Environmental Conservation Programmes Enhanced

TIOMAN ISLAND (Pahang,Malaysia), June 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysian government always gives priority to initiatives aimed at enhancing environmental conservation in line with the objective to make the environment as a tourism product in driving the national economy by the year 2020. Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Joseph Kurup said various programmes and efforts, including the formulation of the Biological Diversification Policy, laws and regulations as well as management plans had been carried out to ensure that the country's rich natural resources and environment were protected. "The tourism sector has been identified as one of the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) by the year 2020," he told reporters after launching the Marine Park Programme with the Pulau Tioman community in conjunction with the World Ocean Day, here on Thursday. He said the Malaysian Marine Department was set up in 2007 to manage, protect and conserve marine protected areas to preserve the sustainability of the country's marine biodiversity. "Malaysia's success in conserving these protected areas has made the marine parks as tourism products that succeeded in attracting local and foreign tourists," he said. He said the inflow of tourists would create business opportunities to the local community and subsequently increase their sources of income and quality of life. "The ministry with the cooperation of the various agencies will continue to promote areas which are rich in biodiversity as destinations for eco-tourism," he said. He said Malaysia was already well known as one of the 12 top mega-biodiversity nations in the world. -- BERNAMA