AGENDA 21

Agenda 21, is a global sustainable development action plan for the 21st Century resulting from the Earth Summit at Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992 organised by the United Nations Division of Sustainable Development.
This action plan consists of 40 chapters explaining the actions needed to be implemented towards the sustainable development.

A popular definition for Sustainable Development is:
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs”

The plan seeks international cooperation to accelerate sustainable development in developing countries and related domestic policies.

The objectives encompasses SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS and CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES FOR DEVELOPMENT

This include the promotion of economic growth in developing countries that is both sustained and sustainable and direct action in eradicating poverty by strengthening employment and income-generating programmes; meeting primary health care needs, particularly in rural areas, control of communicable diseases, protecting vulnerable groups,meeting the urban health challenge,reducing health risks from environmental pollution and hazards and providing adequate shelter for all; whilst promoting sustainable land-use planning and management, and promoting the integrated provision of environmental infrastructure: water, sanitation, drainage and solid-waste management.

The conservation of land and bio-diversity resources, protection of the atmosphere and water bodies and water resources, promotion of sustainable agriculture and environmentally sound toxic and hazardous waste disposal are part of the sustainable development objectives of the plan.

The last objective of the plan is to empower the role of workers, women, youths, non-profit and non-governmental organizations and local authorities in carrying out the implementation of the plan.

Local Agenda 21 (L A 21) is a programme to forge partnership between the local authorities, private sector and local communities in every country to work together, to plan and care for their surroundings towards sustainable development.

L A 21 is a programme for the civil society, private sectors and the local authority to Work, Plan and Manage their Environment together towards a Sustainable Development.

Malaysia kicked off the L A 21 project in Miri, Petaling Jaya, Kerian and Kuantan in the initial phase.

Besides recycling activities and park celebrations, not much information is available in the public domain on the progress of these projects after 2004.

From occasional reports in the newspapers, Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya are still implementing LA 21 but the extend of the success is not known.

The latest news from the KL City Hall is the signing of a memorandum of understanding between City Hall and several parties in the private sector to undertake the composting of kitchen wastes from hotels.

CETDEM, (Centre of Environment, Technology and Development, Malaysia) with the support of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, City Council of Petaling Jaya and sponsorship by a Danish agency has provided home composting guidance to selected households in the city. In addition to that, regular composting courses are held to interested city folks who are keen to contribute to save the environment.

The local authorities should be more proactive in the dissemination of its programme of activities in order to get the participation of city folks. In this way, more people will realise that to be 'green' is to be politically correct as the whole world is turning 'green'. Malaysia will not be left behind in the green revolution.

All is not lost, however, as the architects and engineers have now started to talk about environmental friendly and sustainable projects. The government too has started to give incentives but as there is not much publicity, the average man in the street is still oblivious of these concerns.

Human Activities, Technology and Global Warming

Come to think of it, no human activity is devoid of creating greenhouse gas emissions.
From the seminar I attended in January,this much I learned:

Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon chlorofluoroethane (from aerosols) methane and nitrous gases. These gases are trapped in the upper earth atmosphere and act a blanket resulting in a warmer Earth. This in turn leads to climate changes with the polar ices melting, leading to a rise in sea levels, flooding, shifts in weather and seasonal patterns, depletion and contamination of freshwater resources, creation of new deserts, crop failures, habitat destruction causing extinction of certain animal species, and so on.

Aerosol gases react with the ozone in the stratosphere, depleting it. This sets a chain reaction much like the free radicals that attacks your cells, causing irreparable damage.

Since the Industrial Revolution, the pace of destruction of the Earth by mankind has not stopped.

All human activities evolve around the carbon cycle:

• The burning of fossil fuels by the transport and manufacturing sectors releases the energy trapped in it together with carbon dioxide.
• Agricultural activities such as growing of rice, wheat, maize and grains contribute to methane emissions
• Humans and animals release carbon dioxide as part of the respiration process.Grazing animals also contribute to methane emissions

Trees are created as saviours because they act as carbon sinks by assimilating the carbon dioxide. Thus cutting down trees and deforestation are not encouraged as they reduce the assimilation of carbon dioxide. Hence, for every tree that is cut, you have to replace with another tree.

The Kyoto Protocol (KP) sets among others, the following target:

5.2% reduction of 1990 emission by 2008 - 2012.
A scheme of tradeable Discharge Permits to minimize cost of compliance through the Clean Development Mechanism or Trade of Carbon Credits.

Malaysia ratified the KP in 2005. EU and 38 developing nations are also bound by the KP. The US contends that the KP is unfair and ineffective as 80% of the world population (China and India) are exempted. (Talk about being the leader!). US suggested improved technology as a means of combating climate change.

Every country is looking forward to the date in Copenhagen in December, 2009 when they have to present their environmental progress status report in relation to the Kyoto Protocol. New carbon targets will be set. For countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia, Japan and Western Europe, that have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol or fail to commit to the agreement, it is about time they do so. For anything to work, cooperation is vital. It does not pay to point your fingers to other countries when you are not doing the same as what you want others to do.

How Technology can be employed to reduce global gas emissions:

High mitigation costs to reduce global emissions and create green sustainable technology may be offset by benefits to better health.

Key mitigation technologies to be employed according to the sector concerned.

• The energy sector should improve its supply and distribution efficiency, use renewable energy sources, capture and store carbon dioxide, and generate energy from biomass.
• The transport sector should encourage hybrid vehicles and the use of biofuels
• The building sector must use be efficient in lighting, use energy saving appliances, evolve green and intelligent buildings and employ integrated design of commercial buildings.
• The industry sector must employ electrical equipment more efficiently and reduce the burning of fossil fuel by using biofuels.
• The forestry sector must reduce deforestation and adopt reforestation. Replanting of fast growing species is encouraged. Timber and paper should come from replanted trees.
• The agricultural sector must improve crop and grazing land management to include soil carbon storage. This would include organic waste composting and controlled waste water treatment. Wastes can be minimized by the use of biocovers and biofilters.

Other strategies to address global warming will be posted at a later date.

Sarawak Forests

Today, Malaysia, as a member of the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) which is fully committed to ITTO's objectives, is striving towards the achievement of forest management that is environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable.

The following excerpt taken from www.forestry.sarawak.gov.my

There are about 80% or almost 10 million hectares of Sarawak's total land area of 12.3 million hectares covered with forest (including natural as well as secondary forests). The remaining 2.3 million hectares are under settlements, towns, agricultural crop cultivation and native customary rights land.

Secondary forests refer to ecological systems deriving from clearing of natural forests for shifting cultivation. These forests have been established through a long fallow period of natural regeneration and now contain minimum crown covers of trees and are associated with wild flora, fauna and natural soil conditions. Secondary forests are established after abandonment of 10 years or more by shifting cultivators. Secondary forest formations in Sarawak are closed forests.

Six million hectares of the State's forests are zoned as the Permanent Forest Estate which is meant for sustainable forest management and about 1 million hectares are designated as Totally Protected Areas.

Although five types of natural forest are recognised in Sarawak, three main types predominate. These are Hill Mixed Dipterocarp Forest (covering about 7 million hectares), Peat Swamp Forest (comprising about 1 million hectares) and Mangrove Forest (occupying slightly more than 0.1 million hectares). The other two types, the Kerangas and the Montane Forests, are minimal in size.

Where each of the forest types is found depends on the altitude, soil conditions and water availability. Hill Mixed Dipterocarp Forest is found in the interior, upriver areas, extending from coastal peat swamps up to heights of 1,500 meters. Montane Forest takes over beyond this altitude. The domain of the Peat Swamp Forest is lowlying coastal plains with a high water table reaching inland along the lower reaches of major river systems. The Rejang delta and the Batang Baram are fine examples of Peat Swamp Forest. Mangrove Forest, on the other hand, is found in tidal and estuarine stretches extending from mud flats to where the saline waters start while Kerangas Forest occurs on poor, sandy soil and terrain.

Forest harvesting plays a major role in Sarawak's economy. It provides jobs, alleviates poverty in rural areas and helps to reduce the spread of shifting cultivation.

The mangrove forest was the first to be commercially harvested - for poles and charcoal - before work began in the other types of forests. Systematic harvesting in peat swamp forest started only in the '50s followed by hill mixed dipterocarp forests in the '70s.

Forest harvesting is presently carried out in the permanent forest estate and state land forests. In the permanent forest estate, prescriptions in the forest management plan are implemented and followed. The control of yield of harvest on an annual basis is carried out using the annual coupe system.

Field studies of improved tractor logging practices named path logging were carried out as part of ITTO development programmes. Experiences in 1997 felling blocks with the PATH Logging indicate considerable reduction in damages as compared with conventional working practices.

As for the harvesting of hill forests in the remote and difficult terrain regions of Sarawak, the Forest Department is encouraging the timber operators to adopt helicopter harvesting in their operations.

Comment: I don't think it is advisable to log remote and difficult terrain using helicopters. It would be too dangerous and too costly.

Even with a sustainable logging plan, we still hear of grouses by the local indigenous people complaining their customary lands are being violated by the logging companies.The Forestry Department needs to enforce strictly the forest management plan to prevent loggers destroying the environment and encroaching on timber not meant to be harvested.

Lately we hear also of people forging Sarawak timber labels on their timber products.

The Plastic Bag Dilemma

"There is no solution in sight for the plastic bag menace as the material is still freely issued, then carelessly discarded, each day"-So says Hilary Chiew in the Startwo on 25th February, 2009.

How can there be a solution when everyone simply thinks that he is not responsible. There are signs at the hyperstore and supermarkets for customers to reduce the use of plastic bags but the cashiers are not told to remind them on checking out. In fact the tellers dish out the bags so generously to separate the wet purchases from the dry ones, often wasting the bags.

If these stores were to collect unused or usable bags upon entry at the store and give out a credit note that could be accumulated and later used as a discount upon payment of the purchases at check out, I think the problem of plastic bags could be solved. Everyone wants to be rewarded for a certain deed. So giving a token reward for returning usable bags would definitely go a long way. The stores should also train their front end personnel to save the environment too. Some form of compensation should be given to them as well as in the practice of awarding the best employee of the month award for selling the most mobile reload for the month. The campaign should be on a long term basis instead of on an ad-hoc basis as usually done for environmental issues.

Tesco has a Green Clubcard reward programme for using the green bag brought from home, but it is not being publicised enough. It is also inconvenient to bring so many bags from home if you want to shop one whole month of groceries. That's why the "No Plastic Bag Campaign" can only succeed in pharmacies, because you don't buy a cartload of goods at a pharmacy.

Plastic bag manufacturers maintain that it is not the bags that pose a problem but what consumers do with them. The plastic bag industry would certainly not support a programme to reduce plastic bag usage as the industry in Malaysia amounts to RM1.6 bilion, 20% of which caters for the domestic market (RM360 million).

So it is up to the customers, the retailers and Municipal Solid Waste Managers with the support from the ruling government, to devise a scheme to stop the landfills from being completely degraded by the plastics. The official statistics show that plastics constitute 24% of the landfill volume, second after food waste.

Imagine how much land is saved from being converted to a landfill if all households, hotels, restaurants, canteens, grocery stores and wet markets were to recycle their plastics and turn all their perishable and food wastes to compost.

Disposable Diapers

Disposable Diapers



Cloth Diapers




When my eldest daughter was born in 1979, one could only get disposable diapers from a small shop in an exclusive neighbourhood in Damansara Heights where foreigners lived. Nowadays, they are easily available even in remote villagers.

When my children were babies, I used disposable diapers only when travelling. We stopped using diapers in the day when they are toilet trained at about 12 to 15 months. When not travelling, I used cloth diapers.The baby slept on a cloth sheet placed on top of a plastic sheet. I had to change the diapers several times throughout the day and night and then had to wash a lot of diapers.

Nowadays, parents do not used cloth diapers at all. The babies use disposable diapers till they could talk. Sometimes, up to 3 years old. I personally feel that once they could communicate, toddlers should be toilet trained.

Which is better,"cloth or disposable"? While using disposables means that lots of plastic and human waste ends up in landfills, cloth diapers use a lot of energy in washing and drying them, whether you do so at home or through a service.

Which method you choose will depend on your personal preference. Some baby nurseries and day care centres prefer children to be in disposable diapers, making that the preferred method for working parents. Lots of parents employ both, switching between cloth and disposables depending on work and travel schedules.

Cloth Diapers: Cloth diapers, laundered at home and line-dried, are the cheapest and greenest way to go. There are greater up-front costs than your other diapering options because you have to invest in diapers and diaper covers, but these investments pay off over time, especially if you plan to have more than one baby.

In the West, there are diapers made of organic cotton, which are more expensive than conventional cotton diapers, but help reduce pesticide use. As organic cotton products are too steep for the budget, used diapers are used as a way to avoid contributing to pesticide-intensive cotton production. Used diapers are not sold in Malaysia.

Alternative Disposable Diapers: For the environmentally concerned parent who prefers disposables, they should look out for brands that use less water, responsibly harvested wood pulp and recycled or compostable or biodegradeable plastics;

Diapering is arguably the most important decision parents could make for the environment and their young children, who are usually in diapers around the clock for at least up to two years.

The average baby goes through 5,000 diapers before being toilet trained. Because 95 percent of these diaper changes are disposable diapers, most of them end up in landfills.

Diapers made up 3.4 million tons of waste, or 2.1 percent of U.S. garbage, in landfills in 1998 -- the last year this information was collected, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Diapers in landfills in underdeveloped countries are especially problematic because they often aren't properly disposed, and excrement leaks into the local water supply.

And contrary to popular belief, no diaper -- not even biodegradable ones -- can break down in an airtight landfill.

As if that weren't enough to keep parents awake at night, cloth diaper services and some researchers bombard the public with news articles on the harmful chemicals in disposable diapers. While it is true that the waste water from washing cloth diapers is benign compared with the sludge of dioxins, solvents and heavy metals in waste water from manufacturing disposable diapers, there is no evidence that sufficient traces of the chemicals remain on the diapers to harm babies. As for the primary feature that gives disposable diapers their appeal -- their ability to absorb a large volume of liquid -- no studies indicate that sodium polyacrylate, the gel-like absorbent substance used in disposables, harms babies wearing the diapers.

The one study that does give cloth diapers a leg up in health benefits for baby boys appeared in the October 2000 issue of the Disease in Childhood medical journal. German researchers found that the scrotal skin temperatures of baby boys were significantly higher when they wore disposable diapers than when they wore cloth. While the scientists called for more research, their article suggested that prolonged use of disposable diapers as infants was an "important factor" contributing to the decline of sperm production among adult males. Proctor & Gamble conducted its own study and also found that scrotal skin temperatures increased for boys in disposable diapers.

Thus for new parents, it may be difficult to decide whether to contribute less to the landfills or to opt for convenience.

Inferno Down Under

All the heat went to Australia this last week, leaving Britain freezing in white snow all over. Scorching temperatures, tinder-dry leaves and strong winds saw huge bush fires engulf parts of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.The number of human casualties numbering around 180, and counting, could be accounted for but the flora and fauna victims, only God knows. How many kangaroos, possums, kookaburras and wallabies have perished apart from the koalas? The Australians may also need to estimate the destruction to the eucalyptus trees and whatever flora indigenous to Australia.


I found the video and subsequent news flashed all over the world on the Aussie fireman, Dave Tree feeding the wild koala very cute and touching. Isn''t it a coincidence that Tree is seen trying to save the burning trees in Victoria county?

I find it also kind of amusing that the wild koalas have been christened Bob and Sam. A native Australian name like Billa and Bong (as in Billabong)would be more apt. Or Murray and Darling (Rivers)would be more Australian,don't you think?


(Photos and a video of Tree, 44, approaching Sam while talking gently to her, and feeding her water from a plastic bottle as she put her burned claw in his cold, wet hand quickly hit video sharing website YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XSPx7S4jr4), making her an Internet sensation.)

My Ideal Home

My ideal home will have the following features:

• able to harness solar power
• be energy efficient
• can earn cash by supplying electricity to the National grid
• is very cool yet no air conditioning required
• windows and doors to face north or south
• optimises use of natural lighting
• harvests rainwater and recycles it to prevent wastage
• generates minimum solid waste because everything is recycled
• has a beautiful garden using compost from kitchen and garden wastes

The "Building a Green Future" story quoted in the Star yesterday would make my dream achievable in Malaysia now that the Green Building Index to steer architects, building owners and developers towards sustainable construction has been launched. The Index drawn up by the Architects' Association of Malaysia and the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia, evaluates the eco-friendliness of buildings based on 6 criteria:

1. energy efficiency
2. indoor environmental quality
3. a sustainably managed site
4. optimal use of materials and resources
5. water efficiency
6. innovation

Such certification would benefit the developer as he can use it as an effective marketing tool and if the trend of green building continues, the country would score green points and the task to reduce global warming would be much easier.

It is heartening to note that the Government has introduced fiscal incentives which include import and sales tax exemption on low energy equipment or machinery for companies involved in renewable energy or energy efficiency. There are not much takers because people are still in the dark about such incentives and many feel that it would be a hassle to apply for them.

The National “SURIA 1000” PV programme (1,200 kWp): to catalyse BIPV (Building Integrated Photo Voltaic system)market by targeting the general public and property developers to install BIPV at their premises (homes/buildings), was launched in 2007 and is ongoing. The Suria 1000 project is under the auspices of UNDP. From the report submitted to UNDP in April 2008, it seems that the project is progressing satisfactorily towards achieving its targets.

The ZEO (Zero Energy Office) building built in Bangi is a showcase for sustainable commercial building that is independent of the National grid. ZEO is part of the Suria 1000 project.

I am also happy to note that this project under the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication and coordinated by a Danish Consultancy firm has been well received and there are now many new residential buildings which are not only aesthetically acceptable but very environmental friendly.

Wish me luck that I would join the league soon and live in my eco-friendly house in an eco- friendly neighbourhood.

No Plastic Bags Campaign

I could not help noticing a lady carrying a bag that says,"Say no to plastic bags" on her shoulder when her other hand was holding a hypermarket plastic bag. She must have got the Say no bag at a pharmacy during one of those campaigns to discourage the use of plastic bags.

In fact this week alone I have declined the plastic bag three times when shopping. I wish the pharmacies will do a year round campaign instead of a short monthly one. In this way, the charity organizations will get steady incomes if the campaign succeeded as the pharmacy will contribute a small portion of the sales to them.

The campaigns by Jusco, Tesco, Giant and Carrefour is on a long term but the idea is not passed on to the customer by the cashiers. They dish out the plastic bags generously despite the notice at the till that plastic bags are precious and should be sparingly used. Even though Tesco gives Green Clubcard points to customers who decline to use the plastic bags, yet the cashiers never give the customer the option.

Maybe these companies should come out with a Green reward system for their cashiers to promote the idea like the reward system for the cashiers for selling mobile reloads.

Meanwhile, I will continue to bring the green bags when I go shopping. But I would be challenged when the bags won't be enough to bring home a whole cart load of groceries.

When Gold Beckons

The Star on 3rd February, 2009 quoted an AP report of how gold miners in Indonesia use mercury to extract gold in polluted ponds. Tens of thousands of remote mining sites have sprouted in Asia, Latin America and Africa where enforcement is lax. Small scale gold mining is the second worst source of mercury pollution in the world, after the burning of fossil fuels.

Since the price of gold has tripled in the last 7 years, these small miners have forsaken their own health in search of wealth.

The tropical rainforest landscape in Kalimantan in Indonesia has been turned to a virtual desert with dots of mercury laced mining ponds.

The continuous use of mercury is a cause of concern as mercury is a neurotoxin. Because it is a slow killer, users are skeptical of its side effects. Toxic effects include damage to the central nervous system, brain, kidney, and lungs and adversely affects the mouth, gum and teeth. Mercury poisoning can result in several diseases, symptoms of which include numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of the field of vision and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can also affect foetuses in the womb and infants. Exposure over long periods of time or heavy exposure to mercury vapor can result in brain damage and ultimately death. Women who have been exposed to mercury in pregnancy have sometimes given birth to children with serious birth defect.

A small scale mining problem may well add to the global pollution problem if governments concerned remain apathetic.

At Last The Engineers are Looking at Sustainabilty in their profession.

I attended a talk at IEM (Institution of Engineers, Malaysia) on the role of Chemical Engineers in the Biotech Sector. It was a refreshing talk considering when I studied Chemical Engineering, I thought it was not environmental friendly as the petrochemicals which form a large part of the syllabus was a depleting resources. The talk was very interesting, although not many turned up maybe due to the pouring rain. It turned out that the speaker was my junior at University who is now a professor and Dean at the Faculty of Biotechnology Engineering and Biomolecular Sciences at a local university. I was proud that an alumnus of my University is now an expert in Bioprocess Engineering and Environmental Biotechnology who started out as a Chemical Engineer and continued his postgraduate studies both in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.He is in the right place as a source of expert reference in the Malaysian government's plan to include biotechnology as another engine of growth.

Malaysia has a great potential of harnessing energy from agricultural biomass especially from palm oil and at last, finally the government has come to realise this. It may take a few more years for plans to actually work out. I understand that bioethanol for biodiesel can also be extracted from the empty fruit bunch instead of from the fresh fruit bunches only. This would allay the fears that edible oils should not be used for biodiesel.

Another interesting point I learn from the talk is local innovation is necessary for the palm oil industry as we are the pioneers. Even Indonesia is learning from us. An example given was when a machine imported from Germany used in the Wood Industry to shred hardwood fail miserably when used for shredding oil palm empty fruit bunches because of the oil content. A local fabricated machine saved the day.

It was recommended that old processes has to be changed for sustainability. Biosubstitution using natural or synthetically produced bioresources should be employed to improve industrial practices and processes. Engineers will have to work with biotechnologists towards lowering the costs of production and increasing performance using the appropriate technology that is environmental friendly and at the same time profitable.

That is quite a challenge for the engineers attending the meeting when some were trying to learn new terms such as DNA, Genomics, Proteomics, and everything Bio such as bioplastics, biosensors, biocompost, biosugars, bioacids, biofuel and even the reactor is now called a bioreactor!