KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, 1 March 2001 -- Malaysia needs much more interaction between federal and State level organisations to bring about the effective implementation of policies relating to the environment.
United Nations visiting scholar Dr Brook Boyer said this increased interaction was needed particularly in relation to the international Conventions on Climate Change and Biological Diversity which Malaysia ratified in 1994.
He said the effective implementation of these conventions at the national level could be reached through more interaction between the co-ordinating committees under the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry and the Inter-Agency Planning Group (IAPG) - the government co-ordinating body which facilitates the preparation of the country's five-year development plans.
Citing examples of the low frequency of interaction and meetings, Boyer said the IAPG only met approximately every two years for mid-term reviews and the preparation of subsequent development plans.
The National Climate Committee in turn, which was set up to oversee the implementation of the commitments under the Climate Change Convention, has only reportedly met once in the past two years to compile a document called the Initial Communication.
A specialist in institutional co-ordination, multi-stakeholder participation and the implementation of multilateral environmental agreements, Boyer presented these findings in a report at the Informal Regional Workshop on Inter-linkages: Synergies and Co-ordination among Multilateral Environmental Agreements, held at Hotel Nikko.
Boyer made the findings in a preliminary study commissioned by the United Nations University for the two-day workshop which ended yesterday. The study concentrated on the national experiences of Malaysia and Thailand.
Speaking to the New Straits Times on his study, Boyer said the implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements at the national level was ultimately the responsibility of the States in Malaysia.
He added that although this link was prevalent to a certain extent through the presence of the Department of Environment at the State level for example, he said there was a need for a "higher frequency of meetings particularly at the federal level which would also involve State-level organisations".
Boyer is a visiting scholar with the Development Research and Policy Analysis Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap) as well as the Environment and Sustainable Development Programme of the United Nations University (UNU).
Organised by the UNU, the workshop saw the attendance of some 130 participants from 30 countries.
Co-organisers of the workshop were the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry, the Japanese Environment Ministry and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (Isis) Malaysia.
Source: New Straits Times 
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