3. What is meant by environmental degradation? What measures should be adopted both international levels to protect the environment?

Environmental degradation is a process when the natural environment is compromised or depleted by reducing biological diversity and the general health of the environment. This process can be entirely natural in origin, or it can be accelerated or caused by human activities. Many international organizations recognize environmental degradation as one of the major threats facing the planet.1 Resources that are depleted are water, air, and soil. However, degradation also impacts our wildlife, plants, animals and micro-organisms.2Environmental degradation is one of the Ten Threats officially cautioned by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations. Human activities that can cause environmental degradation are urbanization, population growth, economic growth, intensification of agriculture, increase in energy use and increase in transportation. Our land,water and soil are compromised when people exhaust resources or release harmful chemicals into the air3. Common types of environmental degradation are : 1) deforestation 2) pollutions 3) acid rain 4) the use of Chloroflurocarbons (CFCs).4 In Malaysia, our environmental issue is more on deforestation and pollution. In Sabah, the lower Kinabatangan plains, which area stretches along the northeastern coast of Borneo, forests have been reduced to scattered pieces while endangered animals such as elephants have lost their habitats. Flooding has also intensified. Eventhough Malaysia is one of the least polluted urban environment in Asia, the massive development and urbanization and vehicle use are a growing concern. Hence, it has become an environmental issue for our country5. Internationally, climate change and global warming
1 What is Environmental Degradation? <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-environmental-degradation.htm> 4 February 2011 2 Impacts of Environmental Degradation <http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Impacts_of_Environmental_Degradation> 4 February 2011 3 Ibid 4 Environmental Degradation <http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/Science/environmental_degradation.html> 4 February 2011 5 Environmental problems in Malaysia

has been a global worry.Due to these events, the ice in Antartica are melting. According to a team of UK researchers it is melting fast due to the global warming6. Since environmental degradation is a huge problem, we should be doing something about it. Our country has started to save the environment by having a non-plastic bag day every week. Supermarkets are not allowed to give out plastic bags to customers on certain days depending on the state. Customers are encourage to bring their own recycleable bags to carry their groceries. However, starting 2011, the Penang state implemented the rule banning plastic bags state wide. These might seem like small steps, but it can lead to big changes. The Malaysian government also has acts to save the forests under the National Forestry Acts 1984 and an Environmental Quality Incentives Programme to implement conservation practices on eligible agricultural land7.In Malaysia, environmental issues and natural resource management are coordinated through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE).
Steps to protect the environment has also been taken upon globally.For example United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Meteorogical Organisation (WMO) created Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to assess the scientific knowledge on global warming. Its first major report in 1990 showed that there was broad international consensus that climate change was humaninduced.8 The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has also taken measures to protect the environment from degrading.Its mission is to halt and reverse the destruction of our environment.Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: forests, freshwater ecosystems, and oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned with endangered species, pollution and climate change9. Because of this, all of us, as a nation and as the citizens of the world should be responsible and prevent the earth from degrading. If it is not us who will save mother earth, who will then? The
<http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/malaysia/environmental_problems_malaysia/> 4 February 2011 6 Antarctic's ice 'melting faster' <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4228411.stm> 4 February 2011 7 Environmental Quality Incentives Program <http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip/> 4 February 2011 8 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change <http://www.globalissues.org/article/521/un-frameworkconvention-on-climate-change> 4 February 2011 9 Wikipedia: World Wide Fund for Nature <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Fund_for_Nature> 4 February 2011

precautions and steps taken to prevent environmental issues by both national and international level has been a very good measure. However, the environment is still detriorating, hence every body should join hands in conserving the earth.