Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 13(1): 39-46 (2005) ISS : 0128-7702© Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

Why Join an Environmental NGO? A Case Studyof the Malaysian Nature Society

RUSLI MOHD & SHEIKH ABU BAKAR AHMADFaculty ofForesry, Universiti Putra Malaysia

43400 UPM SerdangSerdang, Selangor

Keywords: Environmental NCO, membership prome, reasons for membership

ABSTRAK

Kekuatan politik sesuatu pertubuhan bukan kerajaan alam sekitar (NCO) bergantung padabanyak faktor termasuklah dana, kepimpinan, kepakaran, sokongan politik dan bilangan keahlian.Jumlah keahlian boleh mempengaruhi kejayaan atau kegagalan pertubuhan tersebut. Lazimnya,keahlian yang banyak bermakna lebih banyak tenaga boleh digunakan untuk aktiviti akar umbidan juga lebih banyak pendapatan melalui bayaran yuran. Objektif utama kajian ini ialah untukmemahami profil sosioekonomi ahli sesuatu NCO alam sekitar dan mengenal pasti sebab merekamenjadi ahli. Satu borang soal selidik telah dibentuk dan dimuatkan dalam laman web pertubuhanberkenaan selama sebulan. Selain dari itu, ia juga diedarkan semasa Mesyuarat Agong Tahunanpertubuhan berkenaan. Pada akhirnya, sebanyak seratus borang soal selidik yang lengkap diisitelah dipulangkan dan dianalisis. Keputusan menunjukkan sebahagian besar keahlian NCOtersebut terdiri daripada ahli profesional golongan berpendapatan pertengahan yang bekerja disektor swasta. Mereka mendapat tahu tentang NCO berkenaan daripada rakan yang telahmenjadi ahli. Sebahagian besar mereka menjadi ahli kerana ingin memberi sokongan kepadamatlamat murni persatuan melindungi alam sekitar melalui aktiviti sukarela. Keputusan inimencadangkan semasa melancarkan kempen keahlian, CO berkenaan hendaklah menonjolkanimej yang ia adalah juara dalam perlindungan alam sekitar dan pusat sukarelawan alam sekitar.Keputusan ini menyokong teori yang mengatakan minat bersama ialah satu dari pendorongutama keahlian kumpulan sukarelawan.

ABSTRACf

The political strength of an environmental NCO depends on many factors including funds,leadership, expertise, political support and the size of membership. Membership size caninfluence the success or failure of the group. Usually, large membership means more labour canbe deployed for grass roots activities and also more income through payment of fees. Two mainobjectives of the study were to understand the socio-economic profiles of members of anenvironmental NCO and identify their reasons for membership. A questionnaire was developedand made available on-line to all members of the CO for a period of one month. In addition,it was circulated during the NCO's Annual Ceneral Meeting. In the end, one hundred completedquestionnaires were returned and analysed. The results revealed that membership of the NCOcomprise mainly of young professionals of the middle income group working in the privatesector. They learn about the CO mainly through friends who are members. The majority ofthem indicated that they joined the NCO because they wanted to support the noble goal ofprotecting nature through voluntary activities. The results suggest that, in its campaign formembership, the NCO should project an image of a group that champions nature protection aswell as a hub for voluntary work. The findings of the study support the theory that commoninterest is one of the prime motivators of voluntary group membership.

Rusli Mohd & Sheikh Abu Bakar Ahmad

INTRODUCTION

The destruction of the environment has causedalarm and concern among many policy actors beit governmental or non-governmental. Inresponse to this phenomenon, new environmentalgroups have been formed while the existingones have widened their focus and scope ofactivities to include specific aspects of theenvironment, like the tropical rainforest (Mohd.1993).

Environmental non-governmental organiza­tions ( Gas) can perform many functions intheir quest to influence, directly or otherwise,public policies on the environment. Some ofthese groups work in conducting research anddisseminate the results to the policy-makers andthe public. Others organize and conductseminars, education programmes and expeditionsto natural areas in order to create awareness onthe importance of the environment and itsconservation. For some other groups, they preferto lobby policy-makers to create policies thatpromote the enhancement of environmentalprotection. The more militant groups, on theother hand, are very aggressive in their tacticsand they often resort to protests and demons­trations. The activities of these groups, moreoften than not, compliment the programmes andwork of their governmental counterparts.

In Malaysia, a number of environmentalGas have taken active roles in promoting and

safeguarding the healthy condition of theenvironment. Certain attentive members of thepublic would have noticed that environmental

Gas, such as the Malaysian ature Society(MNS) , Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) and WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF), have made greatstrides in their research, education andconservation efforts aimed at promoting a healthystate of the environment, including the naturalresources. Through their activities that includeorganizing international seminars, leadingscientific expeditions into the forest, conductingnatural resource policy research, and managingnatural areas, these groups have proved thatthey are worthy actors in handling theenvironmental predicament.

Like any other voluntary organizations,environmental Gas face many challenges intheir quest to promote environmental protectionand management in this country. Thesechallenges could be internal as well as externalto the organization. Potential internal challenges

include lack of financial resources, expertise,leadership, and membership. While challengesthat are outside the organizations may includelack of support and cooperation from the public,the government and politicians, insufficient dataand information for decision-making; lack ofcooperation and synergy are the challengesamong the Gas themselves. The GOs needto formulate and implement appropriate stepsand measures in order to overcome the variouschallenges so that they can continue to berecognized as a strong force in the battle tosafeguard the environment.

NGOs must have adequate resources notonly to support themselves but also to influencepublic policy. Membership and funds are twoimportant organizational and political resources.The availability of funds and large membershipdetermine the strength and authority of theNGOs and imposes constraints on the scope andnature of their activities. Also, in order toeffectively influence public policies, NGOs musthave skilled leadership, substantive expertise,political expertise, and favourable reputation(Ornstein and Elder 1978).

Members are important assets to Gas forseveral reasons. First, members are a source ofincome to the organizations. The fees thatmembers pay for joining and maintainingmembership form a significant portion of thetotal funds of the organizations. Second, member­ship of Gas can provide voluntary assistancefor field activities. Third, members can serve aslocal watchdogs, and fourth, they can act assources of authority in dealing with government.Finally, members help to disseminate informationand messages at the grass-roots (Lowe andGoyder 1983).

WHY DO INDIVIDUALS JOIN

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS?

Several theories have been put forward to explainthe reasons individuals join environmentalgroups. Among these include the DisturbanceTheory (Truman 1971), Collective Action Theory(Olson 1965), and Illogic of Collective Action(Mitchell 1979).

According to Truman (1971), environmentalGas are formed in response to a 'disturbance'

in a society which is otherwise in an equilibriumcondition. The destruction of the environmentdisturbs the equilibrium; the main objective ofthe newly formed group is to restore the

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Why Join an Environmental NGO? A Case Study of the Malaysian Nature Society

equilibrium. The shared interest of the members,which in this context is environmental protection,is the main force driving individuals to join thegroups.

The Disturbance Theory postulates thatindividuals join environmental groups simplybecause they share the same aspirations orattitudes of other members of the groups. Society,according to Truman, is made up of naturallyoccurring neighbourhood, work, ethnic, religiousand other groups. Individuals who share theattitudes or skills of these groups would join tobecome their members. According to thispluralist theory of interest groups, individualsconcerned with the rapid disappearance oftropical forests, for example, are more likely tojoin a group that works on programmes toconserve and protect the rainforests than anyother type of groups.

Olson (1965), however, argues that collectiveor shared interest is not the main factor thatattracts individuals to join environmental groups.Individuals are not willing to pay for the benefitswhich non-payers can also enjoy. Therefore,individuals are more likely to free ride andexpect other individuals to pay for environmentalprotection.

The main premise of Olson's argument isthat individuals are autonomous and seek tomaximize their own material well-being.Accordingly, individuals would join environmentalgroups only if they can gain benefits throughtheir association. Benefits that they can enjoythrough membership can be private or collectivein nature. Private benefits are those benefits thatare enjoyed by members only (eg. discount hotelrates, glossy magazines, etc), while the collectiveones include benefits that can be enjoyed bymembers and non-members as well (eg. cleanair, unpolluted rivers, etc).

Since members as well as non-members canenjoy collective goods, Olson argues that it is theprivate benefits that attract individuals to join anenvironmental groups. Due to the fact thatcollective goods are available to everybody, therational utility-maximising individual, it is argued,will not be inclined to help achieve a groupbenefit which will then be enjoyed equally by allthose who do not contribute. He or she will beinclined to take a free ride. This theory furthersays that an individual will only decide to joinenvironmental group if the private benefitsoutweigh the costs of joining.

Mitchell (1979) suggested another theorythat can explain why individuals join environ­mental groups. Essentially, Mitchell disagreeswith Olson in saying that it is the private goodsthat motivate individuals to join environmentalgroups. Based on his analysis of several groups,Mitchell concludes that individuals becomemembers of such groups for fear that the costsof not joining are high. The primary cost of notjoining is the continued existence of a badenvironment bad in the future. Individuals fearpolluted air and rivers, extinction of biologicaldiversity, the potential of nuclear catastropheand the like.

Very few studies, however, have beenconducted to empirically test the various theoriesof group membership. The results of thesestudies are mixed. One study found that Olson'stheory works for certain groups but does notwork for others (Sabatier 1992). A survey doneon the membership of the Sierra Club in theUSA, on the other hand, seems to supportMitchell's theory. Milbrath's (1984) studyconcluded that perception of environmentalthreat and a desire to be out with nature withothers with similar interests lead to membership.A study done on environmental groups in theUnited Kingdom found that the most importantmotivation for membership is "to register supportfor the group's aims" while "to get special benefitsand privileges" was ranked second (Lowe andGoyder 1983).

METHOD

Selection of the NCO

The Malaysian ature Society was selected forthe study for several reasons. First, the group isone of the oldest environmental NGOs in thecountry and is well known for its diverseprogrammes and activities on environmentalawareness and conservation. Second, besidesbeing one of the oldest, it has been reported tobe the biggest environmental group in thecountry. The group has more than 5000members.

The Malaysian Nature Society is dedicatedto the promotion of nature appreciation,conservation and protection of Malaysia's naturalheritage, focusing on biological diversity andsustainable development. Established in 1940 bya small group of keen naturalists, MNS is theoldest scientific and non-governmentalorganization in the country (Saleh 2002).

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 13 o. 12005 41

Rusli Mohd & Sheikh Abu Bakar Ahmad

Source: Registrar of Societies (2001)

TABLE 1Membership of the MNS, 1991-1999

which is more than 20 million people. Member­ship of the MNS represents less than 0.25% ofthe total population of the country. The tablealso shows that membership fluctuated in thefirst half of the 1990's, peaked in 1995, and thenwent down, though quite stable, in the secondhalf of the period.

Data Collection and Analysis

The list of current membership of the M S wasnot made available to the researcher at the timeof data collection. Therefore, it was not possibleto select a specific group of respondents for thestudy. However, through several survey techniques,responses from a total of 100 respondents weresolicited at the end of the survey period.

A survey questionnaire was prepared togather socio-economic data of the respondentsas well as their reasons for membership. Thequestionnaire was put online on the MNS website for a period of one month in 2001. It wasalso distributed to members who attended theMNS Annual General Meeting in September2001. These two strategies managed to gatherresponses from 100 members which representsonly about two percent of total membership. Ofthe two strategies, the later gathered moreresponses.

The questionnaire reported by Lowe andGoyder (1983) was adopted for the purpose ofdetermining the reasons why members join theMNS. Essentially, the question listed five reasonsfor membership and the respondents were askedto rank these reasons according to theirimportance. The five choices, more or less, presentsome the arguments made by the various theorieson group membership. In other words, theultimate aim of the question is to find out which

252731863221236355004500417940544016

Size of MembershipYear

199119921993199419951996199719981999

Trends in Membership of the MNS

Table 1 shows the trends in the size of membershipof the M S for the 1991-1999 period.

Looking at the table, one can see that thesize of membership of the biggest environmentalgroup in Malaysia is still ve.ry small when oneconsiders the total populatIOn of the country

The philosophy of the M S is to getMalaysians and other residents involved in,exposed to and informed about nature andhealthy outdoor pursuits through variousactivities. These activities include field trips, fieldcourses, outdoor experiences, educationprogrammes, exhibitions, talks, lectures, seminarsand symposiums.

The society hopes to instill appreciationand care for Malaysia's splendid natural heritage,promote a sustainable management andconservation of nature and natural resources forfuture generations. MNS encourages the publicto be members and also tries to create a cleanimage as an NGO that works closely with thegovernment. .

From a humble beginning, the society hasbloomed into a mature organization. It has nowbeen active in scientific research and one of itsmajor achievements was organizing a scientificexpedition to the Endau-Rompin Forest Reservefrom 1986 to 1989. This expedition led to manynew and exciting scientific discoveries and at thesame time created awareness on the importanceof conserving these areas. A similar expeditionwas organized to Belum Forest Reserve in Perakin 1998-1999. The Society is directly involved inthe management of Kuala Selangor ature Parkand is responsible for the establishment of MNS­Boh Field Studies Centre in Pahang (Saleh 2002).In recognition of its various achievements, MNSwas presented the Global 500 a~ard for itscontribution towards the protectIOn of theenvironment.

The M S offers its members a number ofbenefits and privileges including free copies ofthe Society's publications, namely, the MalayanNature Journal and the Malayan Natura~ist,

discounted prices on T-shirts, cassettes of birdsand animal calls, regular newsletters from thelocal branch containing activities andprogrammes, the use of a library m~intaine~ atthe head office, and the retrieval of mformatlOnfrom the society's data base maintained at thehead office.

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Why Join an Environmental NCO? A Case Study of the Malaysian ature Society

of the theories explains best why members ofMNS join the society.

The five choices are as follows:1. to register support for the Society's aimii. to get the special benefits and privileges of

membership111. to get actively involved in doing and

organizing voluntary workiv. to seek social contact and companionshipv. to further their own point of view and

influence the direction of the Society

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Socio-economic Profile of Respondents

Some data on membership of the MNS areshown in Table 2 and Table 3.

Table 2 shows that membership of theSociety comprises slightly more male than femalewhile in terms of race, the Chinese make up thebiggest proportion compared with other raceswith a ratio of nearly 2: 1. The Malays only formabout ten percent of the membership. Data inthe table also show that the majority (almost 60%) of the membership come from the privatesector.

Table 3 provides data and information onother aspects of membership of the Society. Itcan be seen that membership of the M Scomprises mainly individuals between 30 to 40years old having Bachelors degree and earningbetween RM2000 to RM3000 per month. Havingsuch a youthful membership, it is not surprisingthat the median length of membership is betweenone to five years.

Data and information obtained from thesurvey portray a picture that membership of theMNS comprises relatively young individualsmainly from one ethnic group who work in theprivate sector. Another attribute of membership(not shown in the table) is that about 55% arescientists and professionals.

This information taken together seems tosuggest that membership of the MNS, andprobably of other environmental groups, is quitedifferent from the general population of thecountry, particularly in terms of race, age andemployment. An obvious question to ask is "whydoes an environmental group attract membershaving such profiles?" Some answers to thisquestion may be forthcoming when data onreasons for membership are presented.

Sources of Information About the Society

Before asking the question on the reasons forbecoming members, the respondents were askedon the method of obtaining information on theMNS and its roles prior to joining the Society.Responses to this question would tell themanagement of the Society on the potential ofthe various sources as channels of informationin the process of attracting membership. Theresponses to the question are shown in Table 3.

Data in the table show that word of mouthis an important means through which informationabout the Society is conveyed to potentialmembers and help influence them to becomemembers. More than 60% of the respondentsindicated that they learnt about M S through

TABLE 2Distribution of respondents by age, race and employment sector (n=100)

Gender (%) Race (%) Employment* (%)

Male

58

Female

42

Malays

10

Chinese

65

Indians

17

Others

8

Public

37

Private

59

* Four respondents did not respond

TABLE 3Median values of members' characteristics (n = 100)

Median% of Respondents

Age (years)

30 - 4024

Education

Bachelor Degree37

MonthlyIncome (RM)

2000 - 300023

Length ofMembership (years)

1 - 583

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Rusli Mohd & Sheikh Abu Bakar Ahmad

TABLE 4Sources of information on MNS

Sources of information Percent of Respondents

Through friends who are membersBriefing by the SocietyNewspapersMNS BrochuresRadio/Television

TOTAL

friends who are members of the Society. TheSociety's direct efforts to attract membership,mainly through briefing and brochures, onlymanaged to influence about 25 percent ofmembership. The media, in particular radioand television, have not been important sourcesof information for potential members.

The above results suggest that membershipof the Society could play an important role inattracting potential members. Consequently, theSociety should formulate and implementstrategies to harness the potential of its membersas membership recruiting agents. Efforts shouldbe made to regularly inform the members aboutthe philosophy and objectives of the Society aswell as its detail programmes and activities. Inso doing, the members would be well informedabout the Society and be in a better position toconvince potential members to join the Society.The MNS could also run a "Member get Member"campaign and provide rewards to those whomanage to recruita large number of members.

The MNS may not have resorted to usingthe media to inform the public about the Society.Such being the case, it should be expected that

62161192

100

the media has not been an important source ofinformation for the members.

Table 5 shows the ranking of the reasonsgiven by the respondents to the question forjoining the MNS. As can be seen, more than halfof the respondents indicated that they becamemembers because they wanted to help in theattainment of the goals of the Society. On theother hand, one in five respondents joined theSociety because they liked to participate involuntary work, presumably in the area ofenvironmental protection and conservation. Ofthe remaining respondents, a slight majoritychose to join because they wanted to enjoy thetangible benefits by becoming members mainlyin the forms of free journals and magazines anddiscounted souvenir items.

The results presented in Table 5 lendsupport to certain theories on environmentalgroup membership more than the others.Specifically, the results tend to give more supportto the arguments made by Truman and Mitchelland less to those made by Olson. Truman arguedthat the formation of groups in any society is anatural process and the primary motivation ofindividuals to join these groups is shared or

TABLE 5Reasons for joining the MNS (n=100)

Reasons

To register support for the Society's aimsTo get actively involved in doing and organizing voluntary workTo get special benefits and privileges of membershipTo seek social contact and companionshipTo further own point of view and to influence the direction of the Society

TOTAL

* Ten respondents did not answer

% of Respondents rankingreason as number one

5121864

90*

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Why Join an Environmental NCO? A Case Study of the Malaysian Nature Society

common interest. It is common or sharedinterests that bound members of these groupstogether. Accordingly, the groups act as formalchannels through which members express theiropinions on issues related to the shared interest.

The study reveals that, for the majority ofthe respondents, it is shared or common interestthat motivates them to become members. Theserespondents have indicated that they joined theMNS because they share and support the aimsof the Society in protecting and preserving natureand the environment.

About one-fifth of the respondents indicatedthat they liked to participate in voluntary workon nature conservation and the MNS providesthe avenue for them to get involved in thisnoble venture. Even though their participationis voluntary, these respondents did not expectany tangible benefits from such involvement.However, their participation must be driven byother motives. One of these motives should beto contribute to the conservation and preservationof nature and the environment, thereby helpingto prevent environmental catastrophes fromoccurring Such catastrophes or disasters wouldinclude species extinction, polluted rivers,polluted air, droughts, and so on. Such anargument on why individuals join environmentalgroups supports the theory of "apparent illogicof collective action» espoused by Mitchell (1970).The main argument underlying Mitchell's theoryis that individuals fear the occurrence ofenvironmental destruction and will expend theirenergy and time to prevent them fromhappening. Participation in the activities ofenvironmental groups is one of the ways towardsachieving that objective.

The findings lend little support to the theoryof "the logic of collective action" which arguesthat individuals join environmental groups inorder to gain economic benefits throughmembership (Olson 1971). Economic benefitsare goods and services that only members wouldenjoy by being members. In the case of theMNS such benefits include free Society'spublications, discounted t-shirts and othersouvenir items. As revealed earlier, only eightpercent of the respondents indicated that theirmotivation for joining the MNS is "to get specialbenefits and privileges of membership.»

Further analysis reveals that those whoranked reason 1 as motivation for joining theMNS are quite different from the other members

of the group in terms of race (p=0.002),professional background (p=O.OOO), employment(p=0.047) and monthly income (p=0.002) butnot in terms of gender, age and level ofeducation.

CONCLUSION

This study focuses on membership of GOsbecause members are an important resource toan environmental group. The success of thegroup's activities partly depends on its membersfor support, particularly for funds and labour.The bigger the size of membership, the greaterwill be the support, and hence, the strength ofthe group.

The study reveals that there can be manyreasons which motivate individuals to join anenvironmental group and this means that thegroup, such as the MNS, needs to emphasisedifferent reasons to appeal to different groupsof potential members. In other words, the groupneeds to project itself differently to differentgroups of individuals. Depending on theindividuals, the group could portray itself eitheras a savior of the environment, as a refuge forvoluntary environmental activities, as a kind­hearted organization with lots of goodies anddiscounted items to pass around, or as the ONLY

GO with opportunities to socialize with like­minded environmental-earing individuals.

A rather disheartening conclusion thatcomes out of the study is that environmentalNGOs are undersized. The Malaysian NatureSociety is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, andthe biggest of the environmental citizens NGOsin the country (Kenny Cheah 1999). Unfortu­nately, the size of membership of the biggestand the oldest environmental NCO in thecountry is relatively small compared with the totalpopulation of the country. Hence, it can safelybe assumed that the combined membership ofall environmental NGOs is still small. Ifmembership of environmental NCOs is anindicator of environmental concerns among thecitizens, then, the level of environmental concernis still quite low. Having said that, the battle forenvironmental safekeeping for the environmental

GOs is still far from being won. The COsneed a lot of support from a bigger section ofconcerned citizens in their efforts to promotethe conservation of the environment. Thechallenge ahead for the NGOs, like the MNS, isstill very great.

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Rusli Mohd & Sheikh Abu Bakar Ahmad

The MNS may need to attract more membersfrom the public sector, particularly those whohave the capacity to influence decisions onenvironmental policies. This is especially true ifthe Society aspires to have a greater impact onpublic policy decision-making. Such memberswill provide the channel to access the centers ofdecision-making and this is an important politicalasset for the organization. In order to attractmore members from the government sector, theSociety may need to establish a strong rapportwith government agencies through some smartpartnership arrangements. This helps to buildthe image that the Society is "governmentfriendly".

REFERENCES

OLSON, M. 1971. The Logic of Collective Action. NewYork: Schocken.

ORNSfEIN, J. and S. ELDER. 1978. Interest Groups:Lobl7ying and Policy-making. Washington, D.C.:Congressional Quarterly Press.

TRUMAN, D.B. 1971. The Governmental Process. 2nd.

Edition. ew York: Alfred A. Knopf.

LOWE, P. and J. GoYDER. 1983. Environmental Groupsin Politics. ew York: George Allen and Unwin.

MILBRATH, L. 1984. Environmentalists: Vanguard for aNew Society. Albany: State University of ewYork Press.

MITCHELL, R.C. 1979. National environmental lobbiesand the apparent illogic of collective action.In Collective Decision-Making: Applications fromPublic Choice Theory, ed. C.S. Russel. Baltimore:John Hopkins University Press.

MOHO, R. 1993. United States GOs and tropicalrainforest: organization, positions and tacticsof influence. Doctoral Dissertation Submittedto the Graduate School, North Carolina StateUniversity, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

SABATIER, P.A. 1992. Interest group membershipand organization: multiple theories. InPETRACCA, M.P. In The Politic ofInterest GroupsTransformed, ed. M.P. Petracca. Boulder: WestView Press.

SALEH, M. . 2002. Personal Communications.

KENNY CHEAH, S.L. 1999. A comparative study ontactics of selected environmental organizationsin influencing public policy in Malaysia.Bachelor of Forestry Project Report, Faculty ofForestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia.

(Received: 7January 2004)

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