A Study On The Potential Of Inclusion Of Environmental Management Elements In Contract Documents Of Construction Projects In Malaysia [TD428.C64 A861 2007 f rb].

Industri pembinaan di Malaysia sangat memerlukan pengurusan persekitaran strategik untuk menterjemah misi pembangunan mapan dan memastikan keberkesanan amalan baik alam sekitar di tapak binaan. Strategic environmental management in the Malaysian construction industry is very much needed to translate the mission of sustainable development for effective environmental best practices at construction site

A Study On The Potential Of Inclusion Of Environmental Management Elements In Contract Documents Of Construction Projects In Malaysia

Strategic environmental management in the Malaysian construction industry is very much needed to translate the mission of sustainable development for effective environmental best practices at construction site. Inclusion of environmental management elements in contract documents of construction projects was chosen as the sustainable development strategy at project level. The study aimed to determine the strategic position of environmental management in construction projects and to recommend key drivers for changing the strategy into action

Community Attitude towards Urban Green-Blue Space and Perceived Cultural Ecosystem Benefits: A Preliminary Study at Taiping Lake Garden, Perak, Malaysia

blue spaces. Attitude towards green-blue space were also studied. However, little attention is given to perceived benefits and attitude components in ecosystem service research. This paper aims to examine community attitudes towards urban green-blue spaces and its association with perceived benefits based on cultural ecosystem services concept. A questionnaire was conducted among 31 respondents of local community at Taiping Lake Garden, Perak. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) which involving multiple regression to capture the effects of attitude components on perceived benefits. The findings suggest that overall attitudes of respondents had an excellent level of perceived attitudes toward urban green-blue space. However, among three sub-construct of attitudes, only cognitive attitude was found to be the dominant variable compared to conative and affective attitude that predicts perceived cultural ecosystem benefits. This indicates that if the community could enhance their positive attitudes toward their urban green-blue space, they may perceive higher cultural ecosystem benefits. Future research should continue to explore ways of enhancing positive attitudes among urban community as attitude may guide them to enhance their engagement in urban green-blue spaces

Environmental management activities of an infrastructure development project: the case of Beris Dam, Malaysia

Development projects need to integrate environmental dimensions into project management functions to ensure successful implementation of environmental management and control practices throughout the development process. The management functions include the scope of work for environmental control, the quality of work or performance to be delivered, the scheduling for environmental works, and the most important one is the budget for environmental control. The aim of this paper is to examine and discuss about the environmental dimensions of Beris Dam during its construction and development process. The environmental dimension criteria and elements of the project were examined by means of reviewing environmental control documents used in the project’s construction and development, and site visits. The review reveals that in general the Beris Dam EIA and EMP reports scored between ‘unsatisfactory’ to ‘good’ for the criteria and elements of good environmental practice. These findings indicate the need to increase both effort and implementation of environmental dimensions in project management to help improve the success of implementing environmental management activities in the construction and development of a projec

Urban park and educational benefits of ecosyste\m: case study of Taman Perbandaran Pulau Pinang

The potential of urban parks in providing education on ecosystem is important as a mean to increase socio-ecological well-being. Sustainable development requires the quality and sustenance of the socio-ecological system which pose a need for knowledge on how ecosystems fulfil social needs. This dependence can be described in the operational definition of ecosystem in providing services, benefits or products to meet human needs, directly or indirectly, which occurred along natural processes and ecosystem structure known as ecosystem services. Hence, the importance of education on ecosystem services to ensure socio-ecological well-being. The article intends to identify ecosystem services that can be found in the urban park and identify potential educational activities to be established in the urban park. Firstly, observations were used to map and identify ecosystem services of the park. Secondly, purposive sampling with two sets of semi-structured interview with 100 urban park visitors and five representatives from five focus groups. The results show that the ecosystem in Taman Perbandaran Pulau Pinang is able to provide benefits to humans in terms of supporting services, regulating services, provisioning of services and cultural services to the users. These services can be used in educational activities to improve knowledge on the importance of ecosystem for social well-being. At present, only labels indicating plants’ name are available at the park. Therefore, other forms of ecosystem educational activities could be established in cooperation with various stakeholders and the park management to further enhance the functions of the urban park ecosystem landscape. In summary, urban parks provide educational benefits to urban communities through reinforcing knowledge of ecosystem services that are important for social well-being

Factors Influencing Land Utilization Among Poor Rural Household in Kedah, Malaysia

The land resources are part of the natural assets that provide direct and indirect benefits to people, especially the rural poor. In poverty studies, utilization and management of the land are important to the livelihood of poor people, particularly in supplying food and generating income. Several factors influence the utilization of the land in their surrounding among rural poor household and the factors of influence in land utilization are also different when time and space are different. Therefore, these objectives are to determine the factors of influence in land utilization among poor rural households and analyse the relationships between land utilization and yield. The questionnaire survey was adopted, and 124 respondents were selected based on snowball sampling in Jerlun, Kedah. In this study, there are five main factors, namely are the social economy, spatial, physical, temporal and risk. Then, those factors which include seven variables will be analysed in multiple regression; are social interaction, level of technology, infrastructure, transportation, market accessing, season, and climate change. Based on multiple regression analysis, utilization factors are significant for social interaction, transportation and climate change. Final thought, the type of social interaction, mode of transportation and impact climate change to activity has influenced the poor rural household to utilize the land resources for their life survive

Adopting strategic intervention in substantiating university functions: identifying the components of university-community engagement

Education in Malaysia adopts a continuous process for developing physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual capacity of individuals. Such are the core components in Malaysia’s National Education Philosophy, befitting the functions of university which focus on developing the intellectual, educational, and social capacity among individuals in the society. That said, a university’s activities involve the participation of various levels and groups in the community. This paper reports the qualitative findings of a study which identified the components of university-community engagement (UCE) concept, being aware of the absence of its proper study despite the nation-wide UCE implementation. Input from eminent higher education leaders, school students, business community and non-governmental organization have been gathered, leading to the identification of components of university-community engagement. This has shed light on the approaches to be taken by universities in substantiating their strategic interventions to develop impactful UCE initiatives

Adopting strategic interventions in substantiating university functions: identifying the components of university-community engagement

Education in Malaysia is a continuous process to develop individuals’ physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual capacity. Such are the core components in the Malaysia’s National Education Philosophy, befitting the functions of university which focus on developing the intellectual, educational, and social capacity among individuals in the society. In enhancing university functions, various initiatives have been taken by applying behavioural science knowledge and principles in designing academic activities. This paper reports the findings of a study which identified the components of university-community engagement concept as viewed by eminent HE leaders, school students, business community and non-governmental organisation. They highlighted the importance of university-community engagement programmes which epitomise the strategic intervention technique of a system development. The findings shed light on the approaches to be taken by universities in substantiating its functions to develop individual’s competencies

Pengetahuan terhadap perkhidmatan ekosistem dan sumbangannya kepada kehidupan komuniti di Kuala Sepetang, Perak

Kemusnahan alam sekitar dan kepupusan biodiversiti telah menjadi suatu isu yang sangat membimbangkan. Keterancaman biodiversiti ini dijangka akan berterusan dan meningkat pada masa akan datang jika tiada tindakan serius yang diambil oleh semua pihak berkepentingan. Kemerosotan dan kepupusan sumber semula jadi yang menjejaskan perkhidmatan ekosistem bukan sahaja menjadi isu dan cabaran di peringkat global, malah turut memberi impak kepada Malaysia. Oleh itu, kajian mengenai tahap pengetahuan komuniti dan sumbangan perkhidmatan ekosistem perlu dilakukan dengan memfokuskan kepada empat kategori perkhidmatan ekosistsem iaitu perkhidmatan-perkhidmatan pembekalan, kawal atur, sokongan, dan budaya. Sejumlah 249 borang soal selidik telah diedarkan secara rawak kepada anggota kuminiti di kawasan Kuala Sepetang, Perak. Data yang diperoleh melalui borang soal selidik ini, dianalisa dengan menggunakan kaedah Indeks Kepentingan Relatif (RII) dalam menentukan kedudukan item dan kategori. Kajian mendapati tahap pengetahuan komuniti setempat terhadap keempat-empat kategori perkhidmatan ekosistem adalah baik iaitu perkhidmatan pembekalan, perkhidmatan kawal atur, perkhidmatan sokongan dan perkhidmatan budaya. Sumbangan perkhidmatan ekosistem sokongan menunjukkan sumbangan terbesar dalam kehidupan harian penduduk dan secara tidak langsung membantu dalam kelangsungan hidup. Alam sekitar semula jadi terbukti menyediakan perkhidmatan ekosistem yang sangat penting dan menjadi elemen yang utama dalam kehidupan harian komuniti tempatan. Perkhidmatan ekosistem bukan hanya memberi perkhidmatan kepada manusia tetapi juga menjadi sistem bantuan kehidupan yang berkualiti

Sustaining University-Community Engagement Activities in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions

University-community engagement is essential for a nation’s economic and social future. Despite the emphasis on the essentiality of university-community engagement, extent of Malaysian academics involvement in these programmes has not been as encouraging as their commitment to research and teaching. This study was a descriptive exploratory study, with the purpose of describing the data and characteristics of university-community engagement in Malaysian higher education institutions. The intention was to provide baseline data by gathering facts through surveys, individual interviews, focus group discussions and analysing secondary data. Various interrelated aspects of university community engagement in higher education institutions were explored to provide directions in drawing recommendations for university-community engagement in Malaysia. In this study, types of university-community engagement activities was classified as (i) service, (ii) outreach, (iii) partnership, and (iv) curricular. Levels of involvement that were determined are informing, consulting, involving, collaborating and lastly, empowering the community which was based on the model of engagement developed by the International Association for Public Participation to demonstrate the possible types of engagement and the increasing level of public impact as one progresses from ‘inform’ to ‘empower’. Geographical distribution was identified using the following classifications: (i) Local/state, (ii) National and (iii) International. Based on the findings, nine strategies have been identified in promoting university community engagement in Malaysian HEIs, which includes establishment of National University-Community Framework; introduction of Critical Agenda Project (CAP) for University-Community Engagement; realigning research agenda to meet community needs; and establishing monitoring and evaluation mechanism for University-Community Engagement