Decision on moratorium on bauxite-mining activities to be known on Wednesday

KUALA LUMPUR: The decision on the moratorium on bauxite-mining activities will be known after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, said Natural Resources and Environment minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (pix).
Wan Junaidi said his ministry will present the result of their findings to the Cabinet on Wednesday, and urged for patience on the matter.
"I do not wish to comment any further, we had a long and lengthy deliberation and discussion over the issue last Thursday," he said after officiating the National Convention on Access to Biological Resources and Benefit Sharing (ABS) today.
He said his ministry will call a press conference to announce the Cabinet's decision, but added that decisions from the Cabinet is also the final decision from the ministry.
The moratorium on bauxite-mining activities, was first imposed on Jan 15, for three months for fear of environmental pollution and potentially hazardous side effects.
The three-month moratorium would give authorities time to get a handle on the situation and clear all existing bauxite stockpiles in Kuantan to avoid further contamination. The moratorium was then extended for the second time to Sept 14 to give more time to the stakeholders to clear the remaining stockpiles.
On the convention, Wan Junaidi said it was meant to create the awareness towards ABS as the nation prepares itself towards the implementation of the international ABS laws.
"The ministry is in the midst of drafting the ABS draft bill that is meant to regulate all activities pertaining to the access of biological resources and traditional knowledge about the usage of biological resources, ways to deal with biopiracy and ensuring that the resulting benefits are shared equitably as well as the realisation of the national agenda to generate new wealth from these biological resources.
"The bill is currently being reviewed by the Attorney General's Chambers and we are also in continuous consultation with them over it as we hope that the new bill can be tabled in Parliament in July next year," he said.
Wan Junaidi explained that the drafting of the bill is in line with the nation's obligation under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), an international agreement on the conservation of biological diversity which declared that all biological resources is the absolute right of a particular country in which the said country have the right to benefit from the usage of these resources.