KUCHING, Dec 14: About 85 per cent out of 324 Sarawakians surveyed expressed that they would like to know more about political parties’ environmental aspirations for Sarawak, according to a survey by WWF-Malaysia.
The same study, which started Nov 26 and ran for 17 days, found 217 respondents or 67 per cent surveyed planning to vote in the 12th Sarawak State Election (PRN12).
Meanwhile, 85.5 per cent of respondents expect future State government or legislators to have and enforce strict regulations to address pollution and indiscriminate waste disposal.
Another 82.7 per cent would like to see programmes to clean up polluted water, 77.2 per cent want increased green areas or more trees in cities and towns, 75.9 per cent are looking for more recycling efforts and facilities, and 74.1 per cent want better protection for wildlife.
“There are also aspirations for future leaders to assist in creating more green jobs (70.7 per cent), gazette more protected areas (70.1 per cent) and increase environmental awareness programmes (65.4 per cent) in Sarawak,” said WWF-Malaysia in a statement today.
Survey respondents also wanted better and more meaningful collaborations between politicians, local authorities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and communities to tackle environmental issues.
They also wanted intensified environmental education and awareness programmes paired with strong policy and enforcement to manage natural resources, address pollution and tackle illegal logging.
These are important measures to deal with environmental concerns such as water pollution, plastic and waste management, loss of forests, climate change, Covid-19 pandemic and zoonotic diseases, declining wildlife, air pollution, food resource and supply, as well as clean energy.
The online survey held in conjunction with PRN12 received responses from various age groups and backgrounds whereby the majority of respondents belonged to the 31-45 age group (36.1 per cent), followed by 21-30 years (26.9 per cent), 46-60 years (20.7 per cent), under 21 years (8 per cent) and 8.3 per cent were aged 61 years and above.
Meanwhile, WWF-Malaysia Head of Conservation for Sarawak Dr Jason Hon said messages by political parties and candidates in the past one week of election campaigning lack the touch on environment and nature conservation.
“The people have also voiced their concerns and hopes for better governance that protects the environment, as evident from the results of the online survey here.
“They may represent a small group of people but their voices are loud and clear: We want a better environment for the well-being of Sarawakians,” he said.
Prior to the survey, WWF-Malaysia also sent out open letters to all political parties in Sarawak urging them to include bold yet achievable environmental commitments in their manifestos.
In its open letter, WWF-Malaysia asked for effective implementation of sound policies and plans based on environmental sustainability, including the continuation of good existing policies and action plans aligned to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and encouraging the participation of youths and non-state actors in advancing the SDGs and post-Covid-19 plans.
WWF-Malaysia is a non-partisan environmental NGO that has been operating in the country since 1972, with dedicated teams present in Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia to advance the conservation agenda for the state. — Dayakdaily
