Air pollution in urban areas and health effects

The world’s population is becoming ever more urbanised, causing deterioration of air quality in many of the most rapidly growing cities. The common air pollutants include carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and lead. In their most extreme form, air pollution episodes are accompanied by physical discomfort, disruption of day-to-day living, widespread public fear, illness and even death.In many cities air pollution is reaching levels that threaten people’s health according to an unprecedented compilation of air quality data released today by WHO. For example, a study of air pollution in 20 of the 24 megacities of the world shows that ambient air pollution concentrations are at levels where serious health effects are reported. Moreover, in year 2004, urban air pollution is ranked as the 14th global risk factor for mortality. For 2008, the estimated mortality attributable to outdoor air pollution in cities amounts to 1.34 million premature deaths. Thus, epidemiological studies have consistently associated adverse health effects with exposures to particulate air pollution. However, the effects of air pollution on health are dependent on several factors. Apart from the concentrations and chemical properties of the pollutants, the person’s age and general state of health, the duration of exposure, factors such as the weather condition and the distance from the emission sources also affect the nature and extent of the health effects observed.Therefore, the ambient air quality is much urgency in instituting control and preventive measures and at the public level there is a long-standing commitment to improve air quality

Incinerator in Malaysia : really needs?

Increasing population, tremendous urbanisation growth and rapid economic growth influence directly the Municipal Solid Waste generation in Malaysia. Thus, incineration is one of the considered methods of waste treatment that is quickly attracting the municipal authorities’ attention in this country because incineration solves many of the problems so common to other methods of municipal garbage disposal. The advantages of incinerator plant including will not have rodent problems, produce bad odours, require large plots of land or require many employees. Therefore, incineration will become one of the best practical choices in treating municipal solid wastes in Malaysia in the near future due to the various constraints such as limited landfill sites, immature recycling and biological treatment infrastructures. However, the advantages and disadvantages of this method need to study deeply and properly before installing such system in Malaysia

Prevalence of voice disorder among primary school teachers in Bintulu, Sarawak

Teachers face one of the highest demands of any professional group to use their voices at work. Thus, they are at higher risk of developing voice disorder than the general population. The consequences of voice disorder may have impact on teacher’s social and professional life as well as their mental, physical and emotional state and their ability to communicate. Objectives of this study are to determine the prevalence of voice disorder and the relationship between voice disorder with associated risk factors such as teaching activities and lifestyle factors among primary school teachers in Bintulu, Sarawak. A cross sectional study was conducted based on random sample of 4 primary schools in Bintulu, Sarawak between January-March 2014. A total of 100 full-time primary school teachers were invited to participate in the study. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire addressing the prevalence of voice disorder and potential risk factors. Descriptive analysis and chi-square test was used to measure the relationship between voice disorder and associated risk factors. The response rate for this study was 78% (78/100). The study found that the prevalence of voice disorder among primary school teachers in Bintulu, Sarawak was 13%. Chi-square test results revealed that factors significantly associated with voice disorder (p<0.05) were smoking (p=0.012), consuming alcohol beverages (p=0.012) for lifestyle factors while teaching session (p=0.049) for teaching activities. A low prevalence of voice disorder exists among primary school teachers in Bintulu, Sarawak. Smoking, consuming alcohol beverages and teaching session has proven to be significantly associated causing voice disorder among them

Governans kelestarian dan potensi tenaga diperbaharui ke arah kesejahteraan alam sekitar di Malaysia

Malaysia sebagai salah sebuah negara yang pesat membangun menunjukkan tren permintaan yang semakin meningkat terhadap sumber tenaga. Justeru, negara telah mengorak langkah dalam usaha mengeksploitasi tenaga diperbaharui (RE) kerana Malaysia kaya dengan RE seperti biojisim, tenaga suria, angin dan juga mini hidro. Potensi RE ini adalah sangat besar, terutamanya tenaga biojisim, hidro dan solar, justeru, RE menjadi fokus utama dalam menggantikan tenaga fosil seperti petroleum kerana ianya boleh diperbaharui iaitu boleh diganti secara semula jadi dalam jangka masa yang singkat, selamat, menjimatkan, tidak memudaratkan alam sekitar dan akan kekal selamanya walaupun penggunaannya berterusan. Menjelang tahun 2020, Malaysia menyasarkan untuk meningkatkan sumbangan RE kepada 11 peratus berbanding sekitar 0.8 peratus pada masa kini dan sedang berusaha mencapai sasaran tersebut. Justeru, usaha berterusan sedang giat dijalankan oleh kerajaan bagi mempelbagaikan sumber tenaga, terutamanya meneroka potensi penghasilan tenaga daripada sumber RE. Antaranya memberikan pelbagai galakan dan inisiatif tambahan seperti Taraf Perintis dengan pengecualian cukai sebanyak 70% ke atas pendapatan statutori selama 5 tahun selain pengecualian duti import dan cukai jualan ke atas peralatan yang digunakan untuk projek berkenaan jika tidak dikeluarkan dalam negara. Langkah lain yang dijalankan termasuklah mengenakan caj tambahan sebanyak 1.6 peratus ke atas pengguna tenaga elektrik bagi dimasukkan ke dalam Tabung Tenaga Boleh Diperbaharui (TBB) bertujuan memperbanyakkan lagi kapasiti RE di negara ini. Sebagai tambahan, pengguna yang memasang sistem fotovoltaik di rumah pula akan mendapat bayaran bulanan dari Tenaga Nasionl Berhad (TNB) untuk elektrik yang dijana selama 21 tahun melalui pembayaran tarif galakan (FiT). Semua usaha tersebut diharap mampu memperluaskan lagi perkembangan pembangunan Tenaga RE sebagai sumber bahan api di negara ini

Public participation towards environmental issues in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia

Public participation has been recognized as key objectives for local, national and global environmental programmes and has been propagated through the various policies and declarations. Public participation means a process that participate the public in the decision making procedures of an organization. The objective of this paper is to highlight participation of Malaysian public in the environmental issues in order to achieve sustainable development. The study was to identify the public participation in environmental issues in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. The research was based on a set of questionnaire. A total of 200 respondents were interviewed and filled in questionnaire. From the study, Malaysian public are concerned about environment, but their concerns do not naturally translate into action. For Malaysian public participation to be successful, general public should be provided with effective notice of opportunities to participate in environmental issues, and provided with sufficient information to enable them to do so effectively

CLIMATE CHANGE SCENARIOS IN MALAYSIA: ENGAGING THE PUBLIC

Introduction: Climate change are any change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable periods. Climate change has become a global environmental issue which dominates the international agenda and one of the most challenging issues for mankind.Research methodology: This paper involved with secondary data which are collected from journal, proceedings, books and internet sources regarding the topic. Result and discussion: Malaysia could be considered as a free zone from climate related disaster. However, mild climate related disasters are quite frequent to happen lately. The potential impacts of climate change in the Malaysian context would include sea level rise, reduced crop yields, greater diseases among forest species and biodiversity loss, erosion of shorelines, increased flood intensities, coral reef bleaching, increased incidences of disease, tidal inundation of coastal areas, decreased water availability, loss of biodiversity, and more droughts. To tackle the scenarios, Malaysia adopts ‘precautionary principles’ to mitigate and adapt to climate change. However, the important and immediate action needed in mitigating the climate change effects is the actively participating and involving the public in this issue.Conclusion: Malaysia has made significant progress in setting up legal framework for the implementation of climate change mitigation and voluntary environmental disclosure. Improving education, training and public awareness on climate change is an important measure for persuading the whole of society to jointly participate in activities for the mitigation of an adaptation to climate change

An overview of environmental disaster in Malaysia and preparedness strategies

Malaysia is affected by moderate environmental disasters but seldom affected by severe disaster. Cameron Highland mud floods 2013, Hulu Langat landslide 2011, tsunami 2004 and Highland Tower 1993 are some of environmental disaster in Malaysia. Some of these disasters carry heavy price tags as property and lives are damaged beyond full compensation and repair and health effects as well. This paper was focused on environmental disaster in Malaysia with reference to flood and landslide. The scope of this paper is to provide input for a clearer understanding of these disasters and how public could be safe from these hazards with preparedness strategies. This paper involved with secondary data collected from journal, proceedings, books, related agencies and internet sources as well. Normally, humankind is capable of saving their self and Earth as well, if they recover the principles of solidarity, complementarity and harmony with nature in contraposition to the reign of competition, profits and rampant consumption of natural resources. They also must strongly support a sustainable development and a sustainable land use concept in order to sustain the environment from degrades. In addition, community-based disaster preparedness is essential in preventing and responding to the full array of environmental disasters in keeping human losses as low as possible. Ways must be found to ensure that a community is strengthened, becoming less fragile and less susceptible to environmental disaster impact. In addition, community needs to be assist in order to survive despite receiving the impact of severe disasters

Bencana persekitaran: Takdir atau balasan

Bencana persekitaran boleh berlaku secara semula jadi tanpa campur tangan manusia. Namun, dalam tempoh 200 tahun kebelakangan ini, kebanyakan bencana persekitaran disumbangkan oleh faktor manusia yang melakukan kegiatan pembangunan yang seringkali tidak berharmoni dengan alam sekitar. Manusia seringkali dipersalahkan setiap kali berlakunya bencana persekitaran. Perkara ini ada benarnya jika ditinjau daripada tindak tanduk dan gaya hidup sebilangan masyarakat manusia yang tidak berharmoni dengan persekitaran mereka. Aktiviti pembangunan yang tidak mampan, penggunaan dan citarasa yang berlebihan di samping penggunaan sumber semulajadi secara membazir dan kurang berhemah merupakan antara faktor utama yang merangsang kepada kewujudan bencana persekitaran. Perkara ini berlaku kerana manusia dengan segala kudrat dan pengetahuan yang dimilikinya merupakan entiti yang mampu mempengaruhi alam sekitar serta komponennya. Kita telah sampai ke peringkat kritikal kerana krisis dan bencana persekitaran kini telah pun menjejaskan kehidupan dan kesihatan secara serius. Masalah ini akan menimbulkan ancaman lebih besar terhadap manusia pada dekad-dekad akan datang jika kita gagal bertindak sekarang melalui kaedah dan strategi yang betul dalam usaha mengekang segala permasalahan yang timbul akibat kelalaian dan kecuaian kita sendiri. Justeru, kejadian kemusnahan alam, kerosakan harta benda dan kehilangan nyawa yang berlaku ekoran kelemahan dalam perancangan pembangunan terdahulu perlu dijadikan iktibar dalam merancang pembangunan masa depan supaya bencana yang sama tidak berulang

Knowledge, attitude and practice on recycling activity among primary school students in Hulu Langat, Selangor

The objective of the paper was to study the knowledge, attitude and practice of recycling activities among 2 primary school students in Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. A comparative cross-sectional study was carried out among primary school student in Kajang and Semenyih, Hulu Langat, Selangor. A number of 188 primary school students were selected as respondents. A set of questionnaire was used to obtain the information about socio-demographic, knowledge, attitude and practices of recycling activity. For knowledge level, the urban schools have 75.7% in good knowledge while rural schools have 71.3%. For the attitude level, 72.3% of urban school have good attitude while only 53.2% of rural school have good attitude. Both school shown practices in satisfactory level which is 74.5% in urban while 62.8% in rural school. For the mean difference, there was a mean difference between knowledge (p0.05, p= 0.249). There was an association between knowledge (p<0.005, p=0.002) and attitude level (p<0.005, p=0.001) to the practices level. For conclude the primary school from both rural and urban school students have a good knowledge and attitude toward recycling but moderate in recycling practices. Thus, the students should be nurtured to increase their practices in recycling activities, such as having environmental education at home and in school, joining recycling awareness campaign and recycle activities