The Wildlife Conservation Act will soon be debated in Parliament. As a child and later, as a wilderness guide in my twenties and throughout my travels, I have been in some of Malaysia's and South East Asia's most beautiful wilderness regions and have seen creatures in the wild.

Now, without exception, all of these regions have been degraded and wildlife populations diminished, if not extinct. I will not regurgitate the facts of the status of Malaysia's wilderness regions and wildlife as it may be readily gleaned from the Internet.

Rather, I wish to share my perception of how impoverished the present generation is in terms of this legacy and the sad truth that most do not even know what they have lost and continue to lose.

How can I convey the depth of enrichment to the human spirit to see the splendour and experience the intimacy of nature? These are the questions I would pose:

Is conservation only an abstract ideal with no relevance to our personal and societal well being? Isn't ‘economic progress, development and livelihood’ the most important concern? Why all the fuss about some animals, mountains, rivers or forest?

Is it of any consequence when our children think that a muddied, debris filled river is the norm and that animals are only to be seen in a zoo? Does the uniformity of plantations displacing the diversity of the forest make sense?

Does it matter that our children lack any significant interaction with the natural world and are immersed in an increasingly urbanised, technological and man made environment? What are the powers that ultimately shape the landscapes we live in?

Is it just the prerogative of an industrial, business or political elite to do this? What would a country or world devoid of its natural heritage mean?

It is my hope that you may be challenged by these questions, that it may become personally relevant and that perhaps you may be stirred to action within your sphere of influence, no matter how seemingly insignificant you think that may be.

Perhaps then our children and the generations after them will have that richness of the spirit and wisdom that can only come from belonging to a beautifully diverse and astounding natural world, full of wonderful secrets, crafted by the hand of God.