Swathed in rainforests rich in biodiversity, the country has lost about 29% of tree cover since 2001 due to activities such as palm cultivation and logging.
Suzairi, wearing a blue floppy hat and T-shirt with a slogan calling the loss of biodiversity “a silent killer”, said he has converted his backyard into a conservatory for endangered species to safeguard thousands of plants, chiefly wild orchids.
“One of the reasons I help to save orchid species in logging areas is because, when I go there, I find that many species of orchids or plants are dying out,” the 46-year-old told Reuters.
“I thought it would be better for me to save the plants and bring them back and replant them at home,” he added, crouching in a forest clearing to photograph some tiny white flowers.
He said plants such as ferns, wild gingers, pitcher plants, hoyas, and various other species have been replanted in his house compound in Setiu, which has been turned into a conservatory called the WildDome Research and Conservation Centre.
Since 2015, when Suzairi first saw the havoc logging caused in areas where he worked, he has helped conserve more than 2,000 plants. Among them are more than 200 types of wild orchids, prized for their striking colours.
Suzairi has also succeeded in discovering several new species such as pitcher plants “Nepenthes latiffiana” and “Nepenthes domei”, and wild orchids such as “Bromheadia petuangensis”, “Dendrobium ruseae” and “Dendrobium mizanii”, the latter named after Terengganu’s Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin.
‘A rare talent’
Suzairi collaborates with researchers from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, and the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, and his conservation work is self-funded through sales of his rainforest photographs.
He has also received international recognition from a Guatemalan orchid expert, who named a new orchid species in the country after him.
“He has a rare talent where he can spread his scientific knowledge to the people,” said Jamilah Mohd Salim, a specialist in forest ecology and plant biodiversity at UMT.
Suzairi acquired knowledge of the rainforest and its plants from his efforts at documenting the lives of one of the nation’s oldest nomadic tribes, the indigenous Bateq group.
“Sometimes there are orchid species that have yet to be named, so if we do not conserve or save them, we would not know of their existence,” he added.