Search

At a time of international debate about the value of tropical peatlands in Malaysia and Indonesia, this paper explores continuities and changes in colonial representations of peatlands over time. The principal aim is to understand how arguments for both development and conservation are framed and expressed in relation to wider narratives about the suitability or unsuitability of tropical peatlands for commercial development. Of particular interest is the ways in which scientific findings (both for and against peatlands development) are communicated in popular media. The substantive focus of the paper is Malaysian media; we undertake a qualitative content analysis of representations of tropical peatlands in English-language Malaysian media over a 20-year period. Close attention to a particular form of linguistic expression, namely textual metaphor, emerged from a combination of secondary reading and the evident presence of different metaphors within the data set itself. Informed by relevant studies, these are classified as ontological, cybernetic, organic and aquatic. As well as differences, we find similar metaphorical expressions criss-crossing lines of debate. Land container (ontological) metaphors that envision tropical peatlands as receptacles of economically valuable natural resources are by far the most common. We conclude that market-centred conservation is the principle alternative to mainstream, extractive development in Malaysia (as elsewhere). At a time when the value of peatlands is expressed mainly in terms of economic use and exchange value, the circulation of counternarratives that emphasise intrinsic and/or future value thus remain equally crucial.

The over‐exploitation of natural capital and unsustainable production practices has contributed to increased pollution, biodiversity loss, drought, and deforestation. The food and beverage (F&B) sector is one of the largest contributors to the Indonesian economy but it is also responsible for various environmental impacts. Implementing Environmental Management Systems (EMS) is one way to promote improved sustainable practices within organisations, particularly those within the F&B sector. This research investigates the drivers, barriers and incentives for implementing EMS and their causal relationships. Data were collected from 59 F&B companies in East Java, Indonesia. The results indicate that the implementation of EMS tends to be driven internally in an effort to enhance market competitiveness. There is a need for institutions to exert pressures to develop organizational capability to implement EMS. External barriers are significant impeding factors, while internal barriers do not have a direct link to EMS implementation. The moderating role of technical incentives underlines the need to improve infrastructure and policy to support EMS implementation. Theoretical and practical insights for governments and industries are also discussed.

The International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) standard provides a guideline for an organisation to perform a continuous improvement to their environmental performance. In light of continued concerns over global environmental impacts and climate change, the ISO 14001 standard serves to demonstrate organisational commitment to sustainable production processes. The objective of our paper is to determine the thematic and geographical trends of published EMS research with a view of developing a coordinated and holistic research framework which can be applied to facilitate the adoption of ISO 14001 in developing and developed regions of the world. Drawn from a portfolio of 509 articles from the Web of Science database, this study investigates the global trends of ISO 14001 EMS research between 2000 and 2016. The results show a considerable increase in scientific publications; from 10 articles in 2000 to 58 articles in 2016. Three themes were identified from the analysis: socio-ecological (60%), economic implications (25%), and environmental aspects (15%). In addition to a concentration of articles towards the socio-ecological theme of research, it is found that the majority of the published research derived from Europe (40%), North America (21%), and China (11%). Articles authored by researchers from developing countries were poorly represented in the findings. In order to address the thematic and global imbalance of EMS research, a research framework is proposed that promotes multi-stakeholders inclusion (e.g. industry, academics, government, etc.), cross-country research collaboration and a focus on demand-driven approach for problem solving and policy-making.

Food waste has formidable detrimental impacts on food security, the environment, and the economy, which makes it a global challenge that requires urgent attention. This study investigates the patterns and causes of food waste generation in the hospitality and food service sector, with the aim of identifying the most promising food waste prevention measures. It presents a comparative analysis of five case studies from the hospitality and food service (HaFS) sector in Malaysia and uses a mixed-methods approach. This paper provides new empirical evidence to highlight the significant opportunity and scope for food waste reduction in the HaFS sector. The findings suggest that the scale of the problem is even bigger than previously thought. Nearly a third of all food was wasted in the case studies presented, and almost half of it was avoidable. Preparation waste was the largest fraction, followed by buffet leftover and then customer plate waste. Food waste represented an economic loss equal to 23% of the value of the food purchased. Causes of food waste generation included the restaurants’ operating procedures and policies, and the social practices related to food consumption. Therefore, food waste prevention strategies should be twofold, tackling both the way the hospitality and food service sector outlets operate and organise themselves, and the customers’ social practices related to food consumption.

To date, debates about climate change reporting in national media focus largely on Western democracies. We aim to broaden the scope for cross-national comparison by looking at climate change reporting in Malaysia – an emerging economy in the global South facing developmental tensions common to many, specifically an ambitious national climate change agenda in the face of an economy largely reliant on the extraction and export of primary commodities. Our questions are: How is climate change framed in Malaysian media? How do Malaysian narratives compare with those found elsewhere? How do climate change and development narratives interact in a ‘second tier’ emerging economy? And lastly, what do these interacting narratives say about the salience of neoliberal and North–South perspectives on climate change and development? To answer these questions, we undertook a content analysis of climate action stories published over a three-year period (2009–2011) in five English-language news sources. In addition to a high proportion of environmental-framed articles across all the news sources, our findings show that climate change has been framed as both a multi-scalar responsibility and a positive opportunity for two key stakeholders in development, i.e. neoliberal market forces and geopolitical actors keenly interested in restructuring the international political economy along lines reminiscent of the new international economic order (NIEO) demands of the 1970s. We label the key themes emergent from our analysis as climate capitalism and green nationalism (neither of which are unique to Malaysia), while demonstrating that debates about palm oil are particularly illustrative of the interaction of these themes in the Malaysian context. In the final section we suggest thinking of the interacting elements as a singular, structuralist model of green development – one reminiscent of discourses at work in other emerging economies. The information, practices and views in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

The recent Southeast Asian haze crisis has generated intense public scrutiny over the rate, methods and types of landscape change in the tropics. Debate has centred on the environmental impacts of large-scale agricultural expansion, particularly the associated loss of high carbon stock forest and forests of high conservation value. Focusing on palm oil—a versatile food crop and source of bioenergy—this paper analyses national, international and corporate policy initiatives in order to clarify the current and future direction of oil palm expansion in Malaysia and Indonesia. The policies of ‘zero burn’, ‘no deforestation’ and ‘no planting on peatlands’ are given particular emphasis in the paper. The landscape implications of corporate commitments are analysed to determine the amount of land, land types and geographies that could be affected in the future. The paper concludes by identifying key questions related to the further study of sustainable land use policy and practice.

In the past decade, palm oil has risen to become the most produced and consumed vegetable oil in the world. Growth of commercial plantations in Southeast Asia and recent expansions in West Africa and Latin America have led to a growing call for the sustainable production of palm oil, driven to a large extent by concerns over the associated impacts of deforestation and biodiversity losses. This study investigates the academic response to the calls for the sustainable production of palm oil by identifying and analysing Thomson Reuters Institute for Scientific Information indexed palm oil sustainability related publications from 2004 to 2013. The results show that the total number of publications has increased exponentially from 11 in 2004 to 713 by 2013. However, this growth is shown to be carried mainly by research within technical aspects of palm oil residue use; publications in the categories of land use & land use change, biodiversity and socio-economic aspects have increased, but the growth has been markedly slower. It is thus argued that there is currently an imbalance in research strategies since the focus towards technical topics is at odds with the major sustainability issues raised about palm oil production. To address the current imbalance in palm oil research, this study proposes a holistic framework for palm oil sustainability research with the aim of achieving multidisciplinary studies and emphasizing collaboration between industry and academia. Research sponsors and public bodies in charge of science, social science and technology research frameworks will thus benefit from improved understanding of where research and development resources can be allocated to facilitate the transition towards improved sustainability.

The first International Peat Congress (IPC) held in the tropics – in Kuching (Malaysia) – brought together over 1000 international peatland scientists and industrial partners from across the world (“International Peat Congress with over 1000 participants!,” 2016). The congress covered all aspects of peatland ecosystems and their management, with a strong focus on the environmental, societal and economic challenges associated with contemporary large-scale agricultural conversion of tropical peat.

Food production and consumption is one of the major causes of global environmental degradation. One way to address environmental impacts in the food and beverage (F&B) sector is via the adoption of environmental management systems (EMS). To date, EMS research has focused predominantly on countries and sectors based in the Global North despite growing recognition of the global extent of environmental impacts from food production and consumption. In order to widen our knowledge of this topic in an under-researched emerging economy, this study examined factors determining EMS adoption within the Malaysian F&B industry. Drawn from a survey of 42 companies, this research investigated the drivers, barriers, and incentives to the adoption of the internationally recognized standard, ISO 14001. Discrepancies between the perceptions of small- and medium-sized enterprises and large companies’ as well as different product market groups were observed. It was found that large companies tend to have better understanding of the EMS concept and the enhancement of company image and improvement of environmental performance were the main drivers to implement EMS. High implementation costs and the lack of knowledge on the ISO 14001 standard were identified as the primary barriers to EMS adoption. Tax relief for certified companies and training and capacity building were considered as the most important incentives. Strategies were proposed to improve the environmental performance of Malaysian F&B companies which can strengthen the competitiveness of Malaysian F&B products in the global food market.

Pristine tropical peat swamp forests (PSFs) represent a unique wetland ecosystem of distinctive hydrology which support unique biodiversity and globally significant stores of soil carbon. Yet in Indonesia and Malaysia, home to 56% of the world's tropical peatland, they are subject to considerable developmental pressures, including widespread drainage to support agricultural needs. In this article, we review the ecology behind the functioning and ecosystem services provided by PSFs, with a particular focus on hydrological processes as well as the role of the forest itself in maintaining those services. Drawing on this, we review the suitability of current policy frameworks and consider the efficacy of their implementation. We suggest that policies in Malaysia and Indonesia are often based around the narrative of oil palm and other major monocrops as drivers of prosperity and development. However, we also argue that this narrative is also being supported by a priori claims concerning the possibility of sustainability of peat swamp exploitation via drainage-based agriculture through the adherence to best management practices. We discuss how this limits their efficacy, uptake and the political will towards enforcement. Further, we consider how both narratives (prosperity and sustainability) clearly exclude important considerations concerning the ecosystem value of tropical PSFs which are dependent on their unimpacted hydrology. Current research clearly shows that the actual debate should be focused not on how to develop drainage-based plantations sustainably, but on whether the sustainable conversion to drainage-based systems is possible at all.

Water policy reforms introduced in Peninsular Malaysia have yielded relatively positive improvements in the operational and financial performance of water utilities. This article analyses contemporary water governance in the context of the historical origins of uneven water development in Malaysia and national heterogeneity in the political economy of water provision. The investigation builds on political ecology scholarship in urban water policy and reaffirms postcolonial critiques of neoliberal inspired water reforms in developing countries. Our study analyses the impact of the ‘asset light policy’ – a policy introduced in 2008 with the aim of commercialising public water utilities and centralising water sector investment and ownership. It is found that notwithstanding evidence of improved financial health and technical efficiency in certain states, the asset light policy has accentuated uneven water development across the country. Thus despite the policy's relatively narrow focus on technical and financial matters, it is shown to have a fundamentally political outcome. This in turn explains the current ‘policy impasse’ in five of the eleven states in Peninsular Malaysia. Furthermore, the omission of environmental considerations within the policy framework is argued to undermine the overall ambition of the policy. It is recommended that water policy makers give greater consideration to the embedded social, political and economic inequalities that characterize many former European colonies.

At the newly formed Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) based at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Kuala Lumpur, the inspiration and philosophy is taken from the idea of inculcating a Japanese style of education into Malaysian engineering degree programmes. A central component of this approach is a human-centred curriculum with specific emphasis on soft skill development and the nurturing of strong environmental values. ‘Ningen Ryoku’ – translated as ‘Human Skill’ from Japanese – is a series of 2 credit courses which bachelor students will take alongside their core technical classes throughout their degree. This paper sets out the approach and practicality of the first Ningen Ryoku course for MJIIT Bachelor Degree Engineering Programme as it ran September 2011 to January 2012. Experience of the strengths, weaknesses and challenges of engaging first year students with largely non-technical knowledge and soft skills development are discussed. It is hoped this paper will serve as a platform for discussion on how Malaysian engineering departments can engage on student and human-centred issues.

SUMMARYThere is a need for coordinated research for the sustainable management of tropical peatland. Malaysia has 6% of global tropical peat by area and peatlands there are subject to land use change at an unprecedented rate. This paper describes a stakeholder engagement exercise that identified 95 priority research questions for peatland in Malaysia, organized into nine themes. Analysis revealed the need for fundamental scientific research, with strong representation across the themes of environmental change, ecosystem services, and conversion, disturbance and degradation. Considerable uncertainty remains about Malaysia's baseline conditions for peatland, including questions over total remaining area of peatland, water table depths, soil characteristics, hydrological function, biogeochemical processes and ecology. More applied and multidisciplinary studies involving researchers from the social sciences are required. The future sustainability of Malaysian peatland relies on coordinating research agendas via a ‘knowledge hub’ of researchers, strengthening the role of peatlands in land-use planning and development processes, stricter policy enforcement, and bridging the divide between national and provincial governance. Integration of the economic value of peatlands into existing planning regimes is also a stakeholder priority. Finally, current research needs to be better communicated for the benefit of the research community, for improved societal understanding and to inform policy processes.

Rising commercial waste generation poses a significant environmental and public health issue, especially in rapidly expanding urban centres in developing countries. A commercial district in Malaysia was selected to explore the challenges and opportunities for minimisation of commercial waste. This research provides empirical data on commercial and food waste generation rates, the problems faced by waste producers, and the priorities for improvement. It is argued that whilst commercial waste offers opportunities for waste minimisation, current challenges related to amenity and public health such as pests, odour and littering, can be addressed by the provision of additional bins, grease traps and improved public areas cleansing. The study concludes that food waste plays a key role in the progression towards a more sustainable waste management system in a developing country such as Malaysia, due to its high generation rates, its contribution to public health and amenity problems, and its high potential for resource recovery.

Malaysia, with its rapidly growing economy, exemplifies the tensions between conservation and development faced by many tropical nations. Here we present the results of a multi-stakeholder engagement exercise conducted to (1) define conservation priorities in Peninsular Malaysia and (2) explore differences in perceptions among and within stakeholder groups (i.e. government, academia, NGOs and the private sector). Our data collection involved two workshops and two online surveys where participants identified seven general conservation themes and ranked the top five priority issues within each theme. The themes were: (1) policy and management, (2) legislation and enforcement, (3) finance and resource allocation, (4) knowledge, research and development, (5) socio-economic issues, (6) public awareness and participation and (7) rights of nature. In spite of their very different backgrounds and agendas, the four stakeholder groups showed general agreement in their priority preferences except for two issues. Respondents from government and private sector differed the most from each other in their priority choices while academia and NGO showed the highest degree of similarity. This ranked list of 35 conservation priorities is expected to influence the work of policy-makers and others in Peninsular Malaysia and can be used as a model to identify conservation priorities elsewhere.

In the past two decades, the growth of the global sustainability agenda has led to the conception of a new business market, most commonly referred to as ‘sustainability services for the built environment’. For developing countries, the emergence of this market represents an opportunity to meet sustainability goals by improving access to skills necessary for improved performance in the design, construction and operation of buildings. Set against global trends in policy and market growth, this paper examines the rise of sustainability services in Malaysia – a developing country with a relatively young, undeveloped market with potential to benefit from market growth. Drawing on first hand experiences of consultants offering sustainability services in Malaysia, the current status of the market and the key barriers are discussed. The paper explores the business opportunities this emerging market has to offer to the Malaysian built environment sector and concludes with the potential it presents to contribute to the country's aspirations for sustainable development.

Tropical deforestation remains one of the major global challenges of the twenty-first century driven to a large extent by the conversion of land for agricultural purposes, such as palm oil production. Malaysia is one of the world’s largest palm oil producers and has seen widespread conversion to oil palm from primary forest, including peat swamp forest (PSF). This study investigates the rate and extent of pervasive oil palm expansion in and around North Selangor Peat Swamp Forest (NSPSF) over the last three decades, exploring how land conversion has affected the region’s tropical forests, and assessing the relative success of PSF conservation measures. Time-series Landsat imagery was used to assess thematic land cover change and improvement in vegetation condition since NSPSF was given protected status in 1990. The results show a near tripling in oil palm cover throughout North Selangor, from 24,930 ha in 1989 to 70,070 ha in 2016; while at the same time tropical forest cover shrank from 145,570 ha to 88,400 ha. Despite concerns over the sustainability and environmental impact of such rapid oil palm conversion at a regional level, at the local scale, NSPSF represents a relative conservation success story. Effective land stewardship by government and non-governmental organization (NGO) management actors has limited illegal encroachment of oil palm around the reserve boundary. PSF rehabilitation measures have also markedly improved vegetation condition in NSPFS’s interior. These findings have broad significance for how oil palm agriculture is managed and especially for PSF stewardship and conservation, and the approaches described here may be usefully adopted elsewhere in Southeast Asia and around the world.

The cultivation of oil palm on peat swamps in Malaysia has changed the water quality and aquatic ecosystems. We determined the fish species composition and water quality conditions at a disturbed peat swamp, i.e., oil palm plantation, in Kuala Langat peat swamp reserve forest, Selangor. Fishes were collected via gill net in five selected drains during dry and wet seasons between August 2014 and January 2015. In-situ (electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, turbidity and temperature) and ex-situ (dissolved organic carbon (DOC)) physicochemical parameters of water quality were measured bimonthly. The length-weight relationship (LWR) of fish related to seasonal and spatial variation was also examined. A total of 336 individuals belonging to five families of fish were found with Trichopodus trichopterus and Anabas testudineus were the two abundant species. The DOC ranges at drainage with established palm trees area (i.e., 15-yo(A) 1stG, 3-yo 2ndG, and 9-yo 2ndG) was much greater than at cleared-felled (CF 2ndG) suggested that these plantation areas have carbon leaching due to high supply of labile leaf litter produced by palm trees. The observed EC and temperature were 5% higher in the dry season compared to the wet season. The A. testudineus showed highly adaption with high DOC levels particularly in 15-yo 1stG, and 9-yo 2ndG drains during the wet season. The LWR showed that A. testudineus was in a desirable growth rate and demonstrated they were doing better compared to T. trichopterus in the oil palm plantation system.