Name: Mae Chew 

Affiliation: Sunway College

Project: River bed cleanup, Online Youth Hackathon & Online Policython

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Mae Chew is a 16-year old youth advocate and environmentalist who harbours a special predilection for rivers and other bodies of water. Having spent countless memorable weekends as a child by the Taman Tun River, she was appalled to discover that the Selangor water cuts were the product of acute river pollution. 

Mae will utilise her WWF Eco-Champion grant money to empower youths and other local communities to become positive agents of paradigm shifts in how we interact with rivers. There is a lack of public awareness in water resource management, and in some strategic plans, public consultation does not seem a high priority. She sees an immense opportunity here in creating social responsibility and public support for mitigation measures.

Outside of her environmental pursuits, Mae considers the intersection of politics, public policy and international relations to be an inextricable component of her life. She looks forward to exploring how these fields can aid the conservation of rivers. She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Malaysian Youth Diplomacy and the Research division of the KSI Strategic Institute for the Asia Pacific, where she advocates for diplomatic opportunities in mobilising Malaysia’s transformation in the global arena. In her free time, Mae enjoys promoting youth mobilisation in the policymaking process via various advocacy efforts that she has co-founded.