The legal protection of the Tasik Chini biosphere reserve: Criminalisation of environmental harms

Asril Amirul, Zakariah and Siva Barathi, Marimuthu (2018) The legal protection of the Tasik Chini biosphere reserve: Criminalisation of environmental harms. In: Rural Crime and the Law Conference /2018, 29 Nov 2018, England.

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Abstract

The understanding of the environmental law has evolved significantly in recent times, and it provides the means of punishment or deterrent through criminalisation, policing and prosecution. Environmental crime can be defined as the perpetration of harm against the ecosystem and its inhabitants that violate the law. This is of high importance in protected areas such as the UNESCO Biosphere Reserves that focuses on the synergistic relationship between man and environment. This paper looks into the issue of environmental protection of the Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve located in the rural area of the State of Pahang, Malaysia. The biosphere reserve status is up to review by UNESCO in 2019 and the alarming state of the lake ecosystem due to unabated anthropogenic interferences give rise to the risk of the area of losing its international recognition. Thus the need to look into the extent of legislative protection of the area through the environmental crime perspective. In the first section of the paper, the author describes the environmental harm that is afflicting the area based on the activities of logging, mining and agriculture. Next, the author reviews the corpus of legislation which is currently enforced in Malaysia. Although the study finds that there is no specific legislation dedicated to the biosphere reserve, there does exist relevant applicable laws which are sufficient for the purpose of criminalisation of environmental harm. This paper aims to explore the gaps and how the area can be better policed and managed against environmental crime.

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