Good Governance and Human Security in Malaysia: Sarawak's Hydroelectric Conundrum

Howe, Brendan; Kamaruddin, Nurliana

doi:10.1355/cs38-1d

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Since that time the country has experienced rapid industrialization, significantly as a result of top-down macroeconomic growth policies promoted by the national federal government through a centralized planned economy. The development policies of Malaysia have been geared toward moving the country from an agriculture-based nation to an industrialized nation (Howe and Kamaruddin 2016). Yet, despite significant economic growth, Malaysia's sociopolitical governance still leaves much to be desired, with distributive injustice meaning that the benefits of development have yet to be felt by some of the most vulnerable sections of society, and worse, big development projects causing irreparable harm to minorities as well as to the environment.…”

Section: Vulnerabilities In Malaysiamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conflict, Development, and the Environment in Asia

Howe

2021

Disaster Risk Reduction

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In spite of dramatic progress in economic development and governance in Asia, major challenges to human security endure. In some cases, these have been exacerbated by national security and development policymaking. Among the most serious challenges are conflict, poverty, environmental degradation, and "natural" or "nature-induced" disasters. Each of these threatens human security. Through interaction with each other, however, they can also serve as insecurity multipliers. This chapter will focus on the intersections of these variables, using case material from several Asian countries. The first part of the chapter will consider conflict as a direct threat to human security, as a poverty multiplier, as a contaminator of the environment, and as a stimulus for state security policy prioritization that directly impacts upon the human security of the most vulnerable, as well as indirectly through resource allocation. Case material for this section will be drawn from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Myanmar, and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). The second part of the chapter will examine how insecurity at a state level can lead to a focus on national security and development models, which not only leads to environmental degradation but can also increase disaster vulnerability. It will further evaluate how mega-development practices can pose a direct threat to the most vulnerable, as well as indirectly through impact on the environment. The major case studies here will be Myanmar leading up to the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis in 2008 and hydroelectric dams in Lao PDR and Malaysia.

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Section: Vulnerabilities In Malaysiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dammed water is also prone to the proliferation of algae, which, if left unattended, leach oxygen from the water, bringing about a state of hypoxia (oxygen depletion). The Bakun reservoir is particularly prone to this phenomenon as the bottom holds massive quantities of vegetation (Howe and Kamaruddin 2016).…”

Section: Vulnerabilities In Malaysiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Conflict, Development, and the Environment in Asia

Howe

2021

Disaster Risk Reduction

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“…These shifting fortunes reflect the politics surrounding the central question of the governance of infrastructure (e.g., McCormick 2007, Perz et al 2008, Wong 2017. Infrastructure planning is often not transparent for stakeholder groups who will be impacted, which reflects power inequalities (e.g., Howe and Kamarrudin 2016, Valverde and Moore 2019, Mendoza and Cruz 2020. Stakeholders therefore seek to intervene at various stages in the process as a means of influencing decisions about infrastructure and its impacts (e.g., Doria et al 2018, Mendoza et al 2007, Qiao, et al 2018.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The wisdom of hindsight: a comparative analysis of timelines of environmental governance of infrastructure across the Pan-Amazon

Sabo¹,

Arteaga²,

Michaelsen³

et al. 2022

E&S

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The planning and implementation of infrastructure projects is a long-term enterprise that involves debates over the many positive and negative impacts. Previous work has examined questions about conditions for effective environmental governance of infrastructure, but has typically focused on individual projects and short time frames. We therefore pursued an historical approach to environmental governance of infrastructure projects across multiple cases, taking up examples of highways and dams in the Amazon. Through multi-stakeholder workshops, conservation partners developed historical timelines of events concerning governance of infrastructure in four regions within the basin. Timelines permit analysis to identify periods of particular dynamism, improvements and declines in governance effectiveness, identification of influential stakeholders and events, and conditions that define the effectiveness of governance. We conclude with lessons within and across cases about conditions and strategies for effective environmental governance of infrastructure.

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“…Generally, hydropower dams involve (1) various environmental and social effects and (2) diverse actors. Salient to these two characteristics is the concept of human security, which emphasizes both a multitude of threats (United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], 1994; Pairs, 2001; Newman, 2001, 2010) and the actors who contend with them (Howe & Kamaruddin, 2016; Howe & Sims, 2011; Jacob, 2014; Peou, 2005). Through the lens of human security, I argue that the research on hydropolitics in Cambodia reflects a human‐centered analytical approach, leading the research to have three important characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of the research on hydropolitics in Cambodia

Chu

2022

WIREs Water

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Research on hydropolitics in Cambodia emerged in the early 2000s. Since then, scholars in the field have diversified their analytical approaches and broadened the scope of the issues being examined. However, no systematic review of this body of research has been published until now. Correspondingly and quite simply, the objective of this paper is to review the research on hydropolitics in Cambodia. Through the lens of human security, I argue that the research has relied on a human-centered analytical approach and has, thus, acquired three central characteristics: (1) the human-centered analytical approach gives the research a stronger connection to the reality on the ground than is the case with research rooted in the conventional security approach, which adheres to the Westphalian practice of statism and a militaristic focus; (2) the research has generated some valuable findings (e.g., dam-affected villagers can be their own security contributors; not all environmental nongovernmental organizations are anti-dam); and(3) the research has generally overlooked the Cambodian People's Party government's alternately pro-dam and anti-dam stances.

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Good Governance and Human Security in Malaysia: Sarawak's Hydroelectric Conundrum

Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

Conflict, Development, and the Environment in Asia

Conflict, Development, and the Environment in Asia

The wisdom of hindsight: a comparative analysis of timelines of environmental governance of infrastructure across the Pan-Amazon

Review of the research on hydropolitics in Cambodia

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