ASEAN agrees to introduce EHIA

ASEAN agrees to introduce EHIA

KUALA LUMPUR (DPA): Five ASEAN member countries have agreed in principle to introduce the Environmental Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) to evaluate all approved development projects in view of development that can result in pollution.

In the final recommendations released yesterday, conference chairman Wan Mahmud Othman said the EHIA, which is in existence as an international standard, must be adopted to safeguard public health from the peril of rapid development.

The five-point recommendations on environmental health were made at the conclusion of the fifth Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia- Singapore-Thailand Border Health Conference.

The EHIA is an accredited tool given to support or disapprove of development projects with the importance placed on health, similar to the Environment Impact Assessment which focuses on the environment as a whole.