Exploring the Roles of Environmental Non-Governmental Organisations in the Context of Malaysian Climate Change Governance

Abstract

As non-state actors, environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) are able to influence the governance process in many cases. Although the ENGOs role in climate change governance has been extensively studied over the last two decades, there is a dearth of research relating to Malaysian ENGOs. Accordingly, this study was conducted to compensate for this gap in the literature, and it employs a qualitative approach via analysis of relevant documents and in-depth interviews with eleven ENGO informants operating in Malaysia at national, sub-national and local levels. The informants were selected through purposive sampling, and the interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. The informants described the ENGO roles in climate change governance at national, sub-national, and local levels, and their roles were described in the context of the following six key themes: political, informational, educational, complementary, observational, and innovational. Similar to earlier perspectives, the results of the present study revealed that the government generally accepts the ENGOs’ role to facilitate climate change governance. This article provides insight into the ENGO’s role in assisting the government in governing climate change in Malaysia.