Malaysia's efforts toward achieving a sustainable development: Issues, challenges and prospects

Malaysia is classified as a middle-income country. In recent years, Malaysia has been transformed from an agro-based economy to a manufacturing economy. Malaysia is the fastest growing economies amongst ASEAN countries. This rapid growth rate is attributed mainly in the ability to exploit the very environmental resource base available for the country. The early European Colonialists who came over to Malaysia driven to vigorously exploit the country rich environmental resource base and the exploitation trend continues after the country independence till today. Government programs to develop and promote investment in the key sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, and services will need to be dealt with in a holistic manner. Environmental resources exploitation are important generators of economic growth but since the colonial periods environmental resources exploitation also have led to a steady increase in environmental degradation. Environmental degradation issues are becoming more intense and frequent in the last half decade or so not only in Malaysia but for the Southeast Asia Region as a whole. Environmental degradation would impact on the country societal wellbeing and quality of life. The last half decade also witnesses the emerging importance of trans boundary issues which further impact the well-being and quality of life in Malaysia. This paper discusses the attempts by Malaysia to address the environmental degradation within the whole fabric of sustainable development at both the National and International levels. The discussion is examining the issues, challenges and prospects of environmental management strategies, formulation of national policies and responsible ministries including implementation agencies, constraint factors and the role of the country in addressing environmental degradation at the Regional and Global scales. The discussion is based on frequency analysis of secondary information derived from literature search, government publications and information appraised from the internet. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.