Source : The Star, Malaysia, 22 Jun '08
By : Nurbaiti Hamdan
  

These include cleaning, rehabilitating and beautifying rivers, reforestation, as well as the management of wildlife, protected areas and beaches.

The allocation from the Ninth Malaysian Plan is administered by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, whose minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said that the Government was serious about looking after natural resources and the environment for future generations.

"However, this goal will not be fulfilled if people do not play their roles in taking care of the environment," he said in a speech read by the ministry's secretary-general Datuk Suboh Mohd Yasin at the launch of World Environment Day at Zoo Negara on Sunday.

The minister said that Malaysians still had bad habits that needed to be addressed, such as littering and polluting rivers, and said many did not know how lifestyles can create an adverse impact on the environment.

He also called for development to be environmentally friendly. "Development can take place but nature must be taken care of as well," he said.

Suboh later took part in a ceremony in which 100 trees are planted every year to commemorate World Environment Day.

Also present were Malaysian Zoological Society director Dr Mohamad Ngah, Malaysian Zoological Society president Datuk Ismail Hutson and Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) deputy director-general (research) Dr Abdul Rashid Abdul Malik.