Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Malaysia: The Concept of Multi-Stakeholder Governance in Solid Waste Policy Implementation

From the past few years, multi-stakeholder governance is one of the captivating concepts that mostly discussed in public administration. Multi-stakeholder governance has represented the modes of governing that involves a multiplicity of informal actors and formal institutions. This new mode of interaction has involving a network of government sectors, non-profit organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGO) and other non-state actors in implementing the public policy. There is many type of public policy and solid waste management policy is one of them. In developing countries, the issue of ineffective policy implementation on solid waste management has grabbed attention of many public policy scholars. Poor multi-stakeholder governance in solid waste policy implementation is one of the main causes. In fact, ineffective solid waste management will brought negative impact to human health, environment and the economy development. Hence, the study of multi-stakeholder governance is very crucial to enhance solid waste policy implementation. This concept paper is critically examines multi-stakeholder governance as a theoretical tool which has potential to advance our understanding on the complexity of policy implementation with regard to solid waste management. This could be an insight for developing countries like Malaysia for achieving sustainable solid waste management. Keywords: Sustainable solid waste management, Multi-stakeholder governance, Policy implementatio

Hawker’s Community Awareness and Knowledge towards Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

Solid waste management practice is one of the crucial components in developing a sustainable city. The practice of sustainable solid waste management among the community is reflecting one of the sustainable community features. However, developing a sustainable community is not an easy task where it requires commitment from multiple stakeholders. Hawker's community is essential in urban areas where it plays a vital role in economic development and environmental sustainability. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine hawker's community's knowledge, awareness, and practices in solid waste management. This study used a questionnaire as the primary research instrument. A total of 105 respondents participated in this study, where they are hawkers in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia. Descriptive analysis was applied to examine the hawker's community's awareness, knowledge, and practice on sustainable solid waste management, which focuses on recycling and composting. This study found out that the awareness of respondents on sustainable solid waste management is high. However, the knowledge of respondents is at a moderate level. This study also reveals that the respondent is reluctant to practice sustainable solid waste management because of time constraints and inconvenient facilities. This finding is significant to local authority and government agencies to develop sustainable community framework in an urban area

Hawker’s Community Awareness and Knowledge towards Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

Solid waste management practice is one of the crucial components in developing a sustainable city. The practice of sustainable solid waste management among the community is reflecting one of the sustainable community features. However, developing a sustainable community is not an easy task where it requires commitment from multiple stakeholders. Hawker's community is essential in urban areas where it plays a vital role in economic development and environmental sustainability. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine hawker's community's knowledge, awareness, and practices in solid waste management. This study used a questionnaire as the primary research instrument. A total of 105 respondents participated in this study, where they are hawkers in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia. Descriptive analysis was applied to examine the hawker's community's awareness, knowledge, and practice on sustainable solid waste management, which focuses on recycling and composting. This study found out that the awareness of respondents on sustainable solid waste management is high. However, the knowledge of respondents is at a moderate level. This study also reveals that the respondent is reluctant to practice sustainable solid waste management because of time constraints and inconvenient facilities. This finding is significant to local authority and government agencies to develop sustainable community framework in an urban area

The practices of good governance in National Solid Waste Management Policy (NSWMP) implementation: a case study of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

An efficient solid waste management is crucial. Inefficient solid waste management would cause a huge obstacle in social development, environmental vitality, and economic stability. Therefore, a progressive policy is necessary to improve solid waste management. The National Solid Waste Management Policy (NSWMP) was introduced in 2007 under the Act 672. The execution of NSWMP involves stakeholders from various government agencies and a collaboration with the private sectors. Despite the initiatives taken by the stakeholders, the objectives of NSWMP failed to materialise. One of the major constraints is weak governance among stakeholders with regards to the NSWMP implementation. This paper will explore the good governance practices implemented by the stakeholders. Identifying the current good governance practices implemented by the stakeholders is crucial as it will serve as a guideline to improve good governance practice in the future. An exploratory research approach is applied in this study through in-depth interviews with several government agencies and concessionaires involved in the NSWMP implementation at Kuala Lumpur. A total of six respondents took part in this study. The findings of this study show that there are several good governance practices implemented in policy promotion, participation of stakeholders, and capacity enhancement programme for the staff. This study also proposed some points on good governance practices in the context of policy promotion and staff development. A paradigm shift by the stakeholders is imperative so as to enhance the good governance practice in NSWMP implementation towards an efficient solid waste management in Malaysia

Balancing the scales: Achieving food security and environmental sustainability in Malaysia through integrated approaches and collaborative governance

Food security and environmental sustainability are significant challenges in Malaysia. Malaysia intends to improve food security by expanding domestic food production and increasing access to nutritious food. However, the country also acknowledges the importance of environmental sustainability in protecting its various ecosystems and natural resources. The imbalance between food security and environmental sustainability faced environmental deterioration, water scarcity and pollution, biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, land use disputes, and food waste. This study explores the issues and challenges of balancing the need for food security and environmental sustainability. An in-depth interview was conducted with saturated data collection, compromising insights from five (5) respondents who are government officers related to food security and environmental sustainability. This study found that Malaysia has implemented several policies, integrated techniques, and collaborative solutions to promote sustainable agricultural systems and environmental preservation. These findings are crucial to balance the scales between food security and environmental sustainability

Empowering Community via Composting Practices in Promoting Sustainable Lifestyle

Composting practice is among the many sustainable practices that can be easily carried out through either small or large scale efforts. Unfortunately, composting has not been widely practiced by the public due to lack of awareness. This paper is part of a research project to promote and diffuse sustainable lifestyle to the community by exploring how the sustainability agenda can be partly addressed through composting practices carried out within the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang campus to its surrounding neighborhood. The project highlights the university community engagement to achieve community empowerment with regard to sustainable urban lifestyle. The result indicates a need to increase community awareness with regards to composting practices in order to inculcate sustainable lifestyle. The university community can be regarded as the agents to diffuse and transfer knowledge on composting best practices

Climate Change and its Economic Impact on Sustainable Agricultural Production in Malaysia: An aggregate Analysis

Sustainable agricultural production in Malaysia is under climate change’s threat. Several climate-driven factors such as heat waves, irregular and excessive rainfall patterns, storms, and floods are the current worries of many farmers in the country and these factors put together put their livelihood in jeopardy. Future predictions indicated a significant further variability in climatic patterns with irregular rainfall. This study aims to investigate the economic impact of climate change on agricultural production in Malaysia by aggregating all agricultural productions over the 1990 – 2021 period. A time series econometric method called autoregressive and distributed lag (ARDL) method was utilised to achieve the study’s objective. The result of the study revealed that climate change has statistically significant negative impact on agricultural production in Malaysia. This implies that food production through agricultural production in the country is being adversely affected by climate change. As such, climate change mitigating strategies are strongly recommended with strict implementation to ensure sustainable agricultural production. Other recommendations include the practice of agroforestry, planting of climate resilient plants, crop rotation, and the use of soil smart technology. These actions will assist in minimising the adverse effect of climate change on agricultural production and indirectly boost food production

The Investigation of Energy Risk in Pre-Construction Stage: A Qualitative Approach

The energy demand growth every year for existing building due to the natural lifecycle of the building performance. Systematic strategy in retrofitting is proven to revamp the energy building performance. However, the retrofitting process is facing several of unknown risk as early in pre-construction stage to achieve optimum energy efficiency design strategy. The risk requires strategic assessment to minimize the impact towards the efficiency level in retrofitting. This study aims to examine the risks and the potential impact towards design strategies by conducting a semi-structured interview from six internal stakeholders in the retrofit project. The result derived from the interview revealed that there are 13 of major risks involve in retrofit project and divided into planning stage and design stage. All the risks are proven to provide a potential impact towards energy efficiency design strategies

The Investigation of Energy Risk in Pre-Construction Stage: A Qualitative Approach

The energy demand growth every year for existing building due to the natural lifecycle of the building performance. Systematic strategy in retrofitting is proven to revamp the energy building performance. However, the retrofitting process is facing several of unknown risk as early in pre-construction stage to achieve optimum energy efficiency design strategy. The risk requires strategic assessment to minimize the impact towards the efficiency level in retrofitting. This study aims to examine the risks and the potential impact towards design strategies by conducting a semi-structured interview from six internal stakeholders in the retrofit project. The result derived from the interview revealed that there are 13 of major risks involve in retrofit project and divided into planning stage and design stage. All the risks are proven to provide a potential impact towards energy efficiency design strategies

A pilot study for sustainable ecotourism at Gunong Stong State Park, Kelantan using Visitor Experience and Resource Protection (VERP) management framework

Ecotourism plays a vital role in tourism industries and has become one of the effective practices towards conservation effort in the natural environment activity. Thus, it is important to know the concept of carrying capacity issues applied to the area pertaining to the visitors’ experiences, to ensure the benefits it brings to the socio-cultural, economic, and environmental sustainability of the area. The objective of this study was to identify the relationship of visitors’ experience and the protection of the natural resources at Gunung Stong State Park (GSSP) using the management framework of Visitor Experience and Resource Protection (VERP). This approach provided a set of management framework in order to manage the sustainable ecotourism in GSSP without abandoning the good manner of visitor experiences. A total of 35 respondents have participated in this pilot study and our result showed that the tourists’ satisfaction towards the GSSP was at moderate level. Therefore, the GSSP was suitable for nature tourism attraction. However, a proper management of the park is required whilst the biodiversity there is still intact. The management of GSSP can be further improved by instilling awareness among visitors in order to sustain the ecotourism activity, and attract more tourists besides improving their experience throughout their visit