Harry A. Cockrell, who recognised how special it was to have a virgin, primary rainforest so close to major human domicile.
"[Penang Hill] is a perfect example of how we tin coexist with nature, but how delicate that balance really is, and the role we must take on as stewards of that rest," he enthused.
"The lack of proper infrastructure on the Colina prevented people from affectionate and learning from this valuable ecosystem: Virtually of the tourist infrastructure provided panoramic views over the city, or completely unrelated amusement similar 'earthquake experiences'. When the Penang Country Regime invited private companies to tender for an 'eco-tourism venture' on Penang Hill, we pounced on the opportunity."
The Habitat was congenital applying a very simple rule, and that was to put nature first. Wherever possible, they chose to leave what was found on site in place and to build around nature rather than to drive through it.
The Langur Fashion Canopy Walk, for example, is built using a post-tensioned cable span arrangement involving forty-eight cables 250m long and weighing approximately 300kg each. The walkway is fabricated of precast concrete segments, 230 pieces in total, weighing between 500kg to 1.2 tonnes each.
The entire bridge was built – upwardly to 40m up in the air – completely without the employ of heavy mechanism and without e'er touching the woods floor in order to minimise any bear on on the site. This was cheers to the ingenuity of local contractors and the industriousness of manual labourers, who dug holes for the foundations, hoisted cables up and launched the physical segments past manus.
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The aforementioned principle of putting nature offset applies not just to the design of the park but every bit to its operations, where at that place is a self-imposed daily limit of 1,000 visitors a day.
While the park was offset built every bit a commercial enterprise, Cockrell and his squad soon realised that the piece of work they were doing was too of import to be purely profit-led. The quality of educational experiences The Habitat was providing the public became the most important attribute of operations, and this sparked their desire to take the Park work towards a college purpose.
The Habitat Foundation was then founded to support environmental education in schools, extend research and conservation grants to local and foreign universities and individuals, and back up ecology conservation NGOs throughout Malaysia. The day-to-day operations of the Foundation are supported by the turn a profit generated from The Habitat's park operations, but the grant funds were provided by a large donation from the Cockrell family unit.
Following its 2016 opening, an even more than ambitious purpose emerged. To this cease, the Penang Colina BioBlitz 2022 was organised. "The purpose of the BioBlitz was to enlist the peak biologists and subject specialists from Malaysia and around the globe to carry out a biodiversity assessment of the Penang Hill wood from the forest canopy to the forest flooring," said Cockrell.
"Although relatively well-studied, new technologies and canopy access tools take made it possible to attain parts of the forest that have yet to exist explored comprehensively. This information was also seen as adding value to the Country Authorities's efforts to nominate the Penang Hill forests and adjacent pristine areas as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve."
The BioBlitz brought in a total of 117 local and international scientists, naturalists and educatee researchers to explore the forest. Over ten days, more than 1,700 species were documented and new species records were made for Penang – some of which are believed to be entirely new to science.
The nomination dossier for the Penang Colina Biosphere Reserve has been completed by the team of scientists from Universiti Sains Malaysia besides. The State Regime has submitted the dossier to Malaysia'southward Ministry of Water, State and Natural Resources for onward submission to the UNESCO for consideration and cess.
In a relatively short period of time, The Habitat has successfully established themselves as a new landmark eco-tourism destination for Penang. What started as a modest Nature Trail and Canopy Walk proposal has now get a must-see attraction for the state as images of the park are used to promote Penang.
The Habitat Foundation has also been expanding its network of partners and collaborators in order to strengthen conservation and build capacity for research and sustainability. This includes projects like the countdown Bootcamp for Conservation Leaders and Changemakers this year (November 26, 2022 to December 3, 2019), where 24 talented conservation forepart-liners from across South East asia will assemble for a field course in Penang to equip them for contemporary conservation challenges.
While The Habitat has been doing important work in impacting the growth of eco-tourism in Penang, Cockrell candidly admits that the projection is not without its challenges.
"Simply put, nosotros are however in the process of proving the efficacy of our model – and mission – of creating a commercially profitable and sustainable eco-tourism business which generates sufficient revenue to support the work of a not-for-profit foundation.
"As of today, we accept yet to reach this goal only are confident that the path that we have chosen volition eventually get us to where we desire to be. It will take fourth dimension, but we are certainly off to a great beginning and are fully committed to seeing it through to a successful end. In fact, in Nov 2019, nosotros worked with Roots & Shoots to bring the legendary Dr Jane Goodall to Penang for the first time as part of our try to raise awareness virtually the importance of ecology conservation."
Because The Habitat's impressive rails tape, there is no reason why Cockrell'southward dream will not come to fruition.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/reza-cockrell-the-habitat-penang-176816
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