Page 60 - IPCoSME 2021

1 INTERNATIONAL POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE AND MARINE ENVIRONMENT 2021
st
(IPCoSME 2021)
“Environmental Sustainability Enhancement Through the Collaboration of Sciences”

RC-05

KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS OF ORANG ASLI’S SCHOOL CHILDREN
TOWARDS THE SUNDA PANGOLIN CONSERVATION

1*
1
NUR NASUHA ZOLKIFLI , CHONG JU LIAN

1 Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu,
21300 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia

*Corresponding author email: julian@umt.edu.my

Abstract: The Malayan Pangolin (Manis javanica Desmarest) is the only pangolin species

found in Malaysia. It is threatened by illegal hunting and habitat loss. One of these threats
could be the lack of awareness of the people towards pangolin and its conservation. Since

the human factor is linked to the Malayan Pangolin population decline, an education of

conservation strategy that involved school children was tested out. The purposes of this study
are to determine the knowledge of school children and to increase their awareness towards

Malayan Pangolin. A total of 87 school children from five Orang Asli schools in Peninsular
Malaysia were selected to answer a questionnaire which was designed to assess their

knowledge towards the Malayan Pangolin and its conservation. The data was analyzed using
descriptive statistic consist of frequency and percentage. Overall, the results of the study

showed that the outreach program conducted had raised awareness towards pangolin

conservation among school children. The finding revealed respondents were able to describe
the basic knowledge of pangolins and their knowledge increased after the outreach. There is

significant difference of knowledge among school children towards the pangolin

conservation (Paired T-Test; p = 0.000) as compared to before and after the outreach
campaign. As such, it is recommended that an earlier exposure towards conservation

education among school children is needed to strengthen the efforts in conserving Malayan
Pangolin in Malaysia.

Keywords: Malayan Pangolin, awareness, conservation, perception questionnaire

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