The Current Progress of Malaysian Media and Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (ENGOs) in Environmental Education: An Evaluation

Abstract

Abstract

This study discusses environmental education facilitated by the media and environmental nongovernmental organisations (ENGOs) in Malaysia. A total of 13 respondents from Utusan Malaysia and The Star, and 11 respondents from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia and Malaysia Nature Society (MNS) were interviewed. The results showed that the Malaysian media and ENGOs view their roles in environmental education similarly, which are mainly to raise awareness and disperse knowledge to the public. However, the media is more focused on educating the public about environment through their features and newspaper articles while the ENGOs facilitate environmental education not only via their newsletters but also through environmental programmes like eco-school. The respondents concur that the topics of environmental education are highly technical, hence, call for all stakeholders to carry the educational responsibilities. It is hoped that the result of this study can serve as a guideline
for both social actors in Malaysia, especially for the organisations’ management to find a way to overcome these limitations for a better environmental education in the future.

Keywords: Malaysia, environmental education, media, ENGOs, interview.