Deforestation and Haze in Malaysia: Status of Corporate Responsibility and Law Governance

Malaysia is endowed with abundant forest resources that covers about 59.5% of total land area. For most part of Malaysia's economy, much importance is placed on the contribution of forest in agronomy development. Due to apparent large scale land clearing that brought grave consequences to the environment, various initiatives to protect forests from misuse, abuse and overexploitation of forest resources, mainly by plantation companies, were implemented. The attribution of haze caused by burning of forests further pushed for appropriate policies and laws to protect atmospheric quality in Malaysia. Local laws on preventing deforestation and haze are mainly provided in the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and National Forestry Act 1984. Efforts to resolve issues of deforestation and its environmental impacts on air quality should re-emphasize the benefits of practicing Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) to limit environmental impacts of forest activities through continuous participation and commitment from stakeholders, such as the plantation companies. The penalties for deforestation offences in current Malaysian laws whilst it is punitive, should be improved by imposing an environmental tax on polluter companies as a corrective and rehabilitative tool, thus affirming the 'polluter pays principle'. Environmental tax law could be utilized, for example, in restoring the affected forest area to its natural and original state. The categories of persons contributing to the Environmental Fund should be reviewed to address impacts from deforestation and haze. The study attempts to enhance and strengthen the role of companies in their corporate legal responsibilities towards deforestation and haze issues in Malaysia. (C) 2016 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.uk