Soil erosion and sedimentation control aspect of Malaysia’s EIA approval conditions: A study of the compliance status in Kedah

In 2011 Malaysia’s Department of Environment (DOE) has implemented an EIA improvement package to strengthen the soil erosion and sedimentation control aspects of EIA projects through the introduction of 26 new EIA approval conditions. This study discusses the status of compliance with the implementation of EIA approval conditions. Two main methods are used, namely, data mining from DOE database system and interviews with four enforcement officers. Data mining pertained to the enforcement sub-module of the e-KAS database system. Enforcement data collected were analyzed to discern the compliance of EIA approval conditions in 2012, 2013 and 2014. This study found high non-compliance during the earthworks stage in these years. There were 24 notices issued by the DOE for non-compliance cases. Failure to appoint an Environmental Officer to supervise the implementation of erosion and sedimentation control plan was found to be the major cause of non-compliance by project proponents. In-depth interviews with four enforcement officers revealed three main causes of non-compliance, namely, low commitment of the project proponent, lack of budget for the implementation of the environmental management plan, and lack of knowledge in carrying out the compliance activities of the EIA approval conditions.