Malaysia

Jasmin Irisha Jim Ilham is a youth mobilization expert on climate action and an experienced sustainable development researcher in the science-policy-practice nexus. She is currently the climate and environment consultant at the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Malaysia. Her work focuses on the intersection of climate change and children's rights to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

Prior to joining the United Nations, she has held research positions at Universiti Sains Malaysia, the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development, the Earth Institute and NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Her areas of research focused on food systems, gender equity, local knowledge and climate adaptation. Additionally, she was the former manager of the Malaysian Youth Delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), where she tracked the climate change negotiations.

Jasmin is an alumna of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Academic Fellow 2014, where she was based at the East-West Center pursuing the Environmental Issues track. Jasmin obtained her B.S. (honors) in environmental science from the University of Nottingham Malaysia and her M.A. in climate and society from Columbia University.

Jo Kien Lee has spent over five years working on various conservation projects with the Tropical Rainforest Conservation and Research Centre. These projects involved extensive stakeholder engagements that led to the development of forest restoration opportunities along the central forest spine of peninsular Malaysia; the development of conservation management plans and tree conservation protocols; the use of GIS, spatial tools, and aerial drones to characterize conservation sites and visualize datasets; and the development of conservation awareness material in various formats.

Since 2020, he has been a part of the People for Peat (PFP) coalition implementing the EU-funded program, "The Sustainable Use of Peatland and Haze Mitigation in ASEAN" (Non-state actor component). In this rolehe applies his research, GIS, and project development skillsets to build the foundations of the coalition by engaging stakeholders from eight ASEAN member states, researching and reviewing existing peat-related literature, organizing virtual conferences of parties for eight countries, and developing and implementing the PFP Business Hub, a business accelerator aimed at building the capacities of sustainable businesses related to peat ecosystems using a Triple Bottomline approach. He is an alumnus of the YSEALI Professional Fellows Program, Spring 2019 cohort.

As the pioneer of the zero-waste movement in Malaysia, Fong Yun has displayed extensive knowledge of circular economies and established a network in the waste management industry both in Malaysia and the region.

Fong Yun founded Zero Waste Malaysia, an NGO consisting of 38,000 people and enterprises, that provides vital support to a thriving zero-waste market that enabled the opening of zero-waste shops in Malaysia. Her contribution in mainstreaming zero waste in Malaysia has won her the Commonwealth Points of Light Award issued by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.

Previously, she served at the United Nations Development Program in Malaysia, where she was directly involved in designing, implementing, and monitoring multiple environmental projects primarily related to waste management, blue economy, ozone layer protection, and sustainable consumption. Her work included the Integrated Island Waste Management Project that aimed to build holistic and nature-based waste management systems on three selected islands in Malaysia.

Fong Yun is an alumna of the YSEALI Professional Fellowship program. She strives to contribute her skills and resources to support the third sector to go net-zero by 2050.