Empower environmental crimes unit, say experts ahead of Budget 2021

 

Monitoring and enforcement against river pollution should be a priority in Budget 2021, say environmental activists. (LUAS pic)

PETALING JAYA: Several experts have urged the government to provide enough funds to environmental agencies in the coming national budget so as to police pollution incidences, with a focus on monitoring rivers after a spate of water cuts in the Klang Valley, caused by illegal dumping.

The environmentalists also told FMT that precious water catchments and forests must be saved from logging.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president Meenakshi Raman said resources must be funnelled into the environmental crimes unit to ensure they are well-equipped and well-trained.

The unit was mooted by the government recently with police and military personnel roped in to work together with the department of environment (DoE) to keep tabs on crimes against nature, such as pollution and encroachment of forests.

“Poisoning of water, for instance, must be seen as a murder attempt by the unit. They need to be trained to gather what amounts to an environmental crime as well as develop new skills in detecting crimes towards nature.

“Funding for the installation of CCTV at sensitive rivers and forests is also seriously needed,” Meenakshi told FMT.

She said climate resilience initiatives should be funded so as to prepare the country for more natural disasters which are expected to occur due to climate change.

“Ultimately we want our forests to be protected, for without forests, we would not have water. There needs to be more incentives for states to keep their forests from being logged,” she said.

Meenakshi also cited Singapore’s S$100 billion pledge in adapting to climate change, saying Malaysia, too, should move towards a large budget to protect nature.

Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil, who is president of the Association for the Protection of the Natural Heritage of Malaysia (better known as PEKA), agreed with Meenakshi’s proposal on boosting the crimes unit.

“The enforcement of sensitive areas must be modernised, especially at forest reserves where illegal logging is carried out widely,” she said.

Andrew Sebastian said Putrajaya should allocate funds to states to save their forests from being logged. He said more money should be allocated through the drainage and irrigation, forestry, wildlife and parks departments for this purpose.

“The federal government should also consider buying over strategic wildlife corridors to sustain the gene pool and population of large mammals and other wildlife,” said the chief executive officer of Ecotourism and Conservation Society Malaysia (Ecomy).

Meanwhile, Anthony Tan of the Centre for Environment, Technology & Development, Malaysia (Cetdem) said the government should allocate grants to NGOs and civil societies to work with local communities to overcome issues and better existing government programmes. He also called for more localisation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. - FMT