Achieving sustainable coastal environment in Langkawi, Malaysia

Despite many good policies and institutions, the coastal environment of Langkawi continues to deteriorate. This could be due to lack of effective governance as well as unregulated waste discharge. Evidences collected from the literature during 1996 to 2013 also revealed a significant increase in the concentrations of Zn (R2 = 0.78) and Pb (R2 = 0.12) in the sediment. This appears to be the result of large volume of terrestrial runoff that brings these metals originating from extensive anthropogenic activities. It is a vital indicator of coastal pollution. It is a matter of concern that in many cases Pb concentration in the sediment exceeded the world average value 20 µg/g as well as Canadian Interim Sediment Quality Standard of 35 µg/g for the coastal areas. Similarly, the metal pollution index (MPI) measured over a period of 2007 to 2009 in fish also indicated an increasing trend of pollution in Langkawi. The maximum MPI value (4.87) was recorded in Spanish mackerel. Since pollution of coastal environment has serious implications for marine biodiversity and health of seafood consumers, measures are required to address this problem. Use of constructed wetland might be effective in reducing the coastal pollution as this will filter the effluent and waste before their mixing with the coastal water. Furthermore, enabling the stakeholders to play the environmental stewardship role will ensure better governance of coastal ecosystem and effective implementation of policies, envisaging an improved monitoring of waste/effluent discharge into the coastal marine environment. These measures are among the actions necessary for achieving a sustainable coastal environment of Langkawi

STAKEHOLDERS’ RESPONSE AND PERSPECTIVES ON FLOOD DISASTER OF PAHANG RIVER BASIN

The Pahang river basin is the largest river basin in the Pahang State, with total catchment area covering 29300km2. Floods of Pahang river basin have become an annual natural disaster event where all the stakeholders have their own responsibility and parts to take care of it. This study has focused on stakeholders’ response and perspectives to verify the issues on flood disaster of Pahang river basin. The methodology used in this study is the stakeholders’ consultation workshop. This workshop was conducted by involving the stakeholders’ representatives from various agencies. The result from this workshop has revealed the response and perspectives based on the important parts of each stakeholder to face the flood event that occurred in Pahang river basin. Besides, the issues aroused from this workshop have shown the stakeholders’ response and their perspectives on how to reduce the impacts on flood disaster of Pahang river basin. According to the workshop, there are two factors contribute to flood event which are the heavy rainfall and the arising of water level. The causes of these two factors are the reason that we need to involve all aspects in order to reduce the impact of flood disaster. The aspects are to identify the frequent problems to arise during flood event, to improvise the operating systems such as flood forecasting systems, telemetric systems and hydrology system, the plans of each stakeholder on how to cooperate and reduce the impact as one team, to provide the proper flood maps at the study level and to review and verify what are the communities’ complaints and perspectives as they also one of the victims. This study had discussed the proposed actions need to be taken according to the stakeholders’ response and perspectives. The overflow of river water had caused by the low absorption of rainfall from forest which due to deforestation and loggings. The high water level also caused by the high sedimentations which contributed by these activities. The law enforcement with more stringent need to be done on these matters. Besides, the operating systems need to be improvised and added as these approaches can help in reducing the impact of flood events. The flood maps should be provided at study level to identify and produce a valuable case study. Stakeholders’ consultations and involvement are the keys to improvise the weakness on how to cope with the floods event from the early stage. The proposal and implementations of the development should be done by involving the stakeholders’ response and perspectives in any disaste

OECD principles on water governance in practice:an assessment of existing frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America

Through the lens of the 12 OECD Principles on Water Governance, this article examines six water resources and water services frameworks in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Africa and South America to understand enhancing and constraining contextual factors. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to analyze each framework against four criteria: alignment; implementation; on-ground results; and policy impact. Four main target areas are identified for improving water governance: policy coherence; financing; managing trade-offs; and ensuring integrity and transparency by all decision makers and stakeholders. Suggestions are presented to support practical implementation of the principles through better government action and stakeholder involvement.No Full Tex

The potential impacts of anthropogenic and climate changes factors on surface water ecosystem deterioration at Kenyir Lake, Malaysia

Water ecosystem deterioration can be affected by various factors of either natural environment or physical changes in the river basin. Data observation were made during dry season (April 2017) and wet season (December 2017). 21 sampling stations were selected along Kenyir Lake Basin. Overall, the water quality status as stated in NWQS is categorized as Class I on dry season and Class II on wet sea-son. The major pollutants in Kenyir Lake are Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Dissolve Oxygen and pH which are contributed largely by untreated or partially treated sewage from tourism development and construction activities around the basin. The sedimentation problem level in the Kenyir Lake Basin is not in critically stage but the flow rate of water and land use ac-tivities (development around basin) will be contributed to the increasing levels of sedimentation. The good site management such as the implementation of proper site practice measures to control and treat run-off prior to discharge will ensure that the construction works will not affect the quality and quantity of the receiving waters or have significant impact upon the receiving waters

MICRO ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION

International migration is one of the key components of local economic development in a labour sending country. The returns of migration and remittances play a significant role in the economic development and growth of the source country. The remittance causes a positive Balance of Payment as well as poverty reduction in Bangladesh. These international migrations also have impacts on micro economic issues like local and household economy, which have received very little attention in existing studies. Therefore, to check the issue, this study collected primary data based on a questionnaire survey from 306 Bangladesh workers who are engaged in wage-earning employment in Malaysia during the period of Nov-Dec 2010. This study analysed the data based on the Path Measurement Model. This empirical study found that international migration significantly improves the micro economy of Bangladesh such as house ownership, improvement of economic conditions, donation towards local institutes and infrastructure, new work experience, new skills, and poverty reduction. Some initiatives such as communication skills, maintaining and improving economic diplomacy and discouraging the Hundi System (Illegal remittance transfer system) are suggested to improve these rising consequences of international migration in Bangladesh

A Review of Stakeholder Engagement in Integrated River Basin Management

To address water-related issues of river pollution, floods, droughts, and ecological water allocations, there is a need for an integrated river basin management (IRBM) plan for the successful management of all the river basins in the country. Stakeholder engagement is one of the important elements for the effective implementation of IRBM. In this study, a systematic bibliometric analysis has been successfully carried out to identify the trends, patterns, and research gaps in the establishment of stakeholder engagement frameworks in IRBM. Three renowned scientific databases were used to quantitatively assess the published literature on stakeholder engagement. The search contributed by providing a clear understanding and mechanisms for an effective stakeholder engagement, thus highlighting the research gap, whereby there is a lack of an effective stakeholder engagement framework for IRBM. Based on the analysis results, it was found that many pieces of literature have been written about the implementation of IRBM, including the importance of stakeholder engagement or participation. However, there is very limited study on how effective stakeholder engagement could be carried out to enhance water management at the river basin level. The findings also recorded that stakeholder engagement can serve as a form of social learning, and leadership plays a significant role in ensuring the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement in IRBM. From the review analysis, it was concluded that further research studies need to be carried out at the river basin level to formulate an effective stakeholder engagement framework for the sustainable management of water