Recent challenges for the enforcement of wildlife laws in East Malaysia

Law enforcement is one of the weakest links in wildlife conservation. This paper analyses the main challenges facing wildlife law enforcement in East Malaysia and identifies the enforcement strategy used by wildlife officers in the region. To these ends, a questionnaire was distributed to the wildlife officers. The study found that the respondents tended towards deterrence strategy in enforcing the laws which focuses on detecting and punishing violations. The study also revealed that the primary challenge facing the wildlife enforcement officers was lack of institutional capacity. This was reflected by problems related to inadequate equipment, facilities, limited manpower and lack of skills. Other major challenges highlighted by the respondents were lack of cooperation from the public and other enforcement agencies, lack of political will and threats from the regulated parties. The findings of the study contribute to a greater understanding of the main enforcement strategy used by wildlife officers in East Malaysia and highlight challenges they encountered in undertaking their duties. These insights provide useful information into developing better informed capacity-building programme for the wildlife officers and for decision-makers at state and federal level in determining allocation or other provision for the wildlife authorities

Enforcement against wildlife crimes in West Malaysia: the challenges

This paper investigates challenges facing the enforcement of wildlife conservation law in West Malaysia. The study used information stemming from desk-based research and interviews with key informants from wildlife enforcement agencies as well as several environmental NGOs. The interviews were carried out using semi-structured questions to examine key informants’ views about the main challenges hampering the effective enforcement of wildlife conservation law in the region. The study revealed that all interviewees concur that insufficient institutional capacity in terms of manpower, skills and equipment is the main challenge to wildlife enforcement. Other major challenges were public cooperation as well as inter-agency cooperation and coordination. Apart from that, respondents from NGOs perceived lack of political-will as another major challenge facing the enforcement of wildlife conservation law, though no mention of this was made by the enforcement agencies. The study provides practical insights into some aspects of the enforcement challenges of wildlife conservation in West Malaysia. These insights may help decision-makers at the local and national levels to consider some measures to overcome the challenges faced by the wildlife enforcement agencies to ensure better wildlife conservation in general

Household pharmaceutical waste disposal in Selangor, Malaysia - policy, public perception, and current practices

Although pharmaceuticals treat illnesses and prevent diseases in humans and animals, ironically, they are now among the emerging pollutants in the environment. As individuals continue to consume medicines, households can become a primary source of pharmaceutical pollutants. This paper explains relevant Malaysian law and policy on the issue. Using a questionnaire survey, it also assesses public perception concerning the environmental impact of pharmaceutical waste and the current methods of disposal that are practiced in Selangor. The survey used a convenience sampling and the data collected were analysed using statistical descriptive analysis. Most of the participants were aware that pharmaceutical waste can have an adverse impact on the environment and public health. Half of the participants disposed of their pharmaceutical waste in trash bins. About 2.9% of the respondents poured their household pharmaceutical waste (HPW) directly down the drain, while 8.8% poured them down the sink in the kitchen or toilet. The study also discovered that while 73.8% of the respondents felt that HPW should be separated from other household solid waste, only 25.2% returned their medicinal waste through the medicine return-back programme. The majority of the respondents (82.5%) agreed that information concerning the proper disposal of HPW is insufficient. The study concludes that while the respondents were aware of the adverse impact of HPW, their practices to ensure proper disposal is discouraging. There is a need for effective unwanted medicines return-back programme as a more prudent disposal method of HPW to avoid any risk to the environment or human health

Protection of marine biodiversity from pollution: Legal strategies in Malaysia.

This paper discusses sources of marine pollution in Malaysia and examines existing provisions under the law relevant to the control of such pollution. Being a maritime nation as well as one of the top biodiversity-rich countries in the world, it is important for Malaysia to give its full commitment in conserving her mega-diverse ecosystems, including that of the richly endowed seas. At present, the well being of Malaysia’s marine biodiversity is facing increasing threat from various sources, notably that of land-based and vessel-based pollution. Malaysia takes pollution issue seriously, and joins other key maritime nations in enhancing her legal regime in dealing with marine pollution. This paper seeks to highlight Malaysia’s continuous effort towards marine pollution control through the application of both domestic and international law. Significantly, such effort can be used as a reference by other maritime nations for the purpose of collective marine environmental protection and biodiversity conservation

A qualitative analysis of the main threats to Asian elephant conservation

In this study we identified the main threats to the conservation of Asian elephants and discuss their causes and implications. Primary data from interviews and secondary data from published articles were gathered and analysed using inductive and deductive thematic content analysis assisted by NVivo 10. Our results indicate that the three main threats for the species are human-elephant conflict, habitat loss, and poaching. The conversion of forests into plantations and human-dominated areas, including infrastructure developments, are the primary causes for human-elephant conflict and habitat loss. Meanwhile, the high demand and monetary return from ivory trade are the primary causes to illegal poaching

Source water protection from pharmaceutical contaminants: assessment of environmental quality act 1974 and its regulations

Pharmaceutical contaminants have become a global “emerging pollutant”. Many countries developed various policies and technologies to deal with the problem. In Malaysia, there is no serious attention given to this problem in the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (EQA) and other regulations (Malaysian legislation). Therefore, pharmaceutical contaminants still enter the environment and affect human health through water consumption and water usage. In response to this problem, this study aims to analyse Malaysian legislation and to identify potential protection provided to protect source water from pharmaceutical contaminants. This study employed a qualitative approach. A systematic search was carried out on existing pharmaceutical-related Malaysian legislation. Later, content analysis was conducted to discover patterns and ideas within the existing legislation. This would determine the provisions that could assist the protection of source water from pharmaceutical contaminants. The findings of this study demonstrate only few provisions addressed the problem of pharmaceutical contaminants and thus, this type of contaminant continues to harm the environment. It is hoped that the result of this study could enhance Malaysian legislation pertaining to the problem and minimise the risk of pharmaceutical contaminant in drinking water

Enforcement of environmental pollution control laws: a Malaysian case study

The increased environmental awareness in the 1970s prompted nations to enact laws that criminalise polluters. This article reviews criminal enforcement of environmental violations in Malaysia by analysing the trend in environmental crime prosecutions between 2015 to 2018. The study found that the number of prosecutions continued to fall with a marked drop, the paper points out various factors related to practical difficulties and challenges to pursue criminal enforcement against environmental offenders that might partly explain the descending prosecution trend. The cooperative enforcement strategy favoured by Malaysian regulatory agency could also play a significant role in the downward prosecution trend. In light of the risk of regulatory capture, the article suggests that the cooperative enforcement, should be complemented by prosecution against certain environmental violators to ensure deterrence. The results of the study are important to provide baseline information to stimulate intellectual discourse on the roles of criminal justice system within the existing regulatory enforcement strategy and the state of environmental problems in Malaysia

Green infrastructure policy for sustainable urban development

Green infrastructure refers to the network of natural and semi-natural areas, features and spaces in rural and urban areas, terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine areas. Green infrastructure can be strengthened through strategic and coordinated initiatives that focus on monitoring, restoring, improving and connecting existing areas and features as well as creating new uses and features. The principal issue that stimulates this work is to observe how planning policies could contribute towards achievement of sustainable urban development in Malaysian urban centres using GI attributes. The procedure involved for conducting this work was qualitative content analysis of planning policies that guides physical development of Peninsular Malaysia. The analysis conducted revealed the comprehensiveness of the GI. The policies give more emphasis on protection of natural areas, followed by conservation of Malaysian environment and provision of urban green spaces. The provision of urban trail was not provided anywhere in the policies analysed

Solid Waste Minimization in Malaysia

Malaysia has taken initiative in enforcing the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act 2007 (Act 672) since 2011 to ensure the uniformity of law relating to the solid waste management and public cleansing. Despite the alarming issues on the increasing of solid waste generation, Malaysian government has made solid waste separation at source as mandatory starting 1st September 2015 at eight states. Solid waste separation at source has been seen as the best practice of solid waste minimization where it eliminates and reduces the amount of solid waste produced by the society. The government has taken seriously in solid waste separation at source as the lifespan of disposal site has been decreased and limited space for the new disposal site due to the increasing cost of solid waste management. Hence, to overcome the increasing of solid waste generation, an integrated solid waste minimization through recycling should be implemented as it is involved in minimizing resource and offers the best outcome for the environment. Thus, this paper discussed the overview of solid waste minimization in Malaysia and the stakeholder’s role and their obstacles in solid waste minimization to attract the public participate in reducing the solid waste generation as an efficient solid waste management. A proper solid waste management ensures a sustainable development of Malaysia in terms of health, socio-economy and environment respectively towards Malaysian Vision of 2020