Ecological modernisation of the Malaysian agriculture industry - to what extent?

Abstract

The social theory of Ecological Modernisation (EMT) was first developed during the early 1980s against a Western European background, especially in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK (Mol & Sonnenfeld, 2000 p.5) in order to explain environmental progress that been significantly achieved by those countries. It was observed that the socio-political, economic and cultural backgrounds of that region largely constituted

EMT foundation. The theory has evolved 'breadth and depth' over the last two decades and become a full- fledged theory in environmental sociology at the end of 1990s. Unlike deep ecology and post modernisation,

the EMT approach to overcoming environmental degradation is through the path of modernity, which requires the restoration of structural design faults of modernity via transformation of modern institutions

in line with principles of ecology. The EMT proposes that institutional change must occur at the macro- economic level through broad sectoral shifts in the economy to new and clean technologies (Gibbs,

2000 p.12). It is encouraged by a market economy and facilitated by an enabling state.Capitalising the ecological modernisation framework, the aim of this study is to investigate to what extent the Malaysian Agriculture Industry especially oil palm modernises according to the principle of ecology. This study traces the development of the industry, its environmental impacts as well as its environmental improvement in two periods - early independent (in the 1950 to 1980s) and contemporary periods (in the 1990s to early 2000s). Overall it is true to say over the last 50 years many practices of the industry have been inline with the principle of ecology. This is evident when the industry becomes cleaner and manages to control air and water pollution exacerbated by its mills. Moreover, the introduction of better breeds of oil palms to ensure high yield of fruits and recycling activities, integrated pest management (1PM) to reduce operational costs have been widely practised by the industry's players. However, observing the growth of the industry it is found that the development of the industry is at the expense of the Malaysian rainforests and its far reaching impacts on wildlife. This is against the principle of ecological modernisation. Hence, to ensure the industry modernises according to the principle of ecology this issue should be given due attention. Failure to address the issue would expose Malaysia to criticisms especially from environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) as well as environmentalists