Yeap Chin Aik

Yeap Chin Aik graduated from University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), with a Masters of Science in Conservation Biology. He has since been working for the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) for the past 20 years. He is currently the Lead Investigator/Co-Founder of the MNS Hornbill Conservation Project and the Senior Conservation Officer/Project Manager in the MNS Conservation Division in the Secretariat, Kuala Lumpur.

Chin Aik carried out various bird and non-bird conservation initiatives and activities while working for MNS, involving in faunal surveys and monitoring, species-specific action plans, policy, advocacy and multilateral environmental agreements, capacity-building as well as CEPA.

Working with BirdLife, MNS’ international partner, Chin Aik updates the status of globally threatened birds in Malaysia, Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, and several regional bird-related projects. He is also currently a steering Committee member of the IUCN Hornbill Specialist Group and Lead of the Habitat Subgroup under the IUCN Helmeted Hornbill Working Group.

He has published several articles on various bird conservation on platforms such as BirdingASIA, Malaysian Naturalist, Hornbill, as well as several scientific and policy journals such as, Malayan Nature Journal, Raffles Journal of Zoology, Journal of Raptor Research, Acta Ecologica Sinica, and IUCN Policy Matters. He also presented in various conferences, symposiums, seminars, and workshops of his work, and co-authored four books on bird conservation to date.

Making an impact means putting in long-term, consistent, reliable, sustained, and committed efforts into realising a vision. Often, it is a slow-burning, mundane, and challenging process, unseen by most. But the rewards can be empowering, uplifting and ever so worthwhile.