All posts by Yao Hua Law

In-Depth

The Public Must Get Involved Before the EIA Review

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In this third and final part on how the public can participate in EIA reviews, we discuss the need and ways to get the public more involved in development planning. It must start long before the EIA process. Also read Part 1 and Part 2.

WHEN MARINE conservationist Alvin Chelliah chatted with experts for the Tioman airport EIA report, their replies were calm, technical, and dotted with data. For the local villagers, however, emotions ran high, for the stakes were higher.

“They were stunned and shocked to hear exactly what was happening,” recalled Chelliah of his at Kampung Paya and Kampung Genting. These villages sat on the shore by the proposed airport. Before Chelliah showed them the site map from the EIA report, the villagers did not know where the airport runway would be.

He and his team had been encouraging locals to share their views. But many of the details in the report – construction physics, soil dynamics, hydraulics – were gibberish to the untrained.

(Feature image: Marine conservationists Alvin Chelliah (standing, right) went to 7 villages on Tioman Island to present his team’s findings of the EIA report. | Photo: Reef Check Malaysia)

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In-Depth

Producing Public Feedback that Works for EIA Reviews

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In this second part on how the public can participate in EIA reviews, we lay out suggestions by civil society and government efforts to improve the process. Part 2 of 3. Read Part 1 and Part 3.

IN 2023, marine conservationist Alvin Chelliah had a challenge the size of an encyclopaedia. Splayed across his computer screen was the environmental impact assessment report (EIA) of the Tioman airport project.

The main report was over 1,000 pages thick. Chapter 6, which described the environment on the project site alone, had 200 graphs and 125 tables. The appendix was twice the size of the main report.

Chelliah, the Chief Programme Officer at Reef Check Malaysia, was looking for gaps in the report. The federal Department of Environment (DOE) had put up the report for public review in June 2023. Chelliah had 30 days whereby the report would stay online, and another 15 days to submit comments.

He and his team had been encouraging locals to share their views. But many of the details in the report – construction physics, soil dynamics, hydraulics – were gibberish to the untrained.

(Feature image: A random selection of the hundreds of graphs, tables and images in the EIA report of the proposed Tioman airport project. | Compiled by Macaranga)

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In-Depth

How Public Input Affects EIA Reports

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The government recently said that it “welcomes public comments on EIA reports”. Macaranga digs into what comments actually matter, and why. Part 1 of 3. Read Part 2 and Part 3.

WHEN RARE earth refinery Lynas Malaysia wanted to build a disposal facility for its radioactive waste in 2021, its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report got a record-breaking 4,000 comments from the public. Most opposed the facility. But the report got approved anyway.

Does public feedback even matter? It does, but only if it addresses technical issues in the report. The EIA review is not a voting process, say EIA consultants.

In this 3-part series, Macaranga speaks with the Department of Environment (DOE), EIA consultants, and civil society organisations to learn how we can make public participation more meaningful in shaping what projects are run and how.

(Feature image: KUASA, an environmental NGO, held mock environmental impact assessment sessions for Orang Asli communities to prepare them for future dialogues with developers and consultants. (Photo courtesy of KUASA))

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In-Depth

The Climate-friendly Virgin in Terengganu

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Tropical peat swamp forests are key bastions in our defense against global warming. They store huge amounts of carbon in their soil, and their forests absorb more greenhouse gases than they release. 

Malaysia, like many other countries, has established regulations to stop the exploitation of peatland.

But private company Pure Green Development Sdn Bhd  is seeking to convert forests in Terengganu into oil palm. Its 2,228ha site includes 900 ha of virgin peat swamp forest. 

We look at the project’s catastrophic climate impact and ways to protect the forest.

Read our interactive story and share your thoughts with us below.

Read "The Climate-friendly Virgin in Terengganu"
In-Depth

Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 3: For Wood, Water, and Wildlife

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Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 3: For Wood, Water, and Wildlife

Despite foresters and planters promising tight regulations in Perak, locals are protesting one of the biggest forest plantations in the state over fears of water security and wildlife attacks.

Writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong

Published: 11 July 2024

Part 1 | Part 2

(Omar Pandak (right) telling fellow villagers of Kampung Bukit Chermin about the forest plantations coming to Kledang Saiong forest reserve in Perak. | Pic by YH Law)

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In-Depth

Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 2: Faster Replanting Needed

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Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 2: Faster Replanting Needed

By 2021, at least half of forest reserve sites cleared for forest plantations in Peninsular Malaysia were not replanted. Since then, Kelantan has sped up its replanting, but Pahang remains a laggard.

Writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong

Published: 10 July 2024

Part 1 | Part 3

(Batai saplings dot a site in the Krau forest reserve that was cleared for a forest plantation. | Pic by YH Law)

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In-Depth

Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 1: Take A Break

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Fixing Forest Plantations, Part 1: Taking a Break

Forest plantations caused so much concern that the Malaysian National Land Council called for a pause on new projects in the peninsula. But 2.5 years into the moratorium, it is not appearing to work.

Writer: YH Law; Editor: SL Wong

Published: 9 July 2024

Part 2  | Part 3

(Planters are clearing sites in the Krau forest reserve for forest plantations. | Pic by YH Law)

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In-Depth

Conserving Arowanas Needs More Than Releasing Fish

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The Asian arowana is a fish, a paradox, and an ongoing test of how commercial trade of an endangered animal could help conserve it.  

The fish, once a common food fish for locals from Cambodia to Indonesia, shot to stardom among pet fish enthusiasts and was hunted to rarity in rivers and lakes. But fish breeders learned to rear Asian arowanas in muddy ponds. Every year, hundreds of thousands of farmed Asian arowanas are exported worldwide, many of them from Malaysia.

(Feature image: A golden Asian arowana. | Photo by Eric Chiang/Macaranga)

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Insight

Explainer: El Niño and Southeast Asia

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Weather happens because nature seeks stability. Excess heat, moisture or pressure in one place will move to fill gaps elsewhere. Imagine pouring water into a pool: the water level will rise instantly at one end before it flows to the lower ends of the pool.

What holds true for a pool also holds true for the oceans. At the Pacific Ocean, heat, winds and moisture interact in a major climate phenomenon called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO alternates among three phases, of which El Niño is the warm phase. 

（Image: This year, sea surface temperature in the eastern Pacific Ocean has been warming up more than average. | Image by European Space Agency)

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Insight

What’s in store, El Niño?

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El Nino reliably warms up Malaysia but its impact on rainfall is more nuanced and spotty. Still, as global warming drives more extreme weather events, experts foresee El Niño causing more droughts too.

LAST MONTH must have felt like a furnace for many people across the world. Hundreds of millions suffered heatwaves in India, Europe and the United States. Dozens died. Since 1850, humans have waged world wars and landed rovers on Mars, but we have never stifled in a warmer month than July 2023.

July also marked the return of a natural climate phenomenon called El Niño. Last observed in 2019, El Niño tends to lead to warmer and drier months in tropical Asia. Scientists expect this El Niño to last through March 2024. 

(Photo: At its Weather Operation Centre in Selangor, the Malaysian Meteorological Department constantly monitors the country’s weather using satellite and radar data. | Pic by YH Law)

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