The Green Economic Development in Malaysia
Introduction
A green economy refers to a sustainable economy with fewer environmental problems such as climate change, land sliding and many more. This is due to human activities in developing economic growth. Even though Malaysia has developed economic growth and development unfortunately it has also caused many environmental problems. For example, rapid growth in urbanization has caused many forests to be destroyed. Furthermore, the green economy is an economic process model to bring sustainability in the environment at the same time increase in economic growth. Therefore Malaysia has committed to encouraging the society to develop a clean and efficient economy. The presentation has discussed contributions, challenges in developing a green economy in Malaysia, strategies, and current issues in Malaysia for green economic development in Malaysia.
Contribution and benefits
General contributions of the green economy
There are many contributions of the green economy in Malaysia. The green economy is a newfangled catalyst of evolution as it has brought to life on the innovative system of economical ventures that accentuates social inclusiveness, nurturing of flourishing natural environments, and produced competitive while responsible economy development EMG Worldwide. Moreover, stimulating change, the green economy encourages and provide ways for progress toward the three pillars of sustainable commodities which are people, planet, and profit. For an instance, more than 60 countries around the planet have begun the pilgrimage toward the green economy, with many looking forward to getting their ambitions to come to fruition in a few decades. Governments trailblazed this transition and are doing away with the conventional line of thought that there will be without a doubt, a trade-off between economic and sustainability in our vicinity. This shows that a feasible opportunity for investment, growth, and security. Not only that mechanism to transport the green economy such as, but renewable energy, environments that is complacent to green business and technology, the education of an adept and a sprightly workforce are also concomitantly driving and outcomes of the switch as they overlap and catalyze the further progress of one another.
Contributions of the green economy in Malaysia
The Malaysian Government has introduced many policies and programs related to a green economy in order to sustain the economy. Many different events and activities are implemented in polytechnic colleges in Malaysia under the Green Technology awareness program. For instance, green technology seminars, workshops, green technology innovations, creation competitions, and recycled models competitions are the activities carried out under the Green Technology awareness program. In contrast with that, a strong emphasis on environmental-friendly technologies solutions and innovation projects is included in student projects and college development. There are some examples of eco-friendly projects displayed at the Politeknik Ungko Omar (PUO), Perak which are Solar ECO FAN, PERODUA, Rubbish Truck Leaching Filter, Trash Collector from Canals, and Compact Refrigerant Recovery Machines. According to CPSC national and international awards won by these projects. Malaysian government policies and developments towards the green economy have increased the literacy level of the green economy among the young generation. This is because the young generation is the backbone country.
Challenges in developing the green economy in Malaysia
Malaysia was more dependent on non–renewable resources such as petroleum, coal, oil, and timber industries. These sources are often used to generate electricity, heat homes, fuel vehicles, and for manufacture products. According to the international journal of Malaysia and Civilisation, this situation has made difficulties in developing a sustainable economy in Malaysia. The usage of non-renewable energy is wide in many industries in Malaysia. For an instance, Malaysia heavily depends on non-renewable energy for electricity consumption which made it more difficult in implementing green economic policies and 97.6% of Malaysian society has access to electricity in many sectors such as housing, transportation, manufacturing, construction, etc. Furthermore, coal is used primarily to generate electricity in Malaysia. Thus, coal generates such a high percentage of our nation’s electricity because our nation has relied on coal for so many years. This shows that the usage of non-renewable energy increasing tremendously and causing many effects to the environment. The electricity supply industries are mainly controlled by many utility companies in Malaysia for the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in a region. The main utility companies are Tenaga National Berhad (TNB), and Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. (SESB) and Sarawak Energy Berhad ( SEB), with each covering the regions of the Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak respectively. These energy sources depend on non-renewable resources to generate electricity. TNB has been a major contributor in Malaysia. Total electricity generated by TNB was 79.9% (2418 GWh) followed by SEB at 18% (649 GWh) and SESB at 3% (121 GWh) in the year of 2014. The demand for electricity continues to grow dramatically with rapid Malaysian economic growth. Therefore, the usage of non-renewable energy increased in the Malaysian nation. Furthermore, this has led to the depletion of non-renewable resources as it is limited energy sources on the planet that don’t replenish naturally. Not only that, the emission of Carbon dioxide gas has increased dramatically in our environment. According to a recent study (Bekhet, 2016), electricity generation by coal, gas, hydro, RE, and oil is examined for previous, current, and future, it showed that coal consumption for electricity generation will increase. The graph below are the result of the research. It is excepted that the consumption of coal for energy generation will increase by 2020.
Strategies
The Malaysian government has implemented quite a number of energy-related policies to lower the use of non-renewable energy and to ensure a sustainable economy in order to bring prosperity in the country with a balanced ecosystem. Therefore, in the year of 1979 Malaysian government introduced The national Energy policy. The main objectives of this policy were to supply, utilization and environment. This policy was further upgraded to the Five-Fuel Diversification strategy in the year of 1999. Furthermore, in the 9th Malaysian Plan (2006-2010) energy efficiency was given more attention and to address the nation’s energy challenge in line with the sustainable development agenda. In addition, the Malaysian government established the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology, and water to replace the Ministry of Energy, communication, and Multimedia earlier in 2009. Islam, Saidur, Rahim, and Solangi (2009) This shows that Malaysia has implemented many green developments to bring a sustainable economy. Not only that, in the year of 2009 Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak introduced a new National Green Technology Policy which was mainly implemented to bring a positive impact to the economic growth as well in the green economy. This policy also provided guidelines and new opportunities for business and industry. The objectives of the National Green Technology Policy were to minimize the usage of non-renewable energy consumption while enhancing the economic development to sustain the economy and conserve for the future generation. Moreover, enhancing public education and creating awareness on Green Technology was also one of the objectives of the policy. In this way, the literacy rate can increase in the society of Malaysia which further can increase the standard of living. When the literacy rate increase, the concern or importance toward the environment will gradually increase in society. In contrast, the more knowledgeable we are, the more sustainable the economy will be.
In the 11th Malaysia plan, the government announces Conserving Natural Resources to improve green growth. Natural resources. A natural resource is important, without this it would make things difficult to unsure. The natural resource to maintain ecological balance for supporting life and to make the resource to available for present and future generations. The more trees planted the more the forest resource saves the environment. This Malaysian plan can reduce air pollution by absorbing carbon dioxide and by using fewer trees and can protect more trees. By this process, natural resource can be protected.
Furthermore, sustainable consumption and production also been one of the strategies in 11th Malaysian plan. It was to increase good service and products which bring a better life. These strategies improve green economic development and help to achieve contribution of nature to GDP. This strategy manages natural resources and increases resource efficiency such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve this strategy, 3R ( reduce, recycle and reuse) programs were introduced in order to protect and conserve natural resources. Also, by 3R method can protect the environment and improve the green economy. Furthermore, increasing the share of renewable in energy by creating a green market 11th Malaysia plan. Those are the strategy help to improve air quality, water quality, climate, etc.
Current issues in Malaysia
In recent years as the population tremendously increased, the development for space is also at the heap in Malaysia. The demand for building houses, shops, schools, and hospitals is increasing dramatically. This causes many forests to be destroyed in order to build construction. Deforestation in Malaysia has been a much-discussed issue since the year of 1970. Many forests have been destroyed for rubber and oil palm plantations to increase income and GDP. From the year of 1989-1990 urban development rapidly increased up to 150% where most of the changes were within the tropical dipterocarp rainforest and mangrove forest. For example, the total annual deforestation in Malaysia between the years 1990-2000 and 2000-2005 has increased to 77%. This will cause ecosystem imbalance in the future and the habitat of animals will be destroyed which can cause the extinction of many animals. This further cause the future generation unable to experience a balanced environment. In a recent study, forest land and peat swamp experienced a reduction in area during the period of 22 years (1989-2011) in Selangor. Furthermore, the forest land decreased by 4317 ha (2.50%) from 172,280 has in 1989 to 167,963ha in 2011. In addition, peat swamp and mangrove forests decreased by 12,280 ha (12.7%) and 210 ha (0.68%) respectively in the same year in Selangor Aishyah, Shahrul, Zulfamie, Mastura, Mokhtar (2015). Most of the lowland areas are affected by urban development. Not only that, forests were destroyed in Selangor in order to build oil palm plantations. This is because oil palm has attracted many companies to open up new plantation areas in Selangor. As a result of this, biodiversity declined and increased carbon emissions in these regions. Deforestation is now being the current issue for the development of the economy.
Climate change has become an important subject for argument all around the world because of the danger of sustainable growth and development. This is because far-reaching growth in the state of Malaysia led to a huge amount of ecological problems such as emission of carbon dioxide CO2 due to some irresponsible social actions and events. This is due to the usage of non-renewable energy such as petroleum for generating electricity, for vehicles and many more have caused greenhouse gas to increase in the environment. This further cause an increase in the temperature of the weather and causes climate change. In contrast with the past research in Malaysia, Malaysia has transformed from agricultural activity to an industrial economy for the past 4 decades which ascribed to enhanced the emission of carbon dioxide to rise from the year of 1990 to the year of 2005. The rise of carbon dioxide gas was mainly due to the usage of non-renewable energy in Malaysia. According to the graph of changes in CO2 emission from the consumption of fossil fuels, Malaysia has the highest record of CO2 emission compared to other countries. This clearly shows that Malaysia is in a critical situation to develop a sustainable economy.
Conclusion
The presentation has discussed the green economic development in Malaysia which are the worldwide concern over problems with global climate change, warming and also the management of our surroundings concerns familiar and coordinated actions in making certain that successive generations can inherit an area that's not solely acceptable human habitation, however contributing for future growth and prosperity.
References
- Iskandar regional development Authority,IRDA (2017) Green economy guideline. Available at http://iskandarmalaysia.com.my/green/geg.html ( Accessed : 7 March 2021)
- Hussin Abdullah et al (2017) ‘ The current state of Malaysia’s Journey towards a green economy: The Perception of the Companies in Environment effiency and Sustainability’, International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 7(1), pp. 253-258. https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijeep/article/view/3707
- 2010 coal gas hydro RE oil 42 52 5 0 1 2015 coal gas hydro RE oil 43 40 14 2 1 2020 coal gas hydro RE oil 53 29 15 3 2
