By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix Shahiddan Saidi

BANGI,  15 June 2016 – Malaysia needs a river basin authority for enforcing  sustainable development with minimal degradation of the environment, says The National University of Malaysia’s (UKM) Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) Prof Datuk Dr Mazlin Mokhtar.

He pointed out that the increasing occurrences of flash floods, such as the Langat River Basin, showed that laws on environmental protection need to be properly enforced.

 “Water resources development, river and flood plain management and projects on policy analysis needs a multidisciplinary approach,” he said when opening a training course on environmental protection for law lecturers in the Asia-Pacific, at Putrajaya on 10^th May.

He pointed out that the necessary legislation are all in place, but the enforcement needs a boost.

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor called for a concerted effort to protect the water catchment areas, because rivers in Malaysia play an important role in conservation, agriculture and potable water supply but they are facing threat from rapid development in the industry sectors and urbanisation.

“In Malaysia, several government agencies and local authorities are involved in managing the rivers.

“The management of the water resources in an integrated and holistic manner for a river basin will lead to solutions to the several major problems encountered with water management in river basins,” he explained at the training programme organised by UKM and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

He said since many countries, including Malaysia, are concerned about water  security in the longer term.

At the same time, he said, everyone takes the supply of water for granted but complain when there are floods.

Meanwhile, the Faculty of Law at UKM conducted the programme dubbed  ‘Training-the-Trainers’ in which law lecturers are required to introduce elements of sustainable development of the environment to their students after completing the five-day course.

Speaking to the UKM News Portal, The programme director Dr Hanim Kamaruddin said UKM is the first institution in the Asia-pacific region to host the programme.

Dr Hanim said at the Faculty of Law, environmental law is offered to the undergraduate students, while more specific environmental law subjects such as International Environmental Law, Law of the Sea and Heritage Law are offered at the postgraduate level.

On the training programme, she expressed hope it would  enhance the capacity of professors and lecturers in universities and colleges in ADB’s developing member countries in environmental law and natural capital.

She clarified that the train-the-trainers program takes the form of a demonstration of the curriculum for the course and includes a strong focus on the illustration of a wide range of teaching methods that are suited to  environmental law.

This train-the-trainers programme was implemented by ADB’s Office of the General Counsel under its Law, Justice and Development Programme.