IPOH: Global Environment Centre (GEC) in collaboration with the Department of Environment (DOE) Perak and Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Perak, with Yayasan Hasanah (YH) successfully organised a one-day workshop on Best Management Practices for Selected Business Players through Green Living Practices yesterday.
Yang Berhormat Mr Teh Kok Lim, Perak State Government Assembly (Exco) Members of Science, Environment and Green Technology Chairman, officially launched the workshop which was attended by 37 participants from 30 different business players.
In his officiating speech, YB Teh Kok Lim said, “Based on the environmental assessment report conducted by GEC in 2021/2022, land use for agriculture in Sungai Kinta river basin is 30.36%, which is the second largest after forest area of 33.27%. Meanwhile, land use for industries cover 1.67% from the total area of Sungai Kinta river basin. These activities can be one of the main river pollution factors of Sungai Kinta if they do not follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and guidelines set by the DOE, DID or local authorities.”
“We are not pointing the blame on anyone, but we are looking for solutions to prevent and address river pollution issues through Best Management Practices (BMP) approach at each of the premises, tackling pollution at source,” YB Teh Kok Lim added while commending everyone’s effort in ensuring Sungai Kinta remains at optimum condition.
Dr K. Kalithasan Kailasam, GEC River Care Programme Manager and river expert highlighted that “We are focusing on bottom-up approach by emphasising the involvement of targeted stakeholder groups. For example, business players and owners can play a role in ensuring best practices are being implemented at their premises while local communities can be the leaders and the driving forces in river monitoring at local level.”
“Through this workshop, two selected business players representing the industry and agriculture sectors will be assisted to implement BMPs at their premises as a follow-up initiative. We believe such assistance extended can be a reference point for business players to emulate at their own premises,” added Dr Kalithasan.
The workshop was organised under the Stewardship for A Healthy Kinta River Basin Through Green Living Practices project implemented by GEC in partnership with DID Perak and funded by Yayasan Hasanah since 2021 with aims to achieve a healthy Kinta River Basin in the long run.
A total of seven presentations on best practices was presented and shared in the workshop by representatives from multi-stakeholders from different government agencies, corporate and NGO namely DOE Perak, DID Malaysia, Department of Agriculture (DOA) Perak, Ipoh City Council, Heineken Malaysia Berhad and GEC.
