All is not well with environmental governance

PRIME Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s expressed wish to review the Environmental Quality Act, enacted in 1974, is refreshing to hear.

There have been amendments to the act from time to time, but the moment has come for a comprehensive review of this country’s foremost instrument of environmental governance.

Our awakening at the time and respect for the environment were reflected in the act, which went into effect 47 years ago.

So much water has flowed under the bridge since then, most importantly the world’s official embrace of sustainable development and, in 2015, universal adoption of the 2030 Development Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Despite the act, we have witnessed many transgressions inflicted on our natural environment with terrible consequences.

One vivid memory is the Highland Towers condominium collapse in December 1993, resulting in the loss of 48 lives.

Due to the clearing of hillside trees and plants, the soil on which the property was built became susceptible to erosion, triggering a massive landslide.

Other similar disasters have occurred in Cameron Highlands, like the mud floods in Bertam Valley in 2013 that caused at least three deaths, and the 2018 landslides that killed three migrant farm workers.

These tragedies were caused by illegal logging, wanton land clearance for vegetable farming and floriculture, and ill-planned housing and commercial development.

We see legislation and hear strong rhetoric from the authorities, but all too often those laws and words are only committed to paper.

Occasionally, though, we are shaken from our nonchalance by a severe environmental calamity, such as the 2019 dumping of chemical waste into Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang, Johor. Toxic fumes from the river affected 6,000 people, mostly schoolchildren, with 2,775 hospitalised, and some 110 schools were closed.

Hopefully, the scrutiny that incident drew from the federal, state and local authorities, and the arrest and prosecution of the alleged perpetrators, will help avoid similar transgressions in the future.

Alas, the Sungai Kim Kim episode is not the country’s only infamous case.

Selangor has more water pollution issues than any other state, resulting in water supply disruptions for millions of domestic consumers and industry players in the Klang Valley.

It was recently reported that river pollution cases in the state were mostly caused by licensed companies or factories.

Despite legal actions against these companies, the problems persist, suggesting penalties are not severe enough to deter them.

All is not well with environmental governance in Malaysia.

This is over and above addressing greater challenges of global proportions, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and plastic pollution.

In line with the prime minister’s wish to review the act, a multi-disciplinary task force was established by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) to examine revisions and reforms that should be considered for incorporation into a new or amended act.

These include introducing the “precautionary principle” concept to steer the country closer to an “anticipate-and-prevent” approach and away from the traditional “react and cure”.

The precautionary principle can manage weakly understood causes of potentially disastrous or irreversible events, due to the lack of scientific knowledge.

It emphasises caution, pausing and reviewing before leaping into new technologies and innovations that may prove too costly and disastrous to solve afterwards.

Sweden, France and Australia have adopted this approach.

We need to transform the implementation and enforcement of the environmental law and coordination between federal ministries and state governments, with several proposed gamechanging mechanisms to improve the way these entities interact with each other in the ecosystem.

Provisions for the circular economy will also be proposed to enable the continued use of resources and reduction of waste by closing the loop through sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishment and recycling of resources.

Finally, ASM believes in humanising the law and recognising people with greater transparency and public participation in environmental assessments and processes.

In the words of the prime minister: “The Covid-19 pandemic and new norms have added new environmental issues that require a concerted effort from all stakeholders to improve and facilitate sustainable living.”

Members of the ASM, in collaboration with leading thought leaders, stand ready and willing to assist the government in this endeavour.