Malaysia: Declare emergency to stop decline of natural resources, Government urged

Isabella Lai The Star 1 Mar 13;

SUBANG JAYA: The Government must declare a National Defo­restation and Degradation Emer­gency and put in emergency measures to reverse the decline of the country’s natural resources, said Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M).

Its secretary-general Josie Fernandez said such action should first begin with a “time-bound action-oriented” review of state forest policies.

“We all agree that this is a situation of emergency.

“Environmen­­­tal issues must be at the forefront of the general election because our future generations will be severely affected if nothing is done,” she said at the National Conference on Envi­ronment: People, Forests, Sus­tainability here yesterday.

The seminar was organised by TI-M and 17 other coalition members.

They included the Malaysian Nature Society, Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia and Network of Orang Asli Villages in Peninsular Malaysia.

Stressing the need for greater public participation in creating sustainable development, Fernandez said national policies should be reformed with the aim of developing, conserving and managing resources.

The two-day seminar, she said, had discussed a range of environmental issues affecting communities throughout Malaysia, adding that the coalition would put forth a “manifesto” by the middle of this month to all political parties.

The environmental issues, she said, included the conversion of peat forests to oil palm plantations, widespread logging in forest reserves and forested areas and the invasion of orang asli settlements due to economic development plans.

“For those politicians who make green pledges and are elected to office, we will closely monitor them to see whether they fulfil their promises,” she said.

Fernandez said monitoring would also come in the form of a Key Performance Index system, under which “report cards” would be sent out to the constituencies where their local representatives had made promises.

The coalition, she said, had also come up with a list of recommendations, among which was to amend the National Land Code and State Forest Enactment to include mandatory public participation as well as reintroduce the National Forestry Council.

Fernandez pointed out that in 1992, Malaysia had made a commitment to maintain 50% forest cover.