SUSTAINABLE COASTAL TOURISM: MALAYSIAN LEGAL APPROACH -- EXPERIENCE OR EXPERIMENT?

Growth for growth’s sake, pursued without thorough preparatory study, constitutes a dangerous lack of foresight. Great care should be taken that the unavoidable reduction of natural heritage be kept to a minimum and that any encroachment on the coastal environment be offset. Required actions cover preservation and protection of fragile environments through legislation, purchase and control, promotion of non-destructive uses, elimination of waste disposal operations, production of descriptive, diagnostic and prescriptive maps (Cendrero, A. 1989), delimitation of marine mining areas, pollution abatement, building regulation, biomass exploitation, minimization of natural hazards, preservation of high quality soils, EIA, and development of programmes of public information and education, nurturing of general awareness of the need to protect the coastal zone and promote conservation and management co-operation. The casual approach to coastal zone occupation and use must bow to the imperatives of the coming decades: scientific approach and careful planning, resistance to selfish private interests, a “global” approach, synchronization of legislation (Mermet, L., 1994). In this regard, one can rightfully deplore the still prevailing lack of common legislation in Malaysia. As stated by Mongeau, D. (2001), throughout the history, the coastal sandy beaches were given scant attention as desirable property. The rights for all to use the coast were set down in law as far back as the Roman Emperor Justinian (Sandars, T.C 1970).

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The above paragraph is the Concluding Remarks of a paper, Abdul Aziz Hussin, Mohamed, B., Mat Som, A.P. and Marzuki, A. 2009.  Sustainable Coastal Tourism: Malaysia Legal Approach – Experience or Experiment? In: Proceedings of International Conference on Coastal Planning, Architecture and Tourism, Manado, Indonesia, 28-29 October, pp. 415-428.