COMMUNITY AND MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENT: EXPERIENCES FROM MALAYSIA, BANGLADESH, ZAMBIA AND VIETNAM

One of the major challenges of modern society namely those in urban centres is the question of how to put in place an efficient and effective environmental management system especially of its solid wastes, and how to involve the participation of various stakeholders such as local authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local communities. The local community as a principal stakeholder should be mobilised so that they become actors in managing their environment. This is so because their sense of common belonging would motivate them to be more committed to ensure their environment is kept clean, healthy and liveable. This article analyses the experiences in solid waste management of several urban residential communities in four developing countries – Malaysia, Bangladesh, Zambia and Vietnam – and shows that the local community can play an effective role in solid waste management provided there are change agents who can help mobilise the community and its members, raise their consciousness and commitment, and put in place what needs to be done. The article examines such aspects as how community participation began, involvement of various stakeholders in management, method and implementation mechanism, scope of participation, funding sources, and primary as well as secondary waste collection. It however maintains that while community participation is important, there are constraints and limitations to such participation due to the community s small size, limited resources and the lack of expertise. The government as the stakeholder responsible in ensuring the society s wellbeing thus must continue to give serious attention and solid support to the community s participation in such projects so that they could successfully be implemented in order to improve the wellbeing of the community.