PRINCIPLE 10, THE AARHUS CONVENTION AND STATUS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS IN THE MALAYSIAN LAWS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO EIAs

Like many countries that are really keen to strike a meaningful balance between environment and development and for the wish to employ environment impact assessment (EIA) as a necessary tool, Malaysia has made it mandatory with respect to nineteen activities that are likely to leave deleterious effects on the environment. The law provides for adhering to the widely accepted procedure, including people’s participation, especially of those who might be affected by proposed development projects or any other activity to which an EIA is a necessary requirement. In spite of the fact that the law enshrines the cardinal points of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration and the Aarhus Convention and is comparable with similar laws in some developed countries, the conditions of the components of the environment are not improving. Some say it is because of the flaccidness on the part of those who are responsible to approve EIAs; some others blame irresponsible developers and factory owners and poor enforcement of the environmental law as a whole, including poor public participation. In fact, both are responsible for the deleterious conditions of the environment and its various unfettered harmful processes. The paper limits its scope to critical appraisal of the law pertaining to EIA, its enforcement in the country with special emphasis on public participation, and offers constructive and functional suggestions pertaining to public participation so that it is properly enforced and serves the desired objective of sustainable development and protection of the environment.