Author(s)

S. Jamaludin Sayed Ali

Abstract

The aim of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in Malaysia is to assess the overall impact on the environment of development projects proposed by the public and private sectors. The execution of EIA depends to a great extent on good supply of environmental data. Unfortunately, most EIA studies lack of sufficient information to describe specific problems, define the problem’s magnitude, and be used for other related spatial analyses. Consequently, many effects and trends cannot be investigated unless there is a systematic collection of environmental data. With the advancement of GIs, varieties of analyses tools have been developed and applied to produce information that could be used for the description of environmental components as well as predicting impacts. For effective environmental studies, accurate, reliable and up-to-date information is essential. This paper describes an empirical investigation of Malaysian EIA officers and assesses the perceived effectiveness of using spatial information and GIS tools and techniques to assist EIA studies.

Keywords