Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said that government agencies are not spending enough time and money to raise awareness on environmental issues among their staff.

There are government agencies, when they do things they don’t think about the environment because they are used to the old ways. And only when something happens, they come and investigate, find fault and start pointing fingers.

- Source: Azmi: Government agencies not spending enough time, money on environs issues, The Star, 12 September 2007

I do not have the necessary statistics but as far as I’m concerned, government agencies are obviously not doing as much as private agencies. In fact, government agencies aren’t doing as much as they should when it comes to preserving the environment. For example, the sand-mining operations that are being carried out on the terrapin nesting bank in Setiu. The Village Headman did not know about the effects of the sand-mining operations. The District Officer had no comments. The Member of Parliament could not be contacted for comments. And there we were, almost at a dead end, and nobody cared.

The only government agency that does environment-related work would be the Department of Wildlife and National Park (PERHILITAN). And probably the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Having said that, environmental awareness should be instilled into the minds of the younger generations. Our children needed to be taught the importance of keeping our rivers clean, the importance of conserving natural resources such as water, the importance to conserve critically-endangered animals, and generally the importance of taking care of our environment before it is too late.

Non-government organizations, on the other hand, should be applauded for the continuous efforts in creating and raising awareness on issues related to the environment. For example, WWF-Malaysia runs a long term turtle volunteer program at Ma’ Daerah and another painted terrapin project in Setiu, Terengganu. The Malaysian Nature Society runs conservation projects as well as Environment Education programs on the school and national levels.

What are your thoughts on this?