TASK 7   INTRODUCTION
1.0 INTRODUCTION

According to online survey The environment in Malaysia refers to the biotas and geologies that constitute the natural environment of this Southeast Asian nation. Malaysia's ecology is megadiverse, with a biodiverse range of flora and fauna found in various ecoregionsthroughout the country. Tropical rainforests encompass between 59% to 70% of Malaysia's total land area, of which 11.6% is pristine.  Malaysia has the world's fifth largest mangrove area, which totals over a half a million hectares.
WANG XIAODONG said :In Klang Valley, Human intervention poses a significant threat to the natural environment of this country. Agriculture, forestry and urbanization contribute to the destruction of forests, mangroves and other thriving ecosystems in the country. Ecosystems and landscapes are dramatically altered by human development, including but not limited to the construction of roads and damming of rivers. Geographical phenomena, along with haze, stem from widespread deforestation. Subtle climate change occurs as a direct result of air pollution and the greenhouse effect, which in turn is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. Low-lying areas near the coastline of Sabah and Sarawak are under threat from current sea level rise.
  The environment is the subject of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment at the federal level. The Department of Wildlife and National Parks is responsible for the preservation of flora and fauna in Malaysia. Several environmental organisations have been established to raise awareness regarding the environmental issues in Malaysia. 
  There are a number of environmental issues faced by Malaysia, such as deforestation and pollution. According to a study by Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies in 2008, about 30% of Malaysian coastline is subject to varying degrees of erosion.  According to the United Nations, Malaysia's deforestation rate is the highest among tropical nations. The country's annual deforestation rate increased 86% between 1999–2000 and 2000–2005. Malaysia lost an average of 140,200 hectares of its forests or 0.65% of its total forest area every year since 2000, whereas in the 1990s, the country lost an average of 78,500 hectares, or 0.35 percent of its forests annually. 
  Mining in peninsular Malaysia has left a mark on the environment. Deforestation, pollution of rivers, and siltation have resulted in losses of agriculture, and road projects have opened new areas to colonization. 
  According to the news, the data given in the newspaper Air pollution from industrial and vehicular emissions is a major issue in the urban areas of Malaysia. Malaysia isranked 42nd in the world in terms of vehicle ownership per capita, with 273 Malaysians having vehicles out of every 1000. Public transportation has been introduced in the form of bus networks and railway systems as mitigation, but utilization rates are low. 
  Water pollution occurs due to the discharge of untreated sewage; the west coast of the Peninsular Malaysia is the most heavily populated area. 40% of the rivers in Malaysia are heavily polluted. The country has 580 cubic km of water, of which 76% is used for farming and 13% is used for industrial activity. Cities in Malaysia produce an average of 1.5 million tons of solid waste per year. 
In 2000, Malaysia was ranked fourth in the world in terms of per capita greenhouse gas emissions after taking into account land use change with 37.2 tonnes ofcarbon dioxide equivalent per capita.
Periodic fires, which usually coincide with the events of el Niño, burn thousands of hectares of forests across Malaysia, especially in Malaysian Borneo. The haze originating from these fires and the fires in Kalimantan, Indonesia typically have adverse health effects on the populace, besides causing air pollution. In particular, the 1997 Southeast Asian haze, the 2005 Malaysian haze and the 2006 Southeast Asian haze were caused by slash and burn activities in neighboring Indonesia.

   Although pollution had been known to exist for a very long time (at least since people started using fire thousands of years ago), it had seen the growth of truly global proportions only since the onset of the industrial revolution-during the 19th century.
 Figure 1:Environmental Pollution
  The industrial revolution brought with it technological progress such as discovery of oil and its virtually universal use throughout different industries.
  Technological progress facilitated by super efficiency of capitalist business practices (division of labour – cheaper production costs – overproduction – overconsumption – overpollution) had probably become one of the main causes of serious deterioration of natural resources.
  At the same time, of course, development of natural sciences led to the better understanding of negative effects produced by pollution on the environment.
  Environmental pollution is a problem both in developed and developing countries. Factors such as population growth and urbanization invariably place greater demands on the planet and stretch the use of natural resources to the maximum.
  It has been argued that the carrying capacity of Earth is significantly smaller than the demands placed on it by large numbers of human populations. And overuse of natural resources often results in nature’s degradation.