Environmental impact assessment for Malyasian bauxite mining industry

• Main Authors: Periaiah, Nagendran, Islam, Rafikul, Abdullah, Muhammad Faris
• Format: Article
• Language: English; English
• Published: Creative Decisions Foundation 2021
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General)
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/90756/7/90756_Environmental%20impact%20assessment%20for%20Malyasian%20bauxite%20mining%20industry_SCOPUS.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/90756/8/90756_Environmental%20impact%20assessment%20for%20Malyasian%20bauxite%20mining%20industry.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/90756/; https://ijahp.org/index.php/IJAHP/issue/view/37; https://doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v13i1.851

Mining industry plays an important role in the economic development of Malaysia. However, uncontrolled mining activities have caused serious environmental impacts. In the recent case of bauxite mining in Kuantan, state of Pahang, fifteen kilometres of Pahang’s coastline were stained with red arsenic particles and inflicted heavy metal pollution washed from open-pit bauxite mines into the nearby sea. There have been potential catastrophic damages to the ecosystem off the coast of Pahang. This triggered Government of Malaysia to issue temporary ban on the bauxite mining while the state government had engaged in performing an expensive clean-up works. Mining activities require Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Environmental decisions are complex and draw upon multidisciplinary knowledge bases which incorporate natural, physical, and social sciences, politics, and ethics. This research proposes a decision support framework that uses Analytic Network Process (ANP) to help decision makers in EIA pertaining to bauxite mining industry.