May 18, 2020 @ 6:36pm

WELL thought-out efforts are needed to keep pollution levels down if Malaysians are to continue to enjoy a cleaner and healthier environment brought about by the slowdown of industry and human activities throughout the Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

The country has seen a reduction in pollution and a significant improvement in air and water quality as evidenced by reports from the Department of Environment Malaysia (DoE) and visuals from the media of clearer skies and less polluted waters.

To ensure the situation can continue and be improved on as well as facilitate sustainable living, a concerted and collective effort is needed by all stakeholders – from the government, academics, industry players and the layman, said environmental conservation experts and enthusiasts.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) environmental technology lecturer Associate Professor Dr Muhammad Izzuddin Syakir Ishak pointed out that the development and expansion of urbanisation in the country over the years saw the environment receiving large amounts of pollution from various sources such as transportation, residential/commercial wastewater, trash and polluted storm water runoff from urban landscapes.

"Pollution load over the years has increased to the level that exceeded the carrying capacity of the air and water system, resulting in air and water quality deterioration. Since the MCO has been enforced, air quality has improved dramatically due to reduced emissions and particulate matter in the air has decreased by half," he observed.

Dr Meisam Tabatabaei, senior lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, said with Covid-19 bringing industries and the transportation sector to a standstill, the substantial cut in the consumption of fossil fuels has reduced the emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG).

"Nonetheless, it would be too optimistic to assume that these presumably favourable outcomes of an actual tragedy would be sustained unless a thorough change of course in our way of life would be realised," he said.

Environmental enthusiast Dr Suzianah Nhazzla Ismail commented that "after Covid-19, Malaysians need to finally change our lifestyle – business not as usual".

"Deforestation needs to stop – our tropical rainforest is a natural system that soaks up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and thus slows down the speed of global warming. Industrialisation in Malaysia needs to be environmental-friendly and nature-first with government policies addressing, controlling and monitoring the level of nitrogen dioxide produced by the industrial sites.

"The processing of industrial wastes must be revised and renewed. The disposal of industrial wastes via river, sea and earth is not acceptable. The procedures must be in order with rejuvenated nature so that the levels of healthy air and waterways in Malaysia can be prolonged and better improved," she emphasised, adding that policies and actions by the government must not only be for sustaining and prolonging a healthier nature but also for restoring wildlife.

A sustainable environment is not just the responsibility of the authorities, said Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) Faculty of Ocean Engineering Technology and Informatics senior lecturer Dr Noor Zaitun Yahaya.

"We must promote clean air activities via social media, educate youngsters from early on to respect and fight for their right to clean air for their future health. The government and industries should have some allocation or fund to support the campaign promoting a clean and safe environment. Tax exemption ought to be given to those who support this type of endeavour," she said.

Muhammad Izzuddin said clean rivers and air amid the urban landscape is possible if the current spirit of togetherness is embraced and there is stakeholders' commitment among private and non-governmental organisations, higher education institutions, local community, public and government agencies.

"We must take on the sustainable production and consumption (SPC) approach as opposed to the traditional focus of 'produce and dispose' as it focuses on the circular economy that gives rise to different strategies which include environmental, social and economic impacts of a product over its entire life cycle," he stated.

"At Environmental Technology in USM's School of Industrial Technology, our focus is on understanding the industrial processes and its impact on the environment system as a whole. We train future generations of environmental technologists and environmentalists at the level of undergraduate and Master by Coursework in Environmental Science.

"We also study the impact of climate change on air-water interaction and make the data available on the website http://atmosfera.usm.my. The outcome of the project allows us to prioritise management efforts to determine the longevity and sustainability of water resources," he said.

Tabatabaei, meanwhile, suggested the term "Sustainable Development" and its goals including economic ones, be shifted to "Sustainable Life".

"We do need to redesign many of the existing protocols, teachings and training, policy-makings, and to re-establish the apparently broken link between the scientists and the society, making sure that this time around, they will have a say in re-shaping our lives into sustainable lives," he said.

UiTM, he said, is one of the partners of The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change, which is a collaboration of 35 world-class academic institutions and UN agencies, dedicated to tracking the world's response to climate change and public health.

Tabatabaei has been working with the Lancet Countdown as a lead collaborator and alongside over 120 climate scientists and geographers, mathematicians and physicists, transport and energy experts, development experts, engineers, economists, social and political scientists, and health professionals.

"The pandemic will hopefully be over soon but post-Corona developmental efforts are needed to be more wisely planned and implemented to ensure we will never have to experience such tragedies again in the future," said Tabatabaei.

UMT is conducting some research with the DoE to analyse air quality data obtained from the Air Quality Monitoring Stations among others.

"We are exploring the data using several techniques to analyse the impact of Covid-19 to the air quality status. We will use an artificial intelligent approach named Stochastic Boosted Regression Trees. An extended analysis may be suggested to link the air quality and number of people affected to Covid-19 health effects especially in mega cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Johor Baru and others," she revealed, adding that UMT is working with Universiti Putra Malaysia Faculty of Health Science and Environment on this.

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/05/593596/keeping-pollution-levels-down-beyond-mco