Green groups welcome 12MP focus
PETALING JAYA: The environment chapter of the 12th Malaysia Plan, which focuses on improving management and protection of natural resources, embracing the circular economy and moving towards a low-carbon nation, has been given the thumbs up by environmentalists.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia president Meenakshi Raman said it was great to see much more emphasis on tackling unsustainable consumption and production practices.
She welcomed the plan to enable better planetary health and a low carbon economy and creating climate resilience in cities.
“Its encouraging to see focus on green financing and financial mechanisms to incentivise states to protect forests, biodiversity and the environment.
“It is also refreshing to see the focus on improving environmental governance and in this regard, encouraging state governments to have public hearings before any degazetting of Permanent Forest Reserves,” she added.
Meenakshi said there was concern about the promotion of sustainable mining in the 12MP, adding that although there were references to making sure that the environment was not impacted, thus far the opposite has been witnessed.
“What we are witnessing are mining projects in environmentally sensitive areas which are inherently unsustainable,” she added.
Association of Water and Energy Research president S. Piarapakaran, commenting on the water chapter which states that Malaysia aspires to become a regional water sector hub by 2040, urged the government to take the cue from its previous failure to implement the the National Water Services Industry Restructuring (NWSIR).
He said the country would have been a global hub for the water sector by last year if the NWSIR was fully followed.
Based on the NWSIR, he said all water operators needed to be consolidated under a single company within the states.
“Indah Water Konsortium needed to be ring-fenced into state-based entities by 2010 and begin merging with state water companies in stages between 2011 and 2015 but many NWSIR components were not followed and diversions took place,” he added.
On the 12MP target to have 98% coverage for clean water and a safely managed sanitation system in rural areas by 2025, Piarapakaran said rural water supply must be treated raw water which was safe for consumption.
“Rainwater harvesting systems that do not treat harvested water is not part of rural water supply. The relevant ministry must publish accurate data on both treated and non-treated rural water supply.
“It is also important for the government to ensure there are locals who are trained to maintain such a system to ensure downtime is minimised,” he said.
On energy, he said the plan to increase the installed capacity of Renewable Energy must be seen in tandem with the existing installed capacity of electricity as getting more of the latter would increase system cost.