PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Environment will continue with good environmental policies and initiatives introduced by the previous government and review guidelines that need improvement, said its just-appointed Minister Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.
In his first press conference as minister, he said among those that would be continued would be the Malaysian Roadmap Towards Zero Single-use Plastics 2018-2030 which was expected to be fully implemented by 2022.
“We are currently in the transition and consumer education phase, and we need time as this process will incur cost, but we have until 2022 to enforce it,” he said after chairing his first post-Cabinet meeting here today.
In the meantime, he said, the 2002 National Policy on the Environment (NPE) and the National Policy on Climate Change 2009 would be reviewed and tabled in Parliament in the near future as both policies had not been scrutinised.
Tuan Ibrahim said the NPE needed to be revised as there were new developments in environmental and climate change issues.
“This effort is to complement the environmental dimensions embodied in national and other acts by taking into account international agreements on environmental management,” he added.
On the 2009 Climate Change Policy, Tuan Ibrahim said the ministry would propose strategies and plans in implementing mitigation and adaptation to climate change at the national level in line with the country’s commitment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement ratified in 2016.
In the meantime, he would focus on efforts to maintain and preserve water sources especially rivers as the key performance indicator (KPI) for the year.
“The Quran says the source of life is water, so our focus is to make sure that this source of life is taken care of,” he added.
Tuan Ibrahim said today’s meeting was also informed of the activating of the National Open Burning Action Plan to cope with the drought which was expected to drag until mid-April.
Asked about the number of departments and agencies under the newly-created ministry, Tuan Ibrahim said the matter had been raised at the first Cabinet meeting this morning and it would be announced in the near future.
Up to 15 departments were expected to be under the ministry, he said. – March 11, 2020, Bernama
