SEMESTER :

SESSION : 2015/2016

NAME

SIGNATURE

JESSICA LEE PEI CHEN

Jessica

TITLE:

Discuss how can the local authorities, government agencies and engineers can work
together to address the challenges of environmental sustainability.
SECTION: 01
LECTURER : Associate Professor Ir. Hayati Abdullah

FOR OFFICE USE ONLY

DATE OF RECEIVED :

STAMP & SIGNATURE

NOTE :

Criteria

Weightage
(%)

Introduction
10
Literature
Review

25

Discussion
20
Conclusion
10
References
15
Report
Formatting

Total Score

20

100

1. Below
Expectation
(1-3)
1 part from either of
Background,
Objective, Scope of
study
Literature covers
Some relevant
aspects and without
references
Little Discussion on
the facts put forward
from Literature or
discusses irrelevant
facts
Do not answer ALL
the objective(s)
Incomplete list or
most format is
inaccurate
A lot of errors in
formatting.
Not following UTM
Thesis guideline

Evaluation Scale
2. Between
Acceptable to
Outstanding (4-7)
2 parts only from
Background,
Objective, Scope of
study
Literature covers
Some relevant
aspects and/or
complete with
references
Discusses some of the
facts put forward
from Literature
Answers ALL the
objective(s) but also
include some
discussion.
Incomplete list.
Some Referencing
format is inaccurate
Some missing or
inaccurate formatting

3. Outstanding
(8-10)

Score
(1-10)

Score
(%)

Background, Objective,
Scope of study
Literature covers ALL
relevant aspects and
complete with references
Discusses all the facts put
forward from Literature

Answers ALL the

objective(s) precisely and
concisely. No discussions.
Complete list of
references provided.
Proper referencing format
(B.S. or Harvard)
Complete.
Title page with
appropriate format, TOC,
Division of chapters, page
numbering format.
Spacings.
100

Comment: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION
Transforming from an agro-based economy to a manufacturing economy, Malaysia has
grown to be the fastest middle-income growing economies amongst ASEAN countries with per
capita income of RM36, 937. The ability to vigorously exploit the country rich environmental
resource base since the of early years of European Colonialists arrival to Malaysia till now has
played a major role in this rapid grown rate. With a population rate of 31 127247 as of 31st
January 2016, Malaysian economy is now about fourteen times the size it was three decades ago.
Prompt economic growth in Malaysia has led to the steady increase in environmental
degradation issues which are getting more intense and frequent in the last half decade.
Malaysias wealth of natural resources has been indispensable to its economic growth, but this
growth has come at significant human and environmental cost. Environmental issues are now
becoming a constant if not a dominant issue in society and government agenda.

On 23 January 2016, the 2016 Environmental Performance Index(EPI) was released at

the World Economic Forum, with 180 countries being ranked. Malaysia was rank at 63 out of the
180 countries with the score of 74.23. Even though we have an increase in score this year
compared to the last EPI on the 2014 where Malaysia was scored at 59.31, we were ranked
higher at 51 out of 178 countries. This shows that Malaysia is behind in dealing with
performance on high-priority environmental issues and have got to catch up on with the other
developing countries especially our neighboring country Singapore which was ranked at 14 this
year. There is an expectation that all institutions especially industries to take proactive steps
towards improving their environmental performance. It is important that we discuss how can the
local authorities, government agencies and engineers can work together to address the challenges
of environmental sustainability.

Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the communication of environmental

information and environmental sustainability. According to Brundtland report (1987),
sustainability is defined as the development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. John Elkington (1994)

on the other hand has coined the concept triple bottom line as the three key elements of
sustainability environment, economy and society. The triple bottom line serve as a framework
for encouraging institutional concern about sustainability and all three elements need to be in
balance to attain long-term viability. For a better understanding of the term environmental
sustainability, scholars have taken the initiative to define it in their research. Goodland (1995)
defined environmental sustainability as the maintenance of natural capital. His paper concluded
that the paths leading to environmental sustainability in each country or sector will differ;
however, the goal of maintaining environmental sustainability remains constant. Another
definition by Sutton (2004) is the ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the
physical environment. Finally, Nath (2008) in this research defined environmental sustainability
as the integrity of earths natural environmental capital and life-support systems. These
definitions serve as the benchmark for understanding the level of knowledge on environmental
sustainability in the present study.

DISCUSSION
The first step in dealing with any issue and making a change is always awareness and
then accepting that environmental sustainability is crucial in maintaining our habitat. Nathaniel
Branden a psychotherapist and writer has quoted "The first step toward change is awareness. The
second step is acceptance." while Mahatma Gandhi knew this when he said, Those with the
greatest awareness have the greatest nightmares. Environmental issues have gained more
prominent attention from the public and media. Communication is the key in spreading
environment degradation issue and it helps in creating awareness and understanding on
environmental sustainability among the public. Without the help and the support of the public no
authorities nor government agencies will be able to make any plan towards maintaining our
environment work. Many environmental professionals and scholars hold the view that
environment is important to corporations. With the increased interest in environmental
sustainability shown by corporate stakeholders, it has driven the growth in educating the public
through various types of communications. The appropriate channel used for communicating

environmental sustainability is one of the factors that will help public to be more aware of
environmental sustainability.

Both traditional and online communication tools of communication channel can be used
in spreading awareness to the public and can be done by all three local authorities, government
agencies and engineers. Traditional communication tools comprise written communication which
can be printed publication on our current environment situation such as annual report, brochures,
memorandum and newsletter and Face-to-face communication which is a conversation that one
the other party which enables a person to hear and see the non-verbal communication conveyed
by the sender and respond with feedback straightaway such as talks and campaigns. Online
communications, on the other hand, are email, intranet, instant messaging, online chat rooms, eforum, multimedia, databases, wireless network and social media which is the best tool in this
globalize generation as it is the best way to create a viral awareness.

At the turn of the century, there have been intense cries for the human race to address the
issue of global warming and the impending melt down of earth. It is our responsibilities
in taking care of Mother Nature and understanding the environment that we live in. The global
focus is now on sustainable development. This is a crucial factor as we all strive for continuous
productivity, quality and competitiveness. Previously, Malaysia made several official
commitments to sustainable development in UNs Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It
has pledged a 40 percent reduction in carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product by
2020, while reiterating its commitment at the Rio Summit in 1992 to keep at least 50 percent of
the nations landmass under forest cover. Although the Southeast Asian nation met all eight of
the UNs Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) before the deadline, Prime Minister Najib
Razak has admitted that the MDGs fell short of achieving truly sustainable development.
Therefore, we Malaysian should be fully involve in the latest UNs Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). At the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015,
world leaders including Malaysia has adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,
which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, fight
inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by 2030. These are four out of the 17 goals

from SDGs that are related to environmental sustainability that should be taken in considerately:

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable
development

Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage
forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt
biodiversity loss

Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) played a big impact in Malaysia environment

sustainability when they have taken initiatives in sustainability development. MPC have
understand that the ever-increasing demand for products and services is taking a toll on the
environment. Exploitation of resources and manufacturing by-products are increasing the stress
on the natural world. Thus, MPC has initiate four organizations to understand their green
practices which are Panasonic Malaysia, GE Malaysia, GreenTech Malaysia (PTM) and Toyota
Malaysia . Eco ideas from Panasonic started off in 2008 in Malaysia emphasize on the
reduction of CO2 emissions globally, factory energy conservation and waste from factories. Eco
ideas for products are crucial to make products energy-efficient that facilitate the convenience
and comfort of a modern lifestyle. GE Malaysia on the other hand uses the Ecomagination
concept. This concept is about business initiative to help meet customers demand for more
energy efficient products and to drive reliable growth for GE while creating innovative solutions
to environmental challenges and delivers valuable products and services to customers. With this
concept, Ge aims to Reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and water use and improve water
reuse while improving the energy efficiency of GEs operations.

Malaysia Green Technology Corporation (GreenTech Malaysia) formerly known as Pusat

Tenaga Malaysia (PTM) however had launched National Green Technology Policy. Green
Technology is defined as the development and application of products, equipment and systems
used to conserve the natural environment and resources, which minimises and reduces the

negative impact of human activities. To further support this policy, GreenTech Malaysia
organises events and programmes such as International GreenTech & Eco Products Exhibition &
Conference Malaysia and Energy Efficiency and Conservation (EE&C) programmes, converts
Putrajaya and Cyberjaya as Green Township, and as living example of environmental
friendliness is its Green Energy Office (GEO) in Bangi. Lastly, Toyota Motor Corperation(TMC)
President Watanabe have quoted there is no future for motor vehicles unless there is a focus on
issues related to the environment, particularly energy and global warming. Toyota has gasped
the Cradle-to-Grave concept to gauge environmental impacts at each stage of a vehicles life
cycle. By implementing the TOYOTA Environmental Management System (TOYOTA EMS)
also, there was an improvement in Toyotas 3-Pillar Production Environment Policies. In line
with this policies, Toyota have been actively implementing strategies in going beyond national
legal requirements, minimizing environmental risks and improving environmental performance
in terms of resource consumption and waste generation.

Furthermore, Malaysia is also pursuing to become the hub of green technology in

Southeast Asia. Amber Dual Sdn. Bhd, a Kedah-based company formed a joint venture with the
Beijing Auto International Corporation to begin production of electric vehicles in July 2016.
Malaysia have been taking right steps in making official commitments in environmental
sustainability, but unfortunately they gloss over two contentious issues, palm oil production and
illegal logging, which are issues that Malaysia has drawn heavy criticism for poor development
planning, weak environmental regulation, and human rights violations. In striving to achieve the
best environmental sustainability, Malaysia will need to handle these 2 main issues instantly.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Malaysia exports around $12 billion of palm oil per year,
40 percent of the worlds supply. Unfortunately, Palm oil production not only contributing to
global warming but has also been the cause of a widely talk environmental cost which is the
hazardous haze that had occurred in South East Asia. Though The Roundtable on Sustainable
Palm Oil (RSPO) hasnt adopt a strong enough standards since its members continued to cut
down forests, other solutions like palm oil can be grown on degraded land instead of forested
land, and on mineral soils instead of peat soils or incentivizing the transfer of productivityboosting knowledge among palm producers could make each hectare of plantation as productive
as possible are being considered. According to Transparency International Malaysia however,

Malaysia loses RM 800 to 900 million in timber every year to illegal logging and corruption. To
curb these losses, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has frozen the accounts of 400
companies suspected of illegal logging, bribery, and tax evasion. Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri
Adenan Satem have gotten involve in dealing with this issue by launching a campaign called
Ops Gergaji that track down on illegal logging, raising fines to RM 1 million.

CONCLUSION
There are many solutions or ways in maintaining environmental sustainability that have
been brought forward for decades. It is safe to conclude that none of it will work without we the
inhabitant of earth joining forces and coming together as one in gaining awareness and
understand ability in the importance of maintaining our mother nature and being as involve and
committed as we can. We, Malaysian have to put differences and greed aside to support each
other journey and initiatives in achieving our objective and reaching the goals that we have
committed in UNs Sustainable Development Goals. Moreover, every party should encourage
more transparency plan to avoid any corruption towards environmental degradation. Lets merge
to maintain our environment as a union!

REFERENCE

Hsu, A. et al. (2016). 2016 Environmental Performance Index. [pdf] New Haven, CT:
Yale University. Available at: www.epi.yale.edu. [Accessed 3 Mar. 2016].

Lee, Cheng Ean and Chuan, Teck Leong. (2012). COMMUNICATING

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN MALAYSIA: A CASE STUDY. [pdf]
Selangor Darul Ehsan: Taylors University. Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/1307637/Communicating_Environmental_Sustainability_i
n_Malaysia_A_Case_Study [Accessed 1 Mar. 2016].

Sidek, Atiah Abdullah and Backhouse, Chris. (2014). Environmental Sustainability

Issues in Malaysian Metal and Fabrication SMEs: Comparative Analysis from a Case

Study Perspectives. [pdf] Bali, Indonesia: International Islamic University Malaysia.

Available at: http://iieom.org/ieom2014/pdfs/374.pdf [Accessed 1 Mar. 2016].

(2010). Sustainable Development Initiatives in Malaysia. [pdf] Selangor Darul Ehsan:

Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC). Available at:
http://www.mpc.gov.my/mpc/images/file/Sustainable%20Development%20Initiatives
%20In%20Malaysia.pdf [Accessed 1 Mar. 2016].

Mokthsim, Noranida and Salleh, Khairulmaini Osman (2013). Malaysias efforts

towards achieving a sustainable development: Issues, challenges and prospects.
[pdf] Kuala Lumpur: Elsevier Ltd. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/.
[Accessed 1 Mar. 2016].

Hassan, Nordin. (2012). Green development policies in Malaysia: sustainable

development on a decadal timeframe and the primary role of green technology in
the transition to the green economy. [pdf] Bangi: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.
Available at: http://www.planetunderpressure2012.net/abstracts/D2030805.pdf
[Accessed 3 Mar. 2016].

(2013). Palm Oil and Global Warming. [pdf] Cambridge: Union of Concerned
Scientists. Available at:
http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/global_warming/p
alm-oil-and-global-warming.pdf [Accessed 7 Mar. 2016].

Yeoh, Amanda (2015). Malaysia: Facing the Challenges of Sustainable

Development. [online] The Asia Foundation. Available at:
http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2015/10/07/malaysia-facing-the-challenges-ofsustainable-development/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2016].

Kodas, Michael (2014). HOW DID PALM OIL BECAME SUCH A PROBLEM - AND
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?. [online] ensia. Available at:
http://ensia.com/features/how-did-palm-oil-become-such-a-problem-and-what-canwe-do-about-it/ [Accessed 7 Mar. 2016].

OG DIGITAL Team (2015). How Malaysia is opening up environmental performance

data. [online] OPEN GOV. Available at: http://www.opengovasia.com/articles/6202how-malaysia-is-opening-up-data-on-environmental-sustainability [Accessed 3 Mar.
2016].

Wikipedia, (2007). International rankings of Malaysia. [online] Available at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_rankings_of_Malaysia [Accessed 3 Mar.
2016].

Wikipedia, (2006). Environmental Performance Index. [online] Available at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_Performance_Index [Accessed 3 Mar.
2016].

Environmental Performance Index, (2014). COUNTRY PROFILE Malaysia. [online]

Available at: http://www.epi.yale.edu/epi/country-profile/malaysia [Accessed 3 Mar.
2016].

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Available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 [Accessed 3 Mar.
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http://www.my.undp.org/content/malaysia/en/home/countryinfo/ [Accessed 3 Mar.
2016].

OPEN GUV, (2015). How Malaysia is opening up environmental performance data.

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the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland report, 1987).
triple bottom line as the three key elements of sustainability environment, economy
and society (John Elkington, 1994).
paths leading to environmental sustainability in each country or sector will differ;
however, the goal of maintaining environmental sustainability remains constant
(Goodland, 1995).
ability to maintain things or qualities that are valued in the physical environment
(Sutton, 2004).
the integrity of earths natural environmental capital and life-support systems (Nath,
2008)
there is no future for motor vehicles unless there is a focus on issues related to the
environment, particularly energy and global warming (Toyota Motor
Corperation(TMC), President Watanabe)
"The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance." (Nathaniel
Branden).
Those with the greatest awareness have the greatest nightmares. (Mahatma Gandhi)