PM: Environmental violations need to be addressed with stricter laws

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob wants environmental violations to be addressed with stricter laws.

Speaking to reporters after officiating the World Environment Day celebration at Taman Tugu in Kuala Lumpur today, Ismail Sabri cited the park, previously a well-maintained forest area, which was turned into a garbage dump by irresponsible parties.

“Therefore, laws related to the environment need to be expedited in an effort to ensure that there are no violation cases that could lead to environmental destruction.

“We have been talking about environmental law for a long time ... however, I have not been able to get comprehensive information. InsyaAllah, on Wednesday (in the cabinet meeting) I will emphasise that this environmental law needs to be expedited, because we know a lot of encroachment and so on, occurs,” he said.

Ismail Sabri said apart from that, the people must continue to look after the environment, as the world was currently experiencing climate change and the effects had already been felt.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob

Elaborating further, the prime minister said the major floods which occurred previously could still also occur at any time due to climate change.

“As I mentioned, last year’s floods, for example, unexpected floods and even some areas were flooded even though they never experienced floods before. In the past, we could expect the Northeast Monsoon to occur in November, December and January, but now this happens regardless of the time.

“In Kuala Lumpur, there were flash floods. This shows that climate change has already started and in the next 10 years we expect it to be even worse,” he said.

Earlier, Ismail Sabri, in his speech in conjunction with World Environment Day, themed “Only One Earth”, also once again explained the government's action plan and mitigation efforts for the short and long term in facing global climate change.

He said the government’s targets include increasing the share of renewable energy capacity to 31 percent and a recycling rate of 40 percent by 2025, besides maintaining at least 50 percent of the country's forest cover.

- Bernama