Why Join an Environmental NGO a Case Study

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Pertanika Soc. Sci. Hum. 13 1 : 39-46 2005 ISS : 0128-7702 Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

Why Join an Environmental NGO Case Study the Malaysian Nature Society

RUSLI MOHD SHEIKH ABU BAKAR AHMAD aculty of oresry Universiti Putra Malaysia

4 4 UPM SerdangSerdang Selangor

Keywords: Environmental NCO, membership prome, reasons fo r membership

ABSTRAK

Kekuatan politik sesuatu pertubuhan bukan k er aj aa n a la m sekitar NCO) b erga nt un g p ad abanyak faktor termasuklah dana, kepimpinan, kepakaran, sokongan politik da n bilangan keahlian.Jumlah keahlian boleh mempengaruh i kejayaan atau kegagalan pertubuhan terse but. Lazimnya,keahl i an yang banyak bermakna l eb ih banyak tenaga boleh digunakan untuk aktiviti a ka r u mb idan juga l eb ih banyak pendapatan melalui bayaran yuran. Objektif utama kajian in i ialah untukmemahami profil sosioekonomi ahli sesuatu NCO alam sekitar d a n m en ge na l 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 NC Oterse but terdiri daripada ahli profesional golongan berpendapatan pertengahan yang bekerja disektor swasta. Mereka mendapat tahu tentang NC O berkenaan daripada rakan yang telahmenjadi ahli. Sebahagian b es ar m e re ka menjadi ahli kerana ingin memberi sokongan kepadamatlamat murni persa tuan melindungi a la m s ek it ar melalui aktiviti sukarela. Keputusan inimencadangkan semasa melancarkan kempen keahlian, CO berkenaan hendaklah menonjolkanimej yang ia adalah juara dalam perlindungan alam sekitar da n pusat sukarelawan alam sekitar.Keputusan in i menyokong t eo ri y an g m en ga ta ka n m in at bersam a ialah satu da ri pendorongutama keahlian kumpulan sukarelawan.

ABSTRACf

The political strength of an env ironmenta l NCO depends on many factors including funds,leadership, expertise , political support and th e size of membership. Membership size caninfluence th e success or failure of th e group. Usually, large membersh ip means more labour canbe deployed fo r grass roots activities and also more income through payment of fees. Two main

objectives of the study were to u nd er st an d t he socio-economic profiles of members of anenvironmental NCO an d identify their r easons for membership. A questionnaire was developedan d made available on-line to all members of th e CO fo r a period of one month. In addition,it was circulated during th e NCO s Annual Cenera l Meeting. I n the end, one hundred completedquestionnaires were r et ur ne d a nd analysed. The results revealed that membership of the NCOcomprise mainly of young professionals of th e middle income group working in the privatesector. T he y l ea rn about th e CO mainly through friends who ar e members. The majority ofthem indicated that they joined th e NC O because t he y w an te d to support the noble goal ofprotecting n at ur e t hr ou gh voluntary activities. The results suggest that, in its campaign formembership, th e N C O s ho ul d project an image of a group that champions nature protection aswell as a hu b fo r voluntary work. The findings of th e study support t he t he or y that commoninterest is on e of th e prime motivators of voluntary group membership.


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INTRO U TION

Th e destruction of the environment has causedalarm and concern among many policy actors bei t g ov er nm en ta l or non-governmental. Inresponse to this phenomenon, new environmental

groups have been formed while the existingones have widened their focus an d scope ofactivities to include specific aspects of th eenvironment, like th e tropical rainforest Mohd.1993 .

Environmental non-governmental organizations Gas) c an p er fo rm many funct ions intheir quest to inf luence , directly or otherwise,public policies on th e envi ronment . Some ofthese groups work in conducting research an ddisseminate th e results to the policy-makers an dthe public. Others organize and conductseminars, education programmes an d expeditionsto natural areas in order to create awareness ont he im po rt anc e of t he e nv iro nm en t and itsconservation. For some other groups, they preferto lobby policy-makers to create policies thatpromote th e enhancement of environmentalprotection. The more militant groups, on theother hand, are very aggressive in their tacticsan d t hey o ft en resort to protests an d demonstrations. Th e activities of these groups, moreoften than not, compliment the programmes an d

work of their governmental counterparts .In Malaysia, a number of environmental

G as have taken active roles in promoting an ds af eg ua rd in g t he healthy condition of th eenvi ronment. Cer tain attentive members of th epublic would have noticed that environmental

Gas, such s th e Malaysian ature Society MNS , Sahabat Alam Malaysia SAM an d WorldWide Fund for Nature WWF , have made greatstrides in their research, educat ion andconservation efforts aimed at promoting a healthy

state of the envi ronment, including th e naturalresources. Through their activities that includeorganizing international seminars, leadingscientific expedit ions into th e forest, conductingnatural resource policy research, an d managingnatural areas, these groups have proved thatthey are worthy actors in handl ing th eenvironmental predicament.

Like any other voluntary organizat ions,environmental G as face many challenges intheir quest to promote environmental protection

an d m an ag em en t in this country. Thesechallenges co uld b e internal as well as externalto th e organization. Potential internal challenges

include lack of financial resources, expertise,l eader sh ip , and membership. While challengestha t ar e outside the organizat ions may inc ludelack of support and cooperation from th e public,the government and politicians, insufficient dataa n d informat ion for decision-making; lack ofcooperation an d synergy are t he c ha ll en ge samong th e G as themselves. The G Os needto formula te and implement appropr ia te stepsa nd measures in order to overcome th e variouschallenges so that they can continue to berecognized as a strong force in t he b attle tosafeguard the environment.

NGOs must have adequate resources notonly to support themselves bu t also to influencepublic policy. M em ber sh ip a nd f un ds ar e twoimportant organizational an d political resources.The availability of funds an d large membershipdetermine the strength an d authority of th eNGOs an d imposes constraints o n the s cop e an dnature of their activities. Also, in order toeffectively influence public policies, NGOs mus thave skilled leadership, substantive expertise,political expertise, an d favourable reputation Ornstein an d Elder 1978 .

Members are important assets to G as fo rseveral reasons. First, members are a source ofincome to th e organizations. The fees that

members pay fo r joining a nd m ain ta in in gmembership form a signif icant portion of th etotal funds of the organizations. Second, membership of G as can provide voluntary assistancefo r field activities. Third, members can serve aslocal watchdogs, an d fourth, they can ac t assources of authority in dealing with government.Finally, members help to disseminate informationand messages at th e grass-roots Lowe an dGoyder 1983 .

WHY O INDIVIDU LS JOINENVIRONMENT L GROUPS

Several theories have been put forward to explainthe reasons individuals join environmentalgroups. Among these inc lude the Dis turbanceTheory Truman 1971 , Collective Action Theory Olson 1965 , an d Illogic of Collective Action Mitchell 1979 .

According to Truman 1971 , environmentalG as are formed in response to a disturbance

in a society which s otherwise in an equilibrium

condition. The destruction of the environmentdisturbs th e equilibrium; t he m ai n objective ofth e newly formed group s to restore th e

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Why Join an Environmental NGO? A Case Study o f t he Malaysian Nature Society

equilibrium. Th e shared interest of the members,which in this context is environmental protection,is th e main force driving individuals to join th egroups.

The Disturbance Theory postulates thatindividuals join environmenta l groups simplybecause they share th e s ame asp ir at ions 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 tob ec om e t hei r members. According to thispluralist theory of interest groups, individualsconcerned with th e rapid disappearance oftropical forests, for example , a re m or e likely tojoin a group that works on programmes to

conserve an d protect th e 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 ar e not willing to pay fo r the benefitswhich non-payers can also enjoy. Therefore,individuals ar e more likely to free ride an dexpect other individuals to pay for environmentalprotection.

Th e main premise of Olson s argument isthat individuals ar e autonomous and seek tomaximize their ow n material well-being.Accordingly, individuals would join environmentalgroups only they can gain benefits throughtheir association. Benefits that they can enjoythrough membership ca n be private or collectivein nature. Private benefits ar e those benefits thatar e enjoyed by members only (eg. discount hotelrates, glossy magazines, etc , while th e collectiveones inc lude benefits that ca n be enjoyed bymembers and non-members as well (eg. cleanair, unpolluted rivers, etc .

Since members as well as non-members ca nenjoy collective goods, Olson argues that it is th eprivate benefits that attract individuals to join anenvironmental groups. Du e to the fact thatcollective goods ar e available to everybody, th erational utility-maximising individual, it is argued,will not be inclined to help achi eve a groupbenefit which will then be enjoyed equally by allthose wh o do not contribute. He or she will bei nc li ned t o take a free ride. This theory furthersays that an individual will only decide to join

environmental group if th e private benefitsoutweigh the costs of joining.

Mitchell (1979) suggested another theorythat c an e xp la in 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 s uc h g ro up s f or fear that the cos tsof not jo ining are high. The primary cost of notjoining is th e continued existence of a badenvironment ba d in the future. Individuals fearpolluted ai r an d rivers, extinction of biologicaldiversity, t he poten ti al of nuclear catastropheand the like.

Very few studies, however, have beenconducted to empirically test th e various theoriesof group membership. The results of these

studies ar e mixed. One study found that Olson stheory works f or c er ta in groups bu t does notwork fo r others (Sabatier 1992). A survey doneon the membership of th e Sierra Club in th eUSA, on th e o th er ha nd, seems to supportMitchell s theory. Milbrath s (1984) studyconcluded that perception of environmentalt hr ea t a nd a desire to be out with nature withothers with similar interests lead to membership.A study done on environmental groups in th eUnited Kingdom found that t he m os t importantmotivation for membership is to register supportfor the group s aims while to ge t special benefitsan d privileges was r anked second (Lowe andGoyder 1983).

M THO

ele tion of the O

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

The Malaysian Nature Society is dedicatedto the pro motion of nature appreciation,conservation an d protection of Malaysia s naturalheritage, focusing on biological diversity andsustainable development. Established in 1940 bya small group of keen naturalists, MNS is th e

oldest scientific and non-governmentalorganization in the country (Saleh 2002).

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Source Registrar of Societies (2001)

T LE

Membership of th e MNS, 1991-1999

which is more than 20 million people. Membership of th e MNS represents less than 0.25 ofth e total population of the country. The tablealso shows that membership fluctuated in thefirst half of th e 1990 s, peaked in 1995, and thenwent down, t hough qui te stable, in th e secondh al f o f the period.

a ta olle tion and nalysis

The list of current membership of th e M S wasnot made available to the researcher at th e timeof data collection. Therefore it was not possiblet o sel ec t a specific group of respondents fo r th estudy. However, through several survey techniques,responses from a total of 100 respondents weresolicited at th e 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 m on th in 2001. wasalso distributed to members who attended th eMNS Annual General Meeting in September2001. These two strategies managed to gatherresponses from 100 members which representsonly about two percent of total membership. O fth e two strategies, the later g at he re d m or eresponses.

Th e questionnaire reported by Lowe andGoyder (1983) was adopted for t he purpose ofdetermining the reasons why members join th eMNS. Essentially, the question listed five reasonsfor membership an d the respondents were askedto rank these reasons according to theirimportance. Th e five choices, more or less present

some the arguments made by the various theorieson group membership. other words, th eultimate aim of the question is to find out which

252731863221236355004500417940544016

Size of Membershipear

199119921993199419951996199719981999

Trends in Membership of the NS

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

Looking at the table, one ca n see that th e

size of membership of th e biggest environmentalgroup in Malaysia is still ve ry small when oneconside rs the total populatIOn of th e country

The philosophy of th e M S is to getMalaysians an d other residents involved in,exposed to an d informed about nature an dhealthy outdoor pursuits through variousactivities. These activities include field trips, fieldcourses outdoor experiences educat ionprogrammes, exhibitions, talks, lectures, seminarsan d symposiums.

The society hopes to instill appreciationan d care for Malaysias splendid natural heritage,promote a sustainable management andconservation of nature an d natural resources fo rfuture generations. MNS encourages the publicto be members an d also tries to create a cleanimage as an NGO that works closely with th egovernment. .

From a humble beginning th e society hasbloomed into a mature organization. t has nowbeen active in scientific research an d on e of itsmajor achievements was organizing a scientificexpedition to the Endau Rompin Forest Reservefrom 1986 to 1989. This expedition le d to manynew an d exciting scientific discoveries an d a t th esame time created awareness on th e importanceof conserving these areas . A simi lar expeditionwas organized to Belum Forest Reserve i n P er akin 1998-1999. Th e Society is directly involved inthe management of Kuala Selangor ature Park

an d is responsible for the es tabl i shment of MNSBoh Field Studies Centre in Pahang (Saleh 2002). recognition of its various achievements, MNSwas presented th e Global 500 ~ r fo r itscontribution towards th e protectIOn of th eenvironment.

The M S offers its members a number ofbenefits an d privileges including f ree copies ofth e Society s publications, namely, th e MalayanNature Jo urn al an d the Malayan a t u r a ~ i s tdiscounted prices on T-shirts, cassettes of birds

an d animal calls, regular newsletters from th elocal branch containing activities andprogrammes the use of a library m ~ i n t i n e ~atthe head office, an d th e retrieval of mformatlOnfrom th e society s data base maintained at thehead office.

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Why Join an Environmental N O A Case Study of the Malaysian ature Society

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

The five choices ar e as follows:1. to register support fo r the Society's aimii. to ge t th e special benefits and privileges of

membership to get actively involved in doing and

organizing voluntary workiv to seek social contact an d companionshipv to fu rt he r t hei r own point of view an d

influence the d ir ec ti on of th e Society

RESULTS ND DIS USSIONS

Socio economic Profile of Respondents

Some data on membership of th e MNS areshown i n Tabl e 2 and Table 3.

Table 2 shows that membership of th eSociety comprises slightly more male than femalewhile in terms of race, the Chinese make up thebiggest proportion compared with other raceswith a ra tio of nearly 2: 1. The Malays only formabout te n percent of th e m em be rs hi p. D at a inth e 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 th e Society. ca n be seen t ha t m em be rs hi p of th e M S

comprises mainly individuals between 30 to 40years ol d having Bachelors degree and earningbetween RM2000 to RM3000 per month. Havingsuch a youthful membership, it is not surprisingthat the median length of membership is betweenon e to five years.

Data and information obtained from th esurvey portray a picture that membership of th eMNS comprises relatively young individualsmainly from on e ethnic group who work in th eprivate sector. Another attribute of membership no t shown in the table) is t ha t about 55 ar escientists and professionals.

T hi s i nf or ma ti on t ak en t og et he r seems tosuggest that membership of th e MNS, andprobably of other environmental groups, is quitedifferent from the general population of th ecountry, 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 fo r membership are presented .

Sources of nformation ou t the Society

Before asking th e question on the reasons fo rbecoming members , the respondents were askedon the method of obtaining information on th eMNS an d its roles prior to joining the Society.Responses to this question would tell th emanagement of the Society on the potential ofth e various sources as channels of informationin the process of attracting membership. Theresponses to the question a re shown in Table 3.

Data in the table show that word o f m ou this an important means through which informationabout th e Socie ty is conveyed to potentialmembers an d 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 an d employment sector (n=100)

Gender ) Race ) Employment* ( )

Male

58

Female

42

Malays

10

Chinese

65

Indians

17

Others

8

Public

37

Private

59

* Four responden ts d id 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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TABLE 4

Sources of information on MNS

Sources of information Percent of Respondents

Through friends who ar e members

Briefing by th e SocietyNewspapersMNS BrochuresRadio/Television

TOTAL

friends who are members of th e Society. Th eSociety's direct efforts to att ract membershipmainly through briefing an d brochures onlymanaged to influence about 25 percent of

membership The media in par ticu lar radioan d television, have not been impor tant sourcesof information for potent ial members

The above results suggest that membershipof th e Society could play an important role inattracting potential members Consequently, th eSociety s ho ul d f or mu la te an d im pl em en tstrategies to harness th e potential of its membersas membership recruiting agents. Efforts shouldbe made to regularly inform the members aboutth e philosophy an d objectives of th e Society as

well as its detail programmes an d activities. Inso doing the members would be well informedabout th e Society an d be in a better posit ion toconvince potential members to join th e Society.The MNS could also ru n a Member ge t Membercampaign an d provide rewards to those whomanage to recruita large number of members

The MNS may not have resorted to usingt he med ia to inform th e public about the Society.Such being th e case, it s ho ul d b e expected that

161192

100

th e media has no t been an impor tant source ofinformation for the members

Table 5 shows the ranking of th e reasonsgiven by th e respo ndents to the quest ion for

jo ining th e MNS. As can be seen, more than halfof the respondents indicated that they becamemembers because they wanted to help in thea tt ainmen t o f the goals of the Society. On theother hand one in five respondents joined th eSoc ie ty because they liked to p ar ti ci pat e i nvoluntary work, presumably in th e area ofenvironmental protection an d conservation. Ofth e remaining respondents a slight majoritychose to join because they wanted to enjoy th etangible benefits by becoming members mainly

in th e forms of free journals and magazines an ddiscounted souvenir items.The results presented in Table 5 lend

support to certa in theories on environmentalgroup membership more than th e othersSpecifically, the results tend to give more supportto th e arguments made by Truman and Mitchelland less to those made by Olson. Truman arguedthat the formation of groups in any society is anatural process an d t he p rimary motivation ofindividuals to join these groups is shared or

TABL E 5

Reasons fo r joining the MNS (n=100)

Reasons

To register support fo r th e Society's aimsTo ge t actively involved in doing an d organizing voluntary workTo get special benefits an d privileges of membershipTo seek social contact an d companionshipTo further own point of view and t o inf luence th e direction of th e Society

TOTAL

Ten r es po nd en ts d id not answer

of Respondents rankingreason as number on e

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, t he g roups ac t as formalchannels through which members express theiropinions on issues related to t he sha red 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 a nd s up po rt th e aimsof th e Society in protecting an d preserving naturean d the envi ronment .

About one-fifth of th e respondents indicatedthat they l iked to par ticipa te in voluntary workon nature conservation an d th e MNS providesthe avenue fo r them to ge t involved in thisnoble venture . Even t hough the ir participation

is voluntary, these respondents did not expectany tangible bene fi ts from such involvement.However, their participation must be driven byother motives. One of these motives should beto contribute to the conservation an d preservationof nature and th e environment, thereby helpingto prevent environmental catastrophes fromoccurring Such catastrophes or disasters wouldinclude species extinction, polluted rivers,polluted air, droughts, an d so on . Such anargument on why individuals join environmental

groups supports th e theory of apparent illogicof collective action» espoused by Mitchell (1970).The main argument underlying Mitchell s theoryis that individuals fear the occurrence ofenvironmental destruction an d will expend theirenergy and time to prevent them fromhappening. Par ti cipa ti on in th e activities ofenvironmental groups is one of th e ways towardsachieving that objective.

Th e findings lend little support to the theoryof the logic of collective action which arguesthat individuals join environmental groups inorder to gain eco nom ic benefits throughmembership (Olson 1971). Economic benefitsa re goods an d services that only members wouldenjoy by being members. In th e case of th eMNS such b en ef it s i nc lu de free Society spublications, discounted t-shirts and o thersouvenir items. As revealed earlier, only eightpercent of th e respondents indicated t ha t t he irmotivation fo r joining th e MNS is to ge t specialbenefits an d privileges of membership.»

Further analysis reveals that those whoranked reason 1 as motivation fo r joining th eMNS a re qui te d if fe rent f rom the other members

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

CONCLUSION

This study focuses on membership of GO sbecause members are an import an t resource toan envi ronmental group. The success of th egroup s activities partly depends on its membersfo r support, particularly fo r funds an d labour.The b igge r the size of membership , the greaterwill b e the s up po rt, an d hence, t he s tr ength oft he g ro up .

Th e study reveals t ha t the re can be many

r ea sons which motivate individuals to join anenvironmental group and this means that theg ro up , s uch as th e MNS, needs to emphasisedifferent reasons to appeal t o d if fe rent groupsof potential members. In other words, th e groupneeds to project i tself differently to differentgroups of individuals. Depending on theindividuals, t he g roup could portray itself eitheras a savior of th e environment, as a refuge fo rvoluntary environmental activities, as a kindhearted organizat ion with lots of goodies and

discounted i tems to pass around, or as the ONLYGO with opportunities to socialize with likeminded environmental-earing individuals.

A r at he r d is he ar te ni ng conclusion thatcomes out of th e s tudy is that environmentalNGOs ar e undersized. Th e Malaysian NatureSociety is on e of th e oldest, not the oldest, an dth e biggest of th e environmental citizens NGOsin th e country (Kenny Cheah 1999). Unfortu-nately, the size of membership of the bigges tand th e oldest e nv ir on me nt al N CO in th ecountry is relatively small compared with the totalpopulation of th e country. Hence, it can safelybe assumed that th e combined membership ofal l environmental NGOs is still small. Ifmembership of environmental NCOs is anindicator of environmental concerns among th ecitizens, then, the level of environmental concernis still quite low. Having said that, th e battle fo renvironmental safekeeping for the environmental

GOs is still far from being won. The CO sneed a lo t of support from a bigger section ofconcerned citizens in their effort s to promoteth e conservation of t he e nv ir on me nt . Thechallenge ahead for the NGOs, like th e MNS, isstill very great.

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The MNS ma y need to attract more membersfrom th e p ub li c s ec to r particularly those w hohave th e capacity to influence decisions onenvironmental policies. This is especially true ifth e Society asp ire s to have a greater impact onpublic policy decision-making. S uc h m em be rswill provide th e channel to access t he c en te rs ofdecision-making an d this is an important politicalasset fo r th e organization. In order to attractm or e m em be rs f ro m th e government sector th eSociety ma y need t o e st ab li sh a strong rapportwith government agencies through s om e s ma rtp ar tn er sh ip a rr an gement s. T hi s helps to buildth e image tha t the Society is governmentfriendly .

REFERENCESOLSON M 1971. The Logic of Collective Action. New

York: Schocken.

ORNSfEIN J an d S ELDER 1978. Interest Groups:Lobl7ying n Policy-making. Washington D.C.:Congressional Quarterly Press.

TRUM N D.B. 1971. The Governmental Process 2 nd .Edition. ew York: Alfred A. Knopf.

LOWE P an d 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 an d tacticsof influence. Doctoral Dissertation Submittedto the Graduate School North Carolina StateUniversity Raleigh North Carolina USA.

SABATIER P.A. 1992. I nt er es t g ro up membershipand o rg an iz at io n: m ul ti pl e t he or ie s. InPETRACCA M.P. In The Politic of Interest Groups

Transformed, 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 infl ue nc in g pub lic policy in Malaysia.Bachelor of Forestry Project Report Faculty ofForestry Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Received: 7 January 2004

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Why Join an Environmental NGO a Case Study