How Voices of the Rainforest is helping tackle climate change

A snapshot of the ways the Voices of the Rainforest research project is working to tackle climate change to celebrate Climate Week 2025.

Voices of the Rainforest is an interdisciplinary research project aiming to tackle reduced climate change awareness among children in Malaysia while also taking on the challenges presented by the effects of Western-centric approaches to environmental education marginalising traditional ecological knowledge.

The School of Education’s Dr Syafiq Mat Noor (Principal Investigator) and a team of researchers from the University of Leeds, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia, the University of British Colombia, Canada, and the University of Louisville, USA, have collaborated to create a traditional ecological knowledge-based climate change curriculum framework for primary schools with indigenous communities in the Johor, Kelantan, Pahang, and Perak states of Malaysia and have addressed knowledge gaps in climate change education through exploration of traditional ecological knowledge within indigenous communities.

The project serves to enhance awareness of climate change impacts in Malaysian society and fosters a more holistic, locally rooted understanding of environmental stewardship among children.

It is hoped that the enriched curriculum will both bridge the gap between current education and indigenous knowledge and promote respect for natural ecosystems and cultural diversity. The professional development of teachers and the engagement of indigenous communities has the power to create a more inclusive educational landscape.

The curriculum framework is also designed to serve as a model for neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, addressing the growing international recognition of the need to integrate traditional ecological knowledge in climate change education.

Read more on their dedicated webpage here.