Budget 2026's green pledges fall short on forest protection and wildlife conservation - SAM

On rare earth resource mapping activity where the government will continue with an allocation of RM10m:

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM): We hope that environmentally sensitive areas and indigenous peoples’ territories are totally excluded.

To support sustainable lifestyles, rebates for the purchase of energy-efficient appliances by consumers and traders will continue, with an allocation of RM20m.

In this regard, we welcome the move as this is the right way to go in encouraging energy efficiency.

The government also plans to extend the individual income tax relief of RM2,500 to cover the purchase of food waste shredding machines, encouraging sustainable living practices.

Rather than providing focus on buying food waste shredding machines, more money should have been allocated for environmental and consumer education for educating people on embracing sustainable lifestyles.

We are disappointed that no allocations have been provided for environmental and consumer groups to carry out such education programmes.

The success of the Solar Madani initiative, which completed the installation of 4,000 solar lights in Sabah, will also be expanded to villages nationwide.

This is a good move.

A RM250m ringgit “ecological fiscal transfer fund” to support the states’ role in conserving natural resources. The government has agreed to distribute RM50m of from such a fund as revenue to the state governments.

We are disappointed that RM250m is the same amount as the previous year. Such allocations are indeed insufficient to ensure that state governments protect and rehabilitate the forests. We were hoping for increased allocations in this regard.

Also, given the importance of protecting water catchments for the sustainability of water resources, we would have liked to see greater allocations to ensure our water catchment forests are totally protected.

Also, RM50m provided to states, while welcomed, is really too small in this regard.

Of particular importance are efforts to protect the Central Forest Spine, but there was no mention by the PM on the importance of doing this.

And further, we are disappointed that no emphasis was given to the creation and protection of wildlife corridors to prevent human-wildlife conflict.

Also disappointing was no allocation of resources to prevent the poaching, smuggling and trafficking of our precious flora and fauna.

RM80m for 2,500 community rangers to protect forests.

This is a good move but we hope this also covers efforts to prevent wildlife poaching and trafficking.

RM300m to treat, maintain and clean rivers, including RM10m to the National River Trail to develop recreational trails and foster community responsibility to protect river sustainability.

Rivers are vital ecosystems, and the allocations in this regard are welcomed.

However, we are disappointed that there is no mention of more resources for enforcement and monitoring of environmental degradation, such as addressing water and air pollution.

We welcome the move to introduce a carbon tax on the iron, steel and energy sectors but await more information on the details to assess how effective the move will be in addressing our carbon emissions.

We are deeply concerned about the focus and promotion of data centres and artificial intelligence (AI), but we do not see sufficient attention given to addressing the high energy and water consumption stemming from this sector.

This will increase the costs of our energy transition and has not been factored into our national energy transition roadmap.

We welcome the allocation to the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma)of RM460m for disaster management and RM210m for early warning systems. These are important efforts in preparing for and mitigating increasing flooding in the country, which will rise in intensity and frequency due to climate change impacts.

We also welcome the government’s move to amend the Aboriginal Peoples’ Act, but we would like to see proper and meaningful consultations carried out with Orang Asli groups and other concerned groups to ensure that the customary rights of the Orang Asli are genuinely protected and respected. – SAM