Youth Town Hall 1 and 2
The first Youth Town Hall held on 8 March 2023 via Zoom aimed to gather community members to discuss the importance of planetary health education. The event had approximately 35 participants, including youth, educators, and SCPH staff. The panel of speakers consisted of Prof. Elil Renganathan, Dr. Hannah Ariff, Samuel Isaiah, and Stephen Isaac, who covered topics such as embedding planetary health in education, SCPH's role in planetary health education, addressing planetary health concepts in the education system, and incorporating planetary health into the curriculum. The Q&A session addressed various themes, including political will, youth influence, teacher-student relationships, and the connection between planetary health education and the SDGs. Lessons learned included the consideration of physical settings for future events and the potential for collaboration between SCPH/ºìÐÓÊÓÆµ and schools. The town hall facilitated meaningful discussions, achieved its objectives, and emphasized the importance of continued youth engagement in addressing community concerns.
The second Youth Town Hall, themed as ‘Protecting Our Green Lungs with Friends of Bukit Kiara’, was held on 29 July 2023 at Bukit Kiara. This town hall aimed to educate the community on the importance of green spaces, such as parks, forests, and gardens, in maintaining a healthy and sustainable environment, to encourage community participation and involvement in such initiatives and to discuss the importance of effective environmental policies and regulations at the local, regional, and national levels. The session was moderated by Firdaus Nisha, while the two speakers on the panel, Leon Koay and Abdul Hafiz Abu Bakar, shared their 7-year journey fighting the development plan proposed by the then mayor (Datuk Bandar) of TTDI under the KL Municipal Council (DBKL), how it started, the pitfalls and challenges, and its ultimate success in April 2023. The town hall culminated with a guided walk to Taman Rimba Kiara, with Leon Koay sharing insights about the park, its value in preserving biodiversity and a green space in the township, as well as the housing project built for the local indigenous residents.