WWF Malaysia 2 Feb 15;
29 Jan 2015, Kota Kinabalu: WWF-Malaysia is urging the government to adopt best practices to improve the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system to better protect the environment. Noting the recent disagreements between three parties concerned with regards to the shrimp aquaculture development in Pitas, WWF-Malaysia believes that the cause of the disagreement goes beyond misunderstanding and miscommunication of the EIA review process.
Citing the two Stop-Work Orders previously issued to the Pitas project contractors, WWF-Malaysia acknowledges the good work that the Environment Protection Department (EPD) had already put in to ensure environmental safeguards.
However, WWF-Malaysia noted that there are several improvements that could be undertaken for a better EIA system.
At present, EIA consultants are all chosen and paid-for by the developer. As the saying goes, “He who pays the Piper calls the Tune”. This represents poor governance and may give rise to conflicts of interest. Findings and recommendations of EIA reports may look independent. But in effect many are geared to serve the paymaster’s interest.
“One solution is for EPD to be the ‘paymaster’ or at least to be seen as one. To implement this, the developer should channel the fee for the EIA to EPD and the department should pay the EIA consultant only upon recommendations of the EIA review panel. This would not entirely solve the problem since ultimately the EIA would still be paid by the developer but it would considerable reduce the issue of conflict of interest,” said Dato’ Dr Dionysius Sharma, Executive Director / CEO of WWF-Malaysia.
“To promote better accountability, EIA consultants should not be responsible for monitoring their own work, but the Government should instead empower EPD with the responsibility to act as the independent monitoring body,” he added.
Mindful that EPD is facing significant resource constraints, WWF-Malaysia calls on the Government to allocate more resources to EPD to enable the department to effectively carry out its EIA-related functions.
“We should urgently seek to achieve a more independent and transparent EIA system and to improve monitoring and enforcement of the relevant laws to minimise disputes for future EIAs,’ said Dato’ Dionysius.
WWF-Malaysia also stressed the value of complying with other guidelines in the EIA review process, such as offer letters by the Land and Survey Department (LSD), where for example, it is a legal requirement that for land classified as a mangrove swamp or forest, a riparian buffer zone of 100 meters measured landwards from the first mangrove vegetation in the water, shall be conserved totally and no drainage channel may be constructed over such zone. “In such matters, the LSD should also be included and actively involved in the EIA approval and monitoring process”, Dato’ Dr. Dionysius said. “The responsibility of monitoring should lie with multi-stakeholders.”
On commenting about the Pitas shrimp farming project, Dato’ Dr Dionysius stressed on the importance of balancing financial benefits to the local community with ensuring sufficient natural coastal protection provided by mangrove forests. “Having witnessed a great number of natural disasters occurring nationwide, such as floods over the past few weeks, we should be more stringent about the possible impacts of large scale projects on the environment. Mangroves also have an ecological function in providing nursery and breeding ground for marine resources such as fish and shrimp that provide for the livelihood of the people in the area,” he said. Another issue of contention is that the position of the shrimp farming project happens to be very close to the proposed Tun Mustapha Park (TMP). Malaysia has a commitment to ensure integrity of TMP under the Coral Triangle Initiative for Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF), a 6-nation collaboration. Safeguarding the area from further degradation is therefore of utmost importance.
