In the past few years, there has been a growing awareness among the Malaysian public that the environment is a vital part of our lives, and that the state of its health is intricately linked to the health of Malaysians, to our quality of life, and to the sustainability of our economy and society.

However, the public's more and more vocal concerns about the need to protect the environment has not been matched by visible and increased political will by the nation's leaders and administrators to take urgent and comprehensive action to conserve natural resources, tackle pollution problems and phase out unsustainable practices and technologies.

Over the past few decades, the Malaysian environment has continued to deteriorate. The rapid growth prior to the economic crisis and the present economic recovery, whilst raising the GNP and incomes, has had a toll on the environment. Uncontrolled growth with scant regard for ecological priniciples continues to be the order of the day.

A stock take in some of the key areas reflects the poor state of health of our environment. Some of the major problems are as follows -

	In the urban centres of the country where economic growth is the highest, there are signs of greater stress and strains of urban living, including rapidly worsening traffic, rising accident rates and unhealthy levels of air pollution that have raised the level of respiratory ailments such as asthma, the increase in acidity in rain, the rise in temperature levels, flash floods as well as the reduction in "green lungs" and recreation spaces.
	In the rural areas, especially in East Malaysia, extensive logging has caused the degradation of the forest ecosystem, massive river siltation, damage to the lands and resources of the indigenous communities and local communities, disrupting the lives of many thousands of people.
	Although Malaysia has signed the Convention on Biological Diversity and has launched a National Biodiversity Policy in 1998 to protect and conserve our rich biodiversity, very little has been done in real terms to designate more areas of our forests as protected areas. State Governments have been very slow in gazetting more forests as protection forests for conservation and for provision of ecological services. Instead, State Governments are more keen to allow the forests for logging and other uses. In 1998, out of a total of 5.72 million ha of forests in Peninsular Malaysia, only 1.76 million ha or about 30% were comprised of protection forests. 2.92 million ha were classified as productive forest, meaning that they can be used for logging. In Sarawak, only 1 million ha out of 6 million ha of permanent forest reserves were protection forest. Much of the remaining forests are fragmented, thereby undermining the integrity and quality of the forests in supporting biodiversity.
	Studies undertaken by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks found a total of 138 threatened animal species in Peninsular Malaysia. On the route to extinction and based on a ten year period, a mammal was added to the threatened list every 5 months, while birds species averaged every 3 months. As habitats are fragmented into smaller tracts and degraded with logging and other activities, many of the remaining species in Malaysia are already considered "living dead". Among the most endangered are the Sumatran rhino, the elephant, tiger, orang-utan, leatherback turtle, green turtle and the painted terrapin.
	The river system in the country is in a very unhealthy state, if not critical. Data from the Department of Environment over the years has shown that the number of very polluted rivers has increased steadily from a mere 3 out of 86 in 1989 to 16 out of 120 in 1998. In 1998, there were 33 clean rivers out of 120, as compared to 49 out of 86 in 1989. Overall, pollution from sewage is considered the worst culprit, accounting for 79% of the pollution load, followed by industrial discharges (13%) and agricultural run-offs (8%).
	In the wake of the water crisis in 1998 and in view of increasing water demand and on-going pressures for development and conflicting land use patterns, the management of our freshwater resources has not been integrated and holistic. Despite the setting up of the National Water Resources Council headed by the Prime Minister and the commissioning of a National Water Resources Study for the Peninsular in 1998, the public has yet to see a proper and integrated management plan in place.
	Further, a proper soil conservation policy for the protection of our highlands is still not in place, despite the lessons from past years of landslides, landslips and soil erosion from hill cutting activities and developments on highlands.
	The country's marine ecosystem, among the world's richest in terms of biodiversity, is rapidly deteriorating. Our fishery resources have been depleted with over-fishing with destructive technologies and the destruction of coastal wetlands such as mangrove forests and coral reefs due to land-based activities.

	The Department of Environment must be upgraded into a full Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources to reflect the full range of responsibilities required to ensure integrated policy formulation and law enforcement. Accordingly, it is a priority to substantially increase the budget allocation and trained human resources for this purpose.
	The Federal Government should do more to formulate comprehensive policies and laws on matters relating to the protection of the environment, ecosystems and biodiversity and ensure adoption and compliance of such laws by the States. Although matters relating to land, forests and other natural resources fall within the legal competence of the respective State Governments, the Federal Government can and must, for the sake of uniformity and consistency take the initiative in this regard.
	In 1992, the Department of Environment undertook a massive task of reviewing all environmental related legislation in the country and came up with very concrete recommendations to improve the state of our laws. Except for certain amendments which were made to the Environmental Quality Act 1974, there have been no changes to the other laws which are required to improve the state of our environment. In this regard, the 1992 recommendations should be expedited and put in place.
	Further, the present environmental impact assessment process should be strengthened, be more open and transparent. EIAs should be mandatory for all projects which are in environmentally sensitive areas, regardless of their size and where there will be significant environmental risks.