CRITICAL ISSUES IN WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT GOVERNMENT PERSPECTIVES

1
CRITICAL ISSUES IN WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT-
GOVERNMENT PERSPECTIVES
Managing challenges towards Sustainable Water
Resources and Environment 26-27 March 2007, Blue
Wave Hotel, Shah Alam, Selangor

• Dato Suboh Mohd Yasin
• Secretary General, Ministry of Natural Resources
  and Environment

2
Definition

• Water
• transparent colourless liquid found in seas and
  rivers ...and in rain
• Resource
• available stock that can be drawn on and
  countrys collective wealth
• Service
• work done for community and provision of some
  public need
• Water Resources Management
• managing of the resources

3
Table of Contents

• Water Resources Status
• National Challenges
• Regional Challenges
• Climate Change Implication
• National Responses to date
• NRE Current initiatives
• Conclusion

4
Water Resources Status in Malaysia

• Malaysia is in the equatorial zone
• climate is influenced by the alternating
  north-east monsoon and the south-west monsoon
• Rich in water resources
• annual rainfall - 3 000 mm or 990 billionn m3,
• Estimated groundwater resource is 5000 billion m3
• accounts for 90 of the fresh water resources,
• 97 of the raw water supply is from surface
  water
• Coastal nation with over 4800 km coastlines
• extensive and resource rich territorial waters
  and continental shelf claims
• Short and numerous rivers, in 189 River Basin
  Management Units (RBMU)

5
Hydrological balance in Malaysia (billion cubic
meters per year)
6
D I and Agricultural needs
Extracted and calculated from SMHB et al
7
National Challenges

• Water supply
• Water quality
• Other Environmental Challenges
• Governance and Management Instruments

8
Water Supply

• Domestic and Industrial
• Agriculture
• Environment
• Hydropower
• Transportation
• Recreation

9
Water Quality

• Pollutants
• Chemical
• industrial pollutants, residuals from
  agricultural fertilisers and pesticides,
  households
• Organic
• microbial contamination, agriculture and
  livestock waste
• Solids
• Silts, sediment and construction waste material,
  house waste
• Locations
• Rivers
• Pollution from activities within each specific
  basin
• Coastal waters
• Discharge from land base and oil spills
• Inland water bodies
• Lakes and reservoirs
• Groundwater
• Sea-water intrusion, leachate from landfills

10
Multi coloured Rivers
11
Inland water bodies
12
Other Environmental Challenges

• Floods
• Droughts
• Erosion (coastal and rivers)
• Forest Fires
• etc

13
Floods
Tmn Sri Muda, Shah Alam, Dec1995
Kuching 2003
Padang Kelab Selangor. 1949
Shah Alam 2006
PJ, 2000
Kuala Lumpur, 2005
14
Droughts
15
Erosion
16
Forest Fires

• Forest fires and haze now have a common recurrent
  of 3-4 years in Malaysia and Indonesia
• Major threats causing the loss of peat swamp
  forests

Firemen battle peat fires
17
How Does Peat Form?
Flooded hollows and basins provide ideal growing
conditions of reeds and sedges and in humid
tropical climate, indigenous shrubs and rain
forests trees
Key to Formation of Peat Bog

• Http//www.nics.gov.uk/doe env/leaflet5.htm

18
Peat Swamp Location
North Langat Peat Swamp
South Langat Peat Swamp
19
Governance and Management Instruments

• Institutions and Legislations
• Awareness, Advocacy and Capacity Building
• Financing

20
Institutions and Legislations

• Numerous institutions in the public, corporate
  sector and NGOs associated with water.
• reflect growing awareness and sensitivities
• reflect the difficulties in governing
• Federal Constitution (revised 1998) in general,
  land and water are under the state jurisdiction
• Origin from pre-independence
• 50 years on, new information and new priorities
  emerged
• A plethora of water and environmental laws
• Need for overarching legal framework.

21
Awareness, Advocacy and Capacity Building

• Sensitive environmental and water issues requires
  strong support from the public
• Issues covers every inch of the country and
  everyone
• Release of pollutants into water bodies
• Clearance of forested areas
• Disposal of plastics other solids into rivers
• Construction of impermeable paved areas
• Population in cities and towns have increase
  exponentially.
• The Klang river basin a population of about
  80,000 people at the beginning 20thCentury to the
  current 4 million.
• Sporadic campaigns on rivers, drains, pollution,
  plants, forest, environment, rainfall harvesting
  etc
• Need to be packaged to provide cohesiveness and
  easy understanding
• Need for capacity building in the various related
  fields
• The technical and social expertise need to be
  developed to a minimal critical mass, to handle
  the issues

22
Financing

• Financial allocation for the water sector has
  been increasing in each 5-year Malaysia Plans
• Augmented by private sector financing in the
  water supply and flood mitigation sub-sectors
• Focus largely on financing of curative projects
  within the public sectors.
• Many of the high mitigating costs could have been
  minimised if more focus is given for control at
  source
• Control at source, requires also community
  participation
• Need funding and financial allocations for
• Awareness and advocacies in public private
  agencies, NGOs and CBOs.
• capacity building, research and development

23
Regional Challenges

• Water flows from coast to coast within the the
  Southeast Asian (SEA) nations and the atmosphere
  is a shared common necessity with the winds
  blowing to all ends from all sides.
• Haze
• Tsunami
• Marine Pollution
• Impact of Coastal Reclamation
• Climate Change
• SEA population more than 500 million at the end
  of the 20th century
• expected to increase by around 50 percent by 2025
• per capita natural water availability will
  decrease from 30 to 20 m3 per person per day

24
Regional Challenges
25
Climate Change
26
Climate Change Implication

• Immediate impact, water resources
• Extreme events of floods and droughts, affect
• Water supply
• Water quality
• Agricultural production
• Bio-diversity, etc
• Melting Polar Ice will result in sea-level rise
• Inundation of low lying areas
• Potentially affecting the 4800 km coastlines and
  low riverine areas

27
National Responses to Date - 1

• National Policies
• OPP3
• MTEN
• 8th and 9th Malaysia Plans
• Sector/Agencies Policies and Master Plans
• New Agencies
• Federal
• Doe, early 70s, for water in environment
• NAHRIM, 1995, for strategic RD to develop tools
  and techniques to cope with future problems,
  including climate change
• State
• Water Boards
• LUAS (Selangor)
• Dept of Water Resources (Sabah)
• NRB (Sarawak)

28
National Responses to Date - 2

• Third Outline Perspective Plan (OPP3), 2001-2010
• Development thrusts for a sustainable
  environmental development, IWRM
• Eight Malaysia Plan (8MP) for the years 2001-2005
• Adopting an integrated and holistic approach in
  addressing environmental and resource issues to
  attain sustainable development. , IWRM and IRBM
• Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) for the years
  2006-20010
• Promotes environmental stewardship
• Preventive measures to mitigate negative
  environmental effects at source
• Intensifying conservation efforts
• Strengthening institutional capacity and
  regulatory framework

29
National Responses to Date - 3

• Reorganising of Ministries, 29 March 2004
• Two new ministries related to the water sector
• Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
  (MONRE)
• Dealing with land and water resources and
  environment
• Ministry of Energy and Water and Communication
  (MEWC)
• Dealing with service provisions utilities

30
National Responses to Date - 4

• Reorganising of Ministries, 29 March 2004
• Important milestone separating water resources
  management from the water services provision
• To consolidate land water resource planning and
  management, and
• to improve services and delivery systems to the
  public in both
• resource management
• water related utilities

31
National Responses to Date - 5

• Private Sectors/NGOs/CBOs Activities
• Capacity Building/Public Awareness
• WIM, WWP, HSBC, MNS, PNHB, WWF, MyWP and MWA
• Water Resources Management,
• WWF and WIM
• Pollution Control and Management
• GEC, AAM, CETEC,WIM, WWF
• Research and Development
• WIM, WWF

32
NRE Current initiatives

• Reorganising and integrating its agencies to
  improve effectiveness
• Human resources development and capacity
  building in related areas
• Improving awareness and advocacy
• Executing and monitoring development projects
• Co-ordinating, integrating and formulating
  policies on forestry, environment, water
  resources, land, mineral, wild life, marine
  parks, etc

33
A River Basin
34
Klang River Basin 3-D
KUALA LUMPUR
SHAH ALAM
35
Conclusion

• A new level of commitment in the country to
  manage our natural resources and environment
  better
• Re-engineering of ministries and the formation of
  the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
  (NRE)
• Land and Water are inseparable twins
• Both are parts of the same eco-system, mismanaged
  one will mismanage the other
• NRE recognised
• Water and land resources must be integrated in
  all development initiatives
• Looking at all related policies and guidelines
  for a possible national framework on water
  resources management
• All stakeholders are to be engaged and to
  complement each others efforts
• The need to consider all constraints, including
  both physical and socio economic

36
TerimaKasih
37
(No Transcript)
38
(No Transcript)