The IoS Green List: Britain's top 100 environmentalists

Sunday, 12 October 2008

Britain's most successful transport campaigner has come top of the first comprehensive list of the country's most effective greens, compiled by The Independent on Sunday.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-iiosi-green-list-britains-top-100-environmentalists-958711.html

Green energy needs more push

Monday November 3, 2008

I REFER to the recent Cabinet decision to look to nuclear energy by the end of 2008 to meet growing energy demand, and the letter by Hydrost “Solar, wind and water cheaper than nuke energy,” (The Star, Oct 23).

Hybrost’s view on the danger of nuclear energy to public safety and environment is understandable. However industrial reality in Malaysia dictates otherwise and there is not much choice.

In Malaysia, alternative energy comprising wind, water and solar (WWS energy) or green energy is not commercially viable mainly due to the high R & D costs involved.

This scenario is worsened by passive, if not, negative public perception. Take NGV-powered motor vehicles as an example. To-date, NGV is still not the preferred choice.

The other impediment lies in developing WWS energy. It is tantalising to note the possible advantages and benefits offered by WWS energy, but it remains to be seen whether it can be a practical alternative to current fossil fuel-based energies, including nuclear energy, in Malaysia because the technologies involved are still in the rudimentary R & D stage and commercialisation of WWS energy is still a long way off.

There is no tangible economic rationale for the industry in Malaysia to take any initiative to develop WWS energy technologies. They cannot be faulted.

Biotechnology was initiated by the Government via the 2005 National Biotechnology Policy (NBP) which subsequently lends legitimacy for industrial participation.

In similar fashion, Malaysia should take the lead by seriously incorporating WWS energy within the NBP framework.

The first logical step is not only to merely allocate funding but, most importantly, to create a conducive R & D environment supplemented with reasonable salary incentives.

The new NBP unveiled at BioMalaysia 2005 Conference unfortunately did not address this issue. Without taking concrete action and leading initiatives, full sustainable development and industrial application of WWS energy in Malaysia will remain an illusion at best.

Jeong Chun Phuoc

Tuesday November 18, 2008

Controversial oceanarium still needs EIA evaluation

By P. K. KATHARASON, MUGUNTAN VANAR and RUBEN SARIO

KOTA KINABALU: A controversial oceanarium resort at Pulau Mabul along Sabah’s east coast still has to get the approval of various authorities here although the state cabinet has endorsed the land office’s green light for project.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the oceanarium proponents would need to get approval for the project’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) and development before it can get off the ground.

Subject of controversy: Part of the existing chalets on Pulau Mabul.

He said his ministry would evaluate the proposal when they received the development plan of the proposed oceanarium.

“As such, the issue of the project’s approval does not arise at this point in time,” he told The Star yesterday.

He said the EIA was a crucial component in the entire evaluation process of the project.

Masidi said the state cabinet had endorsed the state Land and Survey Department’s decision to approve the resort’s location on a 33ha site on the basis the project proponents carry out rehabilitation and conservation works of the coral reefs in the area concerned.

He said the state needed more high-end tourism products such as resorts “to value add what nature has endowed us.”

He added that despite this, protecting and conserving the environment would be the overriding consideration as Sabah had one of the best track records of conservation efforts in the country.

“We in the state government would like to maintain, if not impro-ve on that,” he added.

Voicing worries over the oceanarium resort plan, environmentalists, villagers and dive operators said the proposed project would spell disaster to Mabul marine life and might also degrade the eco-sensitive coral reefs of Pulau Sipadan, a 20-minute boat ride away.

Application for a 99-year lease for the parcel facing south of Sipadan was first put in by a local company based in Kota Kinabalu in September last year. It was reported the oceanarium would be surrounded by five villages of more than 200 sea-view bungalows and semi-detached villas, with side pools and spa villas as well as staff and scientist quarters.

Sabah Environment Protection Association president Wong Tack questioned the necessity of the oceanarium being built.

He added that tonnes of construction material would have to be brought in by barge and sand pumped in from the shores of the island. Wong said the authority that approved the resort project should remember what happened at Sipadan in 2006 when a construction barge ran aground, destroying a coral reef patch the size of three tennis courts.

He said the existing four resorts for higher-bracket tourists and five to 10 homestay places for backpackers with a total of more than 250 rooms, provided enough accommodation for the 120 divers given permits to dive in Sipadan waters daily.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/18/nation/2569452&sec=nation

1. Environs group hails plant decision

1. Environs group hails plant decision

Friday, 04 April 2008 08:18am

©New Straits Times (Used by permission) KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah-based non-governmental organisation here has welcomed the government's decision to scrap the proposed coal-fired power plant in Lahad Datu. The decision was a sweet victory for the Sabah Environmental Protection Association (Sepa), which has persistently lobbied against the project. Chairman Datuk Sue Jayasuria said there was no prior indication that Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman was going to announce the cancellation of the project. "I only heard about it on Wednesday. We had presented our views to the federal and state authorities and gave them data on pollution from the plant, which would have destroyed marine life at Darvel Bay and at important conservation areas in the Danum Valley and the Tabin Wildlife Reserve. "Pollution from the plant would have impacted even the oil palm trees. We are very happy that the chief minister has acted responsibly by saying no to the project," Jayasuria said. Musa said on Wednesday that Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd and Tenaga Nasional Berhad would have to look for alternative sources of energy and sites for the power plant as the health of communities in the area and their environs were at risk. The RM1 billion plant was supposed to have been located next to Darvel Bay, which has some 250 coral species. The plant would also have been near Danum Valley, Ulu Segama and the Maliau Basin, all sensitive eco-systems and home to endangered wildlife. Musa was quoted as saying that some experts had disagreed that today's technology would be able to mitigate the harmful impact. Jayasuria said the government's latest commitment to the environment showed that it would carefully consider all development efforts which could have negative consequences on natural resources.

2. State Govts should draft enactment to protect rivers

2. State Govts should draft enactment to protect rivers



Wednesday, 02 May 2007 10:44pm
©Bernama (Used by permission)

KIJAL, May 2 (Bernama) -- The state governments should draw up an enactment to monitor and control sewage disposal especially in the rural areas to protect the rivers from pollution, said Natural Resource and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid.

He warned that the pollution of rivers would worsen if sewage disposal were not managed properly.

"In the urban areas, we have IWK (Indah Water Consortium) to improve the water quality of rivers but there is no such law (on rivers) outside the local councils' jurisdiction.

"There is no such system in the squatter colonies either. As long as there is no specific law on this, it is very difficult to carry out enforcement," he told reporters after opening the Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's (UMT) Sustainable Science and Management seminar here today.

He was commenting on the call made by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to the state governments yesterday, asking them to take stern measures to solve river pollution following a report that 91 percent of the river pollution was contributed by human excrement.

Azmi said the sewage disposal that contributed to the river pollution largely came from the urban housing areas besides the rural settlements and squatter colonies.

3. Grim facts on Earth in crisis

3. Grim facts on Earth in crisis

Monday, 12 November 2007 07:36am

©The Star (Used by permission) Global Trends by Martin Khor A new UN report on the state of the world’s environment warns of the dangers of climate change, water scarcity, dwindling fish stocks, pressures on the land and the extinction of species. THE planet is in dire environmental straits and humanity is at risk if the problems are not solved, says a new report on the current state of the global environment. The United Nations Environment Programme has recently published the fourth version of its flagship Global Environment Outlook, known as GEO-4 in short. GEO-4 is the most comprehensive UN report on the environment, prepared by about 390 experts and reviewed by more than 1,000 others across the world. The massive report gives details on past trends and future prospects on the atmosphere, pollution, food, biodiversity, water and inequality in the world. And the picture is grim. Since 1987 there have been some achievements, but they are far outweighed by the deteriorating situation. The good news is that the environment is now much closer to mainstream politics everywhere and some straightforward problems are being tackled. The bad news is that there are “harder-to-manage” issues, the “persistent” problems. And on these, GEO-4 says: “There are no major issues for which the foreseeable trends are favourable.” Failure to address these persistent problems may undo all the achievements so far on the simpler issues, and may threaten humanity’s survival, says UNEP. Achim Steiner, UNEP executive director, said that in the past 20 years the world has cut by 95% the production of ozone-layer damaging chemicals; created a greenhouse gas emission reduction treaty; supported a rise in terrestrial protected areas to cover 12%of the Earth and devised many important treaties and agreements such as on biodiversity, desertification, hazardous wastes and bio-safety. “But, as GEO-4 points out, there continue to be ‘persistent’ and intractable problems unresolved and unaddressed. Past issues remain and new ones are emerging – from the rapid rise of oxygen ‘dead zones’ in the oceans to the resurgence of new and old diseases linked in part with environmental degradation,” said Steiner. Meanwhile, institutions like UNEP, established to counter the root causes, remain under-resourced and weak. On climate change the report says the threat is now so urgent that large cuts in greenhouse gases by mid-century are needed. Another problem is unsustainable consumption – people are living beyond their means. The resources needed to sustain the world’s population exceed what is available. “Humanity’s footprint (its environmental demand) is 21.9ha per person while the Earth’s biological capacity is, on average, only 15.7ha per person,” says GEO-4. There is a triple crisis – the environmental crisis, the development crisis and the energy crisis – all rolled up as one, adds the report. The causes are population growth, the rising consumption of the rich and desperation of the poor. This crisis includes climate change, extinction of species, hunger, decline of fish stocks, loss of fertile land through degradation, unsustainable pressure on resources; dwindling amount of fresh water and the risk that environmental damage could pass “unknown points of no return”. Among the major problems the report highlights are: > CLIMATE change – This problem is a “global priority”, but the report finds “a remarkable lack of “urgency”, and a “woefully inadequate” global response. Several highly polluting countries have refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. “Some industrial sectors that were unfavourable to the Protocol managed successfully to undermine the political will to ratify it,” says GEO-4; > WATER will become scarcer. Irrigation already takes 70% of available water, yet meeting reducing global goals on hunger will mean doubling food production by 2050. Fresh water is declining – by 2025 water use will rise by 50% in developing countries and 18% in the developed world. The escalating burden of water demand will become intolerable in water-scarce countries; > WATER quality is declining too, polluted by microbial pathogens and excessive nutrients. Globally, contaminated water remains the greatest single cause of human disease and death; > FISH – Consumption more than tripled from 1961 to 2001. Catches have stagnated or slowly declined since the 1980s. There is excess fishing capacity, 250% more than is needed to catch the oceans’ sustainable production; > BIODIVERSITY – Current biodiversity changes are the fastest in human history. Species are becoming extinct 100 times faster than the rate shown in the fossil record. Over 30% of amphibians, 23% of mammals and 12% of birds are threatened; and > THE intrusion of invasive alien species is a growing problem. The comb jellyfish, accidentally introduced in 1982 by US ships, has taken over the entire marine ecosystem of the Black Sea, and had destroyed 26 commercial fisheries by 1992. In a section on Asia, the report identifies priority issues as urban air quality, fresh water stress, degraded ecosystems, agricultural land use and increased waste, including the illegal traffic in electronic and hazardous waste.

4. Najib: Enforce law to keep rivers clean

4. Najib: Enforce law to keep rivers clean

Wednesday, 02 May 2007 09:13am

©The Star (Used by permission) PEKAN: All state governments should step up enforcement to protect rivers from pollution, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said. The Deputy Prime Minister said it was the responsibility of the state government and the relevant authorities to keep rivers under their jurisdiction free of pollution. “During a federal meeting on physical development, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had directed all state governments to take stern action against polluters. “The laws are already in place, it’s just that we need more effective and stern enforcement. “We hope to see from now, enforcement officers on the ground to nab these polluters,” he said, after presenting aid to 966 fishermen affected by the recent monsoon season here yesterday. The fishermen from the Pekan constituency received foodstuff and toiletries worth RM320 each. Najib, who is also Pekan MP, said this when asked to comment on news reports that a study conducted by the Environment Department showed that 91% of river pollution was due to human defecation. Drainage and Irrigation Department director-general Datuk Keizrul Abdullah had said that most rivers were polluted because sewage water was not properly treated. The report further revealed that at least 16 rivers in the country, mostly in Penang, Selangor and Johor, had been classified as “polluted”. Najib said once a river was polluted, a huge allocation would be required for rehabilitation works. “As such, the right thing to do is to ensure and prevent pollution from occurring. “Firms or individuals found to have contributed to river pollution should pay the price for their misdeeds,” he added.