The Rimba Project

The seeds of The Rimba Project (RIMBA) started in late 2013 when UMCares (Universiti Malaya’s Environmental Secretariat) needed a champion for UM’s lush biodiversity, unique in the midst of the urban sprawl known as the Klang Valley. Urban secondary rainforests provide a habitat for wildlife, help generate a cooler environment, and even assist in mitigating flash floods and serving as water reserves. They indicate what is possible for forest regeneration and repair even within built environments like the city. The principal coordinator of The Rimba Project was Dr. Sugumaran Manickam from the Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science UM. 

The Rimba Project is now rebranded as The Rimba Project 2.0 with Dr. Sarah Abdul Razak as the new project leader, is now a campus sustainability Living Lab under UMCares - UM Community Engagement Center (commenced in 2021) and will soon be upscaled as one of the SDG Flagship projects under the leadership of UM Sustainability and Development Centre (UM SDC) with a mission to protect and promote UM’s biodiversity—to conserve the urban biodiversity found on campus, and to raise awareness of UM’s rich biodiversity so that we do not take it for granted.

The dream is to make the UM a walk-in educational garden, an urban nature park, and a biodiversity hub, where plants and animals coexist harmoniously with humans. 

In collaboration with UM’s Department of Development and Estate Maintenance (JPPHB), RIMBA is helping to introduce ecologically sound principles in campus development: improving green cover by planting diverse rainforest trees for habitat regeneration; raising seedlings of native trees for sustainable long-term campus landscaping; conserving the various patches of forested land across campus. Currently, forested land accounts for 100 hectares of UM's 360 hectares, 60 hectares of which lie within the Rimba Ilmu botanic garden.

For both the campus community and the general public, The Rimba Project organizes events to highlight the range of biodiversity on campus and develop naturalist skills:

• Botanic garden walks

• Birdwatching / UM Big Year 2015 birdwatching competition

• Seedling harvesting

• Tree tagging

• Workshops on communication, writing, and media

Past key projects include Biodiversity Week, a weeklong festival of nature-related activities, and The Section 12 Project, a biodiversity survey in a residential area due for redevelopment.

Based in UM’s Rimba Ilmu Botanic Garden, The Rimba Project 2.0 is supported by JPPHB and the then Sustainability Science Research Cluster (SuSci), with many opportunities for volunteer participation. Many of The Rimba Project’s volunteers are now applying it’s approach to conservation in their own residential colleges and communities through various projects and initiatives.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rimbaproject2.0/
Website: http://umrimba.wixsite.com/umrimba1