The Department of Environment (DoE) is currently seeking public comments on the proposed amendments to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Order 2015. On 16 June 2021, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) attended an online stakeholder consultation session organised by the DoE and subsequently submitted our comments on 12 July 2021.
We commend the DoE for moving forward with a proposal to amend the EIA Order 2015 and we are pleased that the DoE is proposing to have all the prescribed activities undergo a mandatory public participation process. However, we note that some of the proposed amendments are rather regressive. Here is a summary of our key comments. You may access our full comments here and the table with specific comments here.
- The need for Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
- General comments and recommendations on the proposed amendments
- No more references to Schedules 1 and 2
- Amendments are regressive:
- Shifting or dropping of legal responsibility
- Conflict of interest
- Impacts on the public participation process
- Increase DoE’s resources and capacities
- Independent EIA consultants
- All EIAs to be made available online and downloadable
- Improvements to public consultation process
- Specific comments and recommendations on the proposed amendments to the prescribed activities such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry, land reclamation, mining, petroleum, power generation and transmission, dredging, radioactive materials and radioactive waste, etc.
We hope that the DoE will consider our comments carefully and not allow for any regressive amendments that would affect and impact the environment.
We strongly encourage the public to participate and give your comments on the proposed amendments to the EIA Order 2015. For more information on this public participation process, please visit Jabatan Alam Sekitar’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/216521635176655/posts/1852724438223025/ or you can access the it at the DoE website. Please check the DoE sites for the deadline for comments. At the time of writing, we did not see a deadline.