HE LAWS AND POLICIES FOR THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY IN MALAYSIA
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Date
2013
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Sustainability Science and Management
Abstract
Biodiversity conservation and management in a sustainable manner is crucial for
Malaysia and having suffcient laws and policy providing for such is mandatory. As a Contracting
Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Malaysia has undertaken to abide by what
has been stipulated by the CBD and to endeavour to provide legislative, administrative and policy
measures towards achieving the objectives and expectation of the CBD. Among the frst measures
taken by Malaysia was the conduct of a country survey on biological diversity cumulating in the
“Assessment of Biological Diversity in Malaysia” in 1997, which was immediately followed by
the launching of the National Policy on Biological Diversity on 16th July 1998. Malaysia has also
taken the steps to provide legislative implementation of the broad objectives of the Policy by
putting in place three specifc legislationsnamely the Biosafety Act 2007 (Act 678), the Access
to Genetic Resources Act and the National Biodiversity Council Act, both of which are still in the
bill stage. This paper aims to provide an overview of the existing laws and policy in Malaysia that
subscribe to the effort of sustainable management of natural resources and determine the suffciency
of these laws and policy in providing for biodiversity conservation and management in Malaysia
as sanctioned by the CBD. This research methodology employed aqualitative study carried out
via content analysis on the data collected from the primary sources namely the National Policy of
Biological Diversity (NPB) as well as the numerous federal legislations. The research tool used
for data analysis is the Rule of Statutory Interpretation, which is the same tool used by the judges.
The fndings reveal that the Vision Statement and the Policy Statement of the NPB undeniably
emphasize Malaysia’s commitment towards the conservation and sustainable use of her biological
diversity heritage for the sustainable progress of the nation. However, it is also found that the current
legislative framework creates some restrictions, thereby causing some defciencies for an effective
conservation and management of biological diversity in the country.
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Keywords
Biodiversity, sustainable management, laws, policies, Malaysia