LIST OF QUESTIONS & RESULTS

GOOGLE FORM FORMAT

SECTION ONE

ADR IN ENVIRONMENTAL DISPUTES IN MALAYSIA

This Section consists of four (4) questions which are the respondent’s email, gender, which State are they from and whether they have heard about any environmental disputes around them. The purpose of the data collection for respondent’s email is to spread awareness by sending our website link since in our website we have included all about ADR in Environmental Disputes. As to protect the private and confidential information of the respondents which are the emails, we will not insert it in here.

QUESTION 1 :

GENDER

From the survey conducted, Figure 1 shows the data which have been successfully collected from 31 respondents which consist of five (5) male respondents (16.1%) and twenty-five (26) female respondents (83.9%).

QUESTION 2 :

STATE

Figure 2 shows the data collection from various States which consists of 14 States. Our survey was answered from eight (8) various States. From the total of 31 respondents, the majority of the respondents were from Selangor and Perak, which are 10 respondents and 7 respondents respectively. Adding on, 5 respondents from Sarawak and 4 respondents from Kedah. We have also received 2 respondents from Kelantan. As we can see from the chart above, the least respondents are from Negeri Sembilan, Johor and Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur which consists of 1 respondent each. The purpose of the survey in the States is because environmental issues are detected globally and different States have different current issues for the environment in which this has benefited us to distribute the survey to our friend’s neighbourhood in their State.

QUESTION 3 :

Have you ever heard about any environmental issues near you?

Figure 3 shows the chart of respondents if they are aware about the environmental disputes in which 15 respondents have agreed that they have heard about the environmental disputes while 8 of the respondents did not heard about it and the rest of the respondents were not sure if they have heard about the environmental disputes around them.

SECTION TWO

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

As we are aware now, we often hear and see news of environmental destruction in which some of the natural resources are used or exploit for the purpose of construction or industrial activities. In this Section, we will be able to see the most current issue which has been bothering on a daily basis.

QUESTION 1 :

What kind of pollution bothers you the most on a day-to-day basis?

As it can be seen in the chart, the first question that we asked our respondents was “What kind of pollution bothers them the most on a day-to-day basis?” Majority of the respondents knew about the pollution and the most voted pollutions are air pollution and waste disposal which are equivalent to 71% followed by water pollution (64.5%), plastic pollution (54.8%) and noise pollution (51.6%). Moving on, some pollution also has low votes because these pollutions are not that serious, the others are deforestation (48.4%), soil contamination (22.6%) and radioactive contamination (16.1%). The most voted pollutions on a daily basis is because the respondents are currently having them at their respectives neighbourhood.

QUESTION 2 :

Have you ever participated (or heard) with the government or any NGOs in order to overcome environmental issues?

Apart from that, we also asked our respondents if they have participated or heard with the Government or any NGOs in order to overcome environmental issues. Based on Figure 4, there are 21 respondents who answered no because they were not aware of the bodies established while 10 of the respondents answered yes. In our opinion, these bodies should be promoted frequently to let the people know that they are bodies for governing the environment.

QUESTION 3 :

In your opinion, what are the environmental problems that should be addressed immediately?

Referring to the chart above, 67.7% of the respondents answered that water pollution and deforestation problems should be addressed immediately while 64.5% respondents answered that air pollution should also be addressed immediately. Other environmental problems such as land/soil pollution and climate change also need to be addressed as 32.2% of the respondents have answered it. The rest of the environmental problems such as waste pollution, waste treatment and littering are the least problems voted by the respondents which are 3.2%. These problems stated has been a common environmental issue among the respondents due to the illegal activities carried out.

SECTION THREE

SOLUTION(S) FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

In this Section, our group has focused the survey to the solutions for environmental issues and the knowledge of ADR in environmental issues. This Section consists of three (3) questions.

QUESTION 1 :

With the problem that has been stated above, what is the solution that has been come up with?

Based on the chart above, it can be seen that most of the voted solutions are conservation of forest and endangered animals (64.5%), recycling (61.3%), fines and jail time for individuals who did not comply with the regulations (58.1%), the transfer of environmentally friendly products that are able to reduce waste (54.8%) and relocating the dumping area to somewhere far from the residential area (45.2%).

QUESTION 2 :

In your viewpoint, are these solutions effective to tackle the environmental issues?

Figure 5 shows the majority of the respondents, 15 respondents, said maybe because they are unsure about it. This is because these solutions have been implemented before but they were not that effective to solve the problems. Whereas, 13 respondents answered yes and 3 respondents answered no. In order for these solutions to be effective, each and every person has to be responsible to protect the environment.

QUESTION 3 :

Which government bodies that you are familiar with if you intended to file a complaint regarding environmental matters?

According to the data collected, it is shown that the most familiar body is the District City Council. Some of the respondents are also familiar with the bodies of the Department of Environment, The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MOSTE). As for the not so familiarized bodies which are the Environmental Quality Council, Environment Management and Research Association Malaysia (ENSEARCH) and Jabatan Alam Sekitar, these bodies need to be exposed more to the public so that people will know too that these bodies are also established to help people if they intend to file a complaint regarding environmental matters.

SECTION FOUR

IMPLEMENTATION OF ADR IN RESOLVING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

In this Section, we will give some understanding and exposure on the implementation of ADR in environmental issues in Malaysia.

QUESTION 1 :

Have you ever heard about ADR in resolving issues involving environmental matters?

Figure 6 shown that 25 respondents which is equal to 80.6% are not aware of the implementation of ADR in resolving environmental matters, while only 4 respondents which equals to 12.9% are aware of the ADR implementation. Out of 31 respondents, 2 respondents which is equivalent to 6.5% are not sure about the ADR implementation in resolving issues involving environmental matters in Malaysia.

QUESTION 2 :

Do you know that environmental disputes can also be solved through Arbitration, Mediation, Reconciliation, or Negotiation?

According to Figure 7, out of the total 31 respondents, 17 respondents which are equivalent to 54.8% did not know that environmental disputes can also be solved through Arbitration, Mediation, Conciliation or Negotiation whereas 14 respondents which are equivalent to 45.2% knew about it. The percentage of the ‘no’ answer is higher because they might not know or be aware of other solutions to environmental matters because of not much exposure. They might have the thought that this kind of matters must always be brought to the court for settlement.

RESPONDENTS' OPINIONS & CONCLUSION OF THE SURVEY

QUESTION 3 :

One of the suggested views from the respondent was to recruit qualified and educated officers to manage this Government organization to protect the environment. Adding on, it was suggested that Government organizations can recruit students or those unemployed individuals to be the eye for those who work on environmental issues. By implementing this view, we can reduce prohibited and illegal activities that are harmful to the environment. Besides that, individuals need to be proactive by filing a complaint to the environmental bodies so that they can take the action as soon as possible to resolve the issue.

Apart from that, negotiation is one method suggested to tackle the issues. By negotiation, everything can be discussed professionally as the neighbourhood can select a representative to voice out the issue and the following bodies can start to take immediate action to resolve it. In conclusion, we should settle these environmental issues using a friendly ADR method instead of using a forced law or a law that is not followed by some individuals. This is to ensure that both parties are agreed and satisfied with the decision and the environmental issues can be solved in a short period of time.

CONCLUSION

Based on the data collected from our survey, we can conclude that public awareness for environmental issues is inadequate and poor due to the limitation of exposure to the laws to the individuals. Furthermore, individuals are not familiar with ADR implementation as a viable option for settling issues about the environment. In conclusion, our group was inspired to use this service-based learning which is an initiative for us to help to deliver additional knowledge and understanding to the public about the use of ADR methods in solving the environmental issues.

THE ANALYSIS ON OUR RESEARCH

RESPONDENTS

As analyzed from the survey conducted, we had 31 respondents which consist of five (5) males and twenty-six (26) females from various States. This survey is conducted to focus on the targeted parties who are in the neighbourhood.

THE REASON BEHIND IT

The majority of the respondents are from the State of Kedah and Perak. As environmental issues are one of the current issues, almost half of the respondents were aware of the environmental disputes around them. It is clearly shown that the most on daily basis environmental issues addressed were air pollution, waste disposal and water pollution. This is because most of them have not ever participated or heard about the Government or NGOs to overcome environmental issues.

OUR FINDINGS

Based on the opinions of the respondents, the environmental issues that should be addressed immediately are water pollution, deforestation and air pollution. Apart from the survey, we too do notice these environmental issues daily. It is important to address the environmental issues to be able to get some recommended solutions.

OUR SURVEY & FINDINGS

WHAT ARE THE RESPONDENT THOUGHTS?

There are recommendations from the respondents such as recycling, conservation of forest and endangered animals, fines and jail time for the individuals who did not comply with the regulations, the transfer of environmentally friendly products that are able to reduce waste and relocating the dumping area to somewhere far from the residential area. Majority of them, 15 respondents, were not sure if the solutions recommended are effective to tackle the environmental issues. Meanwhile only 12 respondents answered yes for the solutions recommended to overcome it by ADR. We do know that there are some bodies who are responsible for the protection of environmental matters for the purpose of filing complaints. Those familiar Government bodies are District City Council and Department of Environment.

WHAT DOES ADR HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?

80% of the respondents have not heard about ADR in resolving issues involving environmental matters. They also were not aware that environmental disputes can also be solved through Arbitration, Mediation, Conciliation or Negotiation. Besides that, we have also collected some data on the reasoning of what other best methods that could be done other than litigation in order to tackle the environmental issues in the neighbourhood. The most proposed method was negotiation. This is because during the discussion for issues faced, the discussion can be done professionally with the organisation involved. This is due to the issues that arise as some of the individuals have the ‘do not care’ thought with them.

RESPONDENT OPINIONS & SUGGESTIONS

Another suggested method was having qualified and educated employees to manage the Government organization. This method can be implemented by having certain peoples acting as an eye for the Government organization who works on environmental issues. By implementing this method, we can reduce the prohibited and illegal activities which can cause harm to the environment. Last but not the least, the common proposed methods are creating awareness on the seriousness of the environmental issues and enforcing the laws against those who have caused harm and violated the mother earth.