A study on level of understanding, awareness and participation on Local Agenda 21 (LA21) : a case study of Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

The term ‘sustainable development’ is the catchphrase of the 1990s. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNICED) held in June 1992, many countries including Malaysia have taken initiatives to implement the concept through the implementation of Local Agenda 21 (LA21). To promote this policy at the local level, four local authorities were chosen to implement it, namely Petaling Jaya City Council, Miri Municipal Council, Kuantan Municipal Council and Kerian District Council. For the state of Selangor, two pilot projects were launched by the local authorities of Shah Alam City Council and Kuala Selangor District Council in the early part of 2000. After nearly 16 years of implementation, how effective are these projects in promoting LA21 with the context of sustainable development? What are the level of awareness, involvement and understanding of the local community with regards to this policy? Using the case study of Kota Kemuning under the jurisdiction of Shah Alam City Council, the aim of the study is to analyze the local community’s understanding and awareness on LA21, their level of involvement in the implementation of LA21 and the effectiveness of these programs in achieving the objectives of LA21. This study used a multi-method approach of data collection that includes questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews with key respondents’, site observations and data from secondary sources. 250 respondents were involved in this study. One major finding is that, in spite of a lot of time and financial resources invested in the promotion of the LA21 program, the level of awareness and participation was found to be low, reflecting the ineffectiveness of the programs undertaken by the authority. A sizeable number of the key stakeholders seemed not have knowledge and understanding with regards to LA21 and its importance. To cater to these shortcomings, a number of recommendations have been put forward to strengthen the implementation of LA21 such as to improve and provide an effective method in distributing and informing the public pertaining to LA21, to disseminate adequate information that can be easily accessed by public at any time, to develop an educational approach and consultation to enhance the awareness level of the community as well as attracting them to involve in LA21 and to enhance the roles of resident associations (RA).