Malaysian Journal of Tropical Geography (MJTG)

THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT IN FACILITATING ESG ADOPTION AMONG MALAYSIAN SMEs

Tengku Adeline Adura Tengku Hamzah — 2025-06-30

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices are becoming important for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia to stay competitive and to meet global sustainability standards. However, SMEs often face challenges extending from limited resources to lack of knowledge and confusing ESG requirements. This paper intends to investigate into the role of the government in helping SMEs with ESG adoption by focusing on two guidelines: the National Industry ESG Framework (i-ESG) or the i-ESGStart by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Simplified ESG Disclosure Guide (SEDG) for SMEs in Supply Chain by Capital Markets Malaysia (CMM). i-ESGStart gives comprehensive instructions for reporting and improving ESG practices while SEDG, on the other hand is simpler and easier to use, especially for smaller companies just starting with ESG. Thi paper begins with description about the i-ESGStart and SEDG, and followed by discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of both guidelines and concludes that they can complement each other to help SMEs adopt sustainable practices and enhance ESG transparency.

LOCAL ATMOSPHERIC OZONE VARIABILITY AND CHANGE AS OBSERVED AT KUALA LUMPUR (2.73ON, 101.7OE), MALAYSIA

Ooi See Hai — 2025-06-30

We present the first comprehensive analysis of attributing large-scale influence on the local changes in atmospheric ozone over Kuala Lumpur (KL). KL is located near the western fringe of the equatorial South China Sea. We focus on radio- and ozone- sonde data available from the Southern Hemisphere ADditional OZonesondes (SHADOZ) network and investigate the variability and trends observed from 1998 to 2016. The most important drivers of variability over KL are the Quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). QBO signatures are evident in both the stratospheric ozone and temperature anomalies (including the 2016 disruption) while ENSO plays a small role in impacting tropospheric ozone and temperature variabilities. Over KL chemical depletion of stratospheric ozone is small and occurs in conjunction with decreasing temperature trend. However, tropospheric ozone and temperature show increasing trends. Apart from attributing observed local ozone and temperature changes to the most important drivers of year-to-year variability, trends obtained are regional indicators of a changing climate.

A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF COMMUNITY RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE WATER SECURITY

Chandrika Sovunthara Raju — 2025-06-30

This systematic review examines the key factors driving community resilience and adaptation within the framework of sustainable water security, with a specific focus on both urban and rural environments. Utilizing the PRISMA guidelines, a thorough search of multiple databases identified 15 relevant studies published between 2011 and 2021, a period selected to capture recent trends while maintaining analytical depth. The analysis revealed six critical themes: awareness, water conservation, education, pricing mechanisms, social movements, and the value of water. The study uniquely contributes by emphasizing the necessity of integrating indigenous knowledge and advancing tailored solutions to enhance water security. The findings suggest significant implications for future research, particularly in developing long-term strategies and assessing the efficacy of current approaches.

COPING WITH INFRASTRUCTURE DEFICIT: A NARRATION FROM HOUSEHOLDS’ HEADS IN THE DEVELOPMENTAL ZONES OF OGBOMOSO, NIGERIA

David Mobolaji — 2025-06-30

Despite government efforts in the provision of infrastructure, many residents in the developing countries, Nigeria inclusive experienced infrastructure deficit at the household level. This study therefore examined coping strategies to infrastructure deficit by households’ heads in the three developmental zones of Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Using multistage sampling procedure, the residential areas in Ogbomoso were stratified into core, transition and suburban developmental zones for questionnaire survey. Due to homogeneity of the areas in each zone, one area was randomly selected in each zone, this resulted into sampling of every 10th residential building with the selection of 221 households’ heads. This comprised 89, 72 and 60 respondents in the core, transition and suburban zones respectively. Data collected were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that the level of absorptive, adaptive, and transformative as coping strategies to infrastructure deficit increases as distance increases from the core to suburban zones, and this is influenced by socioeconomic characteristics of households’ heads. The study concluded that there is a need for viable framework, programme and actionable plans by international actors towards the provision of sustainable infrastructure at household level, thereby complementing government efforts towards sustainable infrastructure provision especially in the core and transition developmental zones of the study area.