Making Sense of Environmental Governance: A Study of E-waste in Malaysia

The nature of e-waste, which is environmentally disastrous but economically precious, calls for close policy attention at all levels of society, and between state and non-state actors. This thesis investigates the roles of state and non-state actors in e-waste governance in Malaysia. This is undertaken through analysis of e-waste governance, particularly focusing on the locally generated industrial and household e-waste, from the perspective of multiple actors, levels and modes of governance. From the perspective of multiple actors governance, this thesis recognises three main actors of e-waste governance in Malaysia – the state actor, and two types of non-state actors – the Private Sector Actors and the Civil Society Organisations. Although it appears theoretically simple to classify actors of governance into one of these categories, in practice the line separating these two categories is blurry. From the multiple modes perspective, empirical evidence from this research has shown that state and non-state actors are involved in four modes of governance – the hierarchical, persuasion, self-governance and co-governance mode; with the roles of state actors being more prominent in the hierarchical modes, while the roles of non-state actors are more significant in the persuasion, self-governance and co-governance modes. State and non-state actors are jointly involved in one variant of co-governance which is the public-private partnership (PPP). Although the inclusion of non-state actors in governance is usually on ‘acutely constrained terms’ (Murdoch and Abram 1998: 49), they may influence the process of decision making. From the perspective of multi level governance, it is apparent that power and authority in e-waste governance transcend beyond the boundary of sovereign states with the introduction of supra-national legislation such as the Basel Convention, WEEE directive and RoHS directive. This has direct implication on Malaysia as she is a party to Basel Convention, and produces electrical and electronic equipment for global market

Pengurusan sisa pepejal di Pulau Pangkor: isu dan cabaran

Pengurusan sisa pepejal adalah satu proses yang rumit dan kritikal. Usaha-usaha untuk memastikan kemampanan pengurusan sisa pepejal di pulau tarikan pelancong yang kecil seperti Pulau Pangkor adalah lebih mencabar kerana kekangan-kekangan yang berkait dengan saiz, lokasi dan landskap pulau. Satu kajian telah dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti isu dan cabaran dalam pengurusan sisa pepejal di Pulau Pangkor. Kajian ini berbentuk kualitatif dan data-data dikumpul dari November 2014 hingga Ogos 2015. Beberapa kaedah pengutipan dan analisis data telah digunakan seperti temu bual, Perbincangan Kumpulan Berfokus/Focus Group Discussion (FGD), pemerhatian dan lawatan tapak. Hasil analisis data mendapati terdapat empat isu serta cabaran utama dalam pengurusan sisa pepejal di Pulau Pangkor iaitu yang berkait dengan sikap masyarakat yang tidak mengutamakan kebersihan persekitaran, pengurusan sumber manusia yang tidak cekap, kemudahan penyimpanan dan pengangkutan sisa yang tidak efisien dan konflik dalam proses pelupusan sisa pepejal. Isu-isu ini merupakan cabaran utama yang perlu diatasi demi memastikan pengurusan sisa pepejal mampan boleh dicapai. Perkara ini jika dibiarkan berterusan berupaya mendatangkan implikasi negatif kepada alam sekitar. Kekurangan kedatangan pelancong akan memberi kesan kepada ekonomi penduduk yang kebanyakannya bergantung kepada kegiatan ekonomi ini. Penduduk yang menampung hidup dengan aktiviti perikanan juga akan terjejas. Selain daripada itu, sisa yang tidak diuruskan dengan baik juga boleh menjadi tempat pembiakan haiwan yang merupakan vektor pembawa penyakit dan meningkatkan kes-kes kesihatan. Pengurusan sisa pepejal yang baik perlulah diberi perhatian utama dalam usaha mencapai objektif pembangunan mampan. Ianya adalah satu usaha yang bukan mudah dan menuntut kerjasama banyak pihak terutamanya penduduk, pelancong dan pemerintah

The influence of demographic variables to e-waste management practices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

E-waste is defined as electrical and electronic appliances that are no longer functioning, broken, obsolete or unwanted by the present owner and are ready to be discarded. The disposal of e-waste is a challenging task as it contains hazardous substances as well as the precious metals. This study seeks to investigate e-waste management practices among respondents based on their demographic background. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 936 respondents in Kuala Lumpur, and questionnaires survey forms are used as research instrument. A statistical test was run to examine the relation of ten options of e-waste management practices to five demographic variables. The result has shown that respondents’ occupation is the most significantly related demographic variables to e-waste disposal practices compared to other demographic variables. Respondents that work in the private sector were reported to have the highest percentage for each e-waste disposal practices compared to other type of occupations. The factors that have led to this finding may be due to the working environment (which deals a lot with electrical and electronic appliances), as well as the exposure and information from wide range of sources. Overall, the e-waste disposal practices vary based on the demographic background. The output of this study is beneficial for decision makers and relevant agencies in creating an appropriate management actions and approach based on demographic background towards sustainable e-waste management in Malaysia

The Role of Geography in Understanding, Managing and Governing Disaster Related to Waste Management

Geography has a long record of understanding, managing and governing disaster. The key element that connects geography and disaster is spatial distributions. Potential disasters and the physical and social impacts after any disaster events, can be described in spatial patterns. Many researches have shown that geography knowledge on spatial and scalar skills have been adopted and adapted in the processes of rescue, recovery and policy making of natural disaster around the world such as earthquake, landslide, forest fire and flooding. This paper seeks to elaborate a different perspective to the relation of geography and disaster. It intends to explain how geography is relevant and significant in the process of avoiding disaster related to new or man-induced disaster related to solid and hazardous waste management. Mapping skills and technology, as in GIS, has been adapted in siting the best location to build a solid waste landfill to avoid pollution, and the long-term and short-term disasters that it may bring. On the other hand, in managing transboundary hazardous waste, geography understanding of skills and scale has been useful in governing and decision making processes. The application of multiple level governance perspective in policy making as highlighted in this paper, stresses the complex web of interactions between state and non-state policy makers, which are operating at various levels of governance; indicating the significant of multidimensionality in policy making to avoid disaster due to hazardous material in e-waste.  &nbsp

Post-War waste composition: Household waste management in Misrata City, Libya

Waste generation and its composition reflect activities of a society, due to the fact that it is driven by socio-economic interactions, political structure, and social security. However, changes to waste composition may go unnoticed, except where a database on household solid waste (HSW) is available. Libyan cities were devastated by the scourge of war due to the "Arab spring". This necessitates planning and development to tackle waste management. This study aims to determine the composition of household solid waste in Misrata, Libya, to generate waste stream data that eludes most post-war cities in North Africa and Middle East, which can be used to plan and subsequently manage waste collection services, treatment options, and disposal methods. Discrete classification and direct measurement of HSW from selected families (30) in Misrata were utilized to assess waste composition and changes across households. 400 questionnaires were distributed to residents to determine public perception and its correlation to waste composition. The results confirmed that the highest amount of HSW generated was organic waste, which accounts for 52 %, followed by 20.7%, 16% and 5.9% generated from miscellaneous waste, plastics, and paper wastes, respectively. Metals and glass reported the lowest HSW components, at 3.9% and 1.5%, respectively. The survey component of the study indicated that more than 70% of the respondents claimed that recyclable items are increasing, especially plastics, due to changes in life style and income

The Conundrum of Carbon Trading Projects towards Sustainable Development: A Review from the Palm Oil Industry in Malaysia

Palm oil’s utilization as a renewable energy (RE) source has led the government to intervene by introducing emission reduction projects. Carbon trading projects are part of the strategic direction adopted within the climate mitigation plan and sustainability drive in the palm oil industry. The perquisites and opportunities encountered within emissions trading are expected to aid palm oil producers economically, environmentally, and socially. This study addresses and analyses how the carbon trading projects’ targets in Malaysia can be achieved, the problematic, and pressing issues around their implementation and whether these projects are sustainable and create a positive impact. This paper is based on literature reviews and semi-structured interviews with expert palm oil producers in Malaysia. The findings have revealed that carbon trading implementation in Malaysia has delivered new insights towards the international climate policy approach on the feasibility and impact of long-term sustainability goals. However, the impact of the implementation needs support from the government for further development. In conclusion, the major contribution of this study is that the carbon trading implementation in Malaysia complies with the objectives and principles of sustainable development and creates a significant influx in investment for Malaysia’s economic growth

Analysis of satellite remote sensing and driver-pressure-state-impact-response framework in Selangor river basin area

Forest resources have come under growing pressure over time that led to forest degradation. The goal of this research is to use remote sensing to examine land cover changes in the study region, and then to construct the DPSIR framework for future decision making. Datasets of four Landsat images were based upon to produce the land-cover map and identify the land-cover changes. The Landsat images’ methodology of land-cover classification was unsupervised pixel-based classification. The specific land cover includes forest, built-up area, bare land, vegetation, water bodies, and cloud. Image classification found that forest changed between 1990 and 2020 were decreasing, respectively, at 17.05 percent of total change. An increase was noted in the built-up area, by 18.56 percent over the 30-year timeline. Factors contributing to the decrease of forest include anthropogenic factor. A DPSIR framework was produced to provide the relevant indicators and allow policymakers to contribute input on environmental concerns of the future impact in policy development

Environmental quality indicators and financial development in Malaysia: unity in diversity

Environmental quality indicators are crucial for responsive and cost-effective policies.The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between environmental quality indicators and financial development in Malaysia. For this purpose, the number of environmental quality indicators has been used, i.e., air pollution measured by carbon dioxide emissions, population density per square kilometer of land area, agricultural production measured by cereal production and livestock production, and energy resources considered by energy use and fossil fuel energy consumption, which placed an impact on the financial development of the country.The study used four main financial indicators, i.e., broad money supply (M2), domestic credit provided by the financial sector (DCFS), domestic credit to the private sector (DCPC), and inflation (CPI), which each financial indicator separately estimated with the environmental quality indicators, over a period of 1975–2013. The study used the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique to minimize the simultaneity from the model. The results show that carbon dioxide emissions exert the positive correlation with the M2, DCFC, and DCPC, while there is a negative correlation with the CPI.However, these results have been evaporated from the GMM estimates, where carbon emissions have no significant relationship with any of the four financial indicators in Malaysia. The GMM results show that population density has a negative relationship with the all four financial indicators; however, in case of M2, this relationship is insignificant to explain their result. Cereal production has a positive relationship with the DCPC, while there is a negative relationship with the CPI.Livestock production exerts the positive relationship with the all four financial indicators; however, this relationship with the CPI has a more elastic relationship, while the remaining relationship is less elastic with the three financial indicators in a country.Energy resources comprise energy use and fossil fuel energy consumption, both have distinct results with the financial indicators, as energy demand have a positive and significant relationship with the DCFC, DCPC, and CPI, while fossil fuel energy consumption have a negative relationship with these three financial indicators.The results of the study are of value to both environmentalists and policy makers