Home

Voices of the Rainforest is a substantial British Academy research award that aims to co-create a traditional, ecological, knowledge-based climate change curriculum framework for primary schools with indigenous communities, children, and school partners in the Johor, Kelantan, Pahang, and Perak states of Malaysia.

This research project is being awarded in line with the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) and is a central part of the UK’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement (Article 7, Para 5) and Net Zero targets.

Parties acknowledge that adaptation action should follow a country-driven, gender-responsive, participatory and fully transparent approach, taking into consideration vulnerable groups, communities and ecosystems, and should be based on and guided by the best available science and, as appropriate, traditional knowledge, knowledge of indigenous peoples and local knowledge systems, with a view to integrating adaptation into relevant socioeconomic and environmental policies and actions, where appropriate.

The project, which will run for a period of 24 months, until March 2026, seeks to utilise participatory action research as a broad umbrella framework and to integrate a variety of research methodologies, including participatory, indigenous, ethnographic, creative and art-based approaches to curriculum development. The curriculum, intended for schoolteachers, will embed indigenous knowledge to nurture children who appreciate the richness of their ecological inheritance in responding to climate change.

Voices of the Rainforest, rooted in anthropology and education, has been awarded a grant under the ‘Knowledge Frontiers: ODA International Interdisciplinary Research 2024’ funding call. Dr Syafiq Mat Noor, the Principal Investigator from the School of Education, University of Leeds, is collaborating with two researchers from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia: Dr Siti Nur Diyana Mahmud from the Faculty of Education, and Dr Zanisah Man from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.