Regulatory instruments are binding regulations used by governments to influence social and economic actions and solve conflicts. Throughout the years, Malaysia has formulated numerous energy and environmental policies in response to international agreements and domestic issues. There have been two broad waves of institutionalization of environmental policies, with Malaysia establishing agencies and laws in response to the first wave and further developing its focus on sustainable development after the second wave. Effective implementation and enforcement of environmental laws and policies through regulatory instruments is important to achieve objectives and raise awareness of conservation issues.

1. Development of Regulatory Instrument For The Country
By Nabilah Hashim, for MSc. of Construction Engineering
Regulatory instruments comprise all those regulatory political interventions which formally influence
social and economic action through binding regulations (Krott, 2005). Its function as the classical
instruments of politics that are used to solve social or economic conflicts. Regulatory political
interventions go beyond advisory services or financial incentives, since they are binding regulations
that can be implemented by force. Throughout the years, the government of Malaysia has formulated
numerous energy-related policies to ensure the long-term reliability and security of the energy supply
for sustainable social-economic development in the country. These various energy policies included the
National Energy Policy (1979), the National Depletion Policy (1980) and the Fuel Diversification
Policy (1981, 1999) (Mohamed and Lee, 2006). Most of the international environmental agreements
are legally binding for countries that have formally endorsed them. Some, such as the Kyoto Protocol,
differentiate between types of countries and each nation's respective responsibilities under the
agreement. Several hundred international environmental agreements exist but most link only a limited
number of countries. These bilateral or sometimes trilateral agreements are only binding for the
countries that have endorsed them but are nevertheless essential in the international environmental
regime.
Some of the convention may triggered or forming a certain policy or action form of Malaysian
government and related industries, for example The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) adopted on 1992 which objective to protecting of climate system does makes
Malaysia conducted a national inventory of greenhouse gases, reduction measures and a thorough
assessment of their impact on the various economic sectors. Related development is Malaysian success
in phasing out chlorofluorocarbons by November 1999 in line with the Montreal Protocol. The National
Climate Committee addresses Malaysian interagency involvement and collaboration (Hezri & Nordin
Hasan, 2006). This shows Malaysia’s development in their environmental policy. In their article also
stated the four stages of environmental policy, which; Stage one. Federal policy formulation; Stage two.
Crises and consolidation; Stage three. Sustainable development, a new concept; Stage four.
Implementing sustainable development. We can see from the stages of environmental policy how
Malaysia’s response corresponding to the environmental issue and their policy development.
Government has applied numerous instruments in more effective ways to address towards sustainable
development along the years. It shown how the instrument changed to more engaging in cooperating
long term management of sustainable development. This is to ensure the efficiency and to ensure policy
establish can enhance the environmental management to the country.

2. Two broad waves of institutionalization of environmental policies can be identified (Jänicke and
Weidner, 1997; Weidner, 2002). The first occurred in the late 1960s to early 1970s, pioneered by leaders
in the developed countries, such as the United States, Sweden, and Japan (Jänicke and Weidner, 1997;
Kraft and Vig, 1994). The second wave came in the after of the Brundtland Report in 1987 and the Rio
Conference in 1992, bringing in its wake the worldwide spread of new or revised institutional
arrangements for effective environmental protection, with its new focus on the concept of sustainable
development (Hezri & Nordin Hasan, 2006). As per convention that function for developing the
regulatory instruments of the country, country-specific case studies are needed to examine the two
waves of institutionalization as the mode of adaptation and response by governments differs from one
country to another. Malaysia for example, introduced administrative changes and legal authority in
response to the first wave including the establishment of a national environmental agency and a ministry
for the environment, backed by a national environmental law. Example of legislative response are
coordinate development of the forestry sector; the National Forestry Policy was endorsed in 1977 in
conjunction local forestry issue and their preservation. Such pioneering action stands in contrast to
many developing countries that began to adopt environmental policy only after the second wave
(Jänicke and Weidner, 1997; Weidner, 2002). Refer to the ("What is the Kyoto Protocol?", 2020), which
operationalizes for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change by committing
industrialized countries to limit and reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in accordance with
agreed individual targets. The convention itself only asks those countries to adopt policies and measures
on mitigation and to report periodically. This demonstrate presents of an overview in processes and
structures development in response to the policy and some quite specific. The relations between the
possibilities of countries confront the outcome of latest results preceding by the previous policy
established are shown as reference to the latter.
In conclusion, government may be very conscious about the environmental development and
conservation issues. Such to that, environmental laws and policy are crucial to ensure the objective of
the convection and awareness raised are achieved. Awareness and enforcement on the law should be
emphasised and more transparency particularly in policing and decision marking process. Rules and
regulations should effectively be implemented with principles such as the precautionary principles, the
environmental impact assessment, governing the environmental development and conservation and
such. Regulatory instruments should be emphasise properly and necessary laws and policy should be
formulated in regard.

3. Reference:
Krott, M., & Paschen, R. (2010). Forest Policy Analysis. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Mohamed, A.R., Lee, K.T., 2006. Energy for sustainable development in Malaysia: energy
policy and alternative energy. Energy Policy 34, 2388–2397.
Hezri, A., & Nordin Hasan, M. (2006). Towards sustainable development? The evolution of
environmental policy in Malaysia. Natural Resources Forum, 30(1), 37-50.
Jänicke, M., Weidner, H., 1997. Summary: Global environmental policy learning. In: Jänicke,
M., Weidner, H. (Eds.), National Environmental Policies: A Comparative Study of Capacity Building.
Springer, Berlin, 299–313.
What is the Kyoto Protocol?. (2020). Retrieved 21 April 2020, from
https://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol