NON-POLAR COUNTRIES SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO AIR VIEWS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Bernama) -- There is a need for non-polar countries,
including Malaysia, to be given the platform to air their views on the impact of
global warming on Antarctica, said two University of Malaya (UM) students, here
Thursday.

Munira Shaipudin Shah, 24, and Thary Gazi, 21, who were part of the two-week
"Student on Ice Expedition in Antarctica" sponsored by University of Malaya,
said "even a small country like Malaysia can make a difference since we are one
of the leading non-traditional polar countries in polar sciences."

Munira, who is pursuing her masters degree in Behavioural Biology, and
Thary, majoring in Ecology dan Biodiversity, said polar regions, the North and
South Poles covering the Arctic in the Northern Hemisphere and Antarctica in the
Southern Hemisphere, affected everyone.

"To protect the planet, we must protect the poles. But we can't protect what
we don't know, so we must learn, explore and be responsible for our planet,"
they said in a presentation on their study trip to Antarctica at the University
of Malaya, here.

Both of them, who arrived home on Tuesday, said even though they were from a
totally different environment, they learnt that they had a role to play and
should not ignore things that were foreign to them.

Describing the trip as the "most unforgettable moments", they were
chosen to
join the expedition, comprising 71 students from all over the world, after
winning an essay competition titled "The Importance of Polar Regions to the
Tropics and How do you think you can promote the Polar Regions to your
community?" organised by their university in January.

"It was really fun and we enjoyed our trip to the Antarctica, especially the
sound of falling glaciers which is like the sound of thunderstorm during the
moonson season", said Munira of the trip.

During the expedition, both of them had to attend lectures, workshops that
were organised on ship and on shore, and also seminars covering different
subjects ranging from the geological, political, cultural and historical aspects
of the region.

Meanwhile, UM Corporate Relations deputy director, Dr Siti Aishah Hashim Ali
said since the university was the first to send its students for such a
programme, they planned to arrange talks on the expedition by the two students
in the university and also in schools.

She hoped that this would generate interest among younger generation to take
up polar science study.

University of Malaya is the oldest public university in Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA