Complexity of Water-Covered Land Use by the Extractive Industry in Terms of Legal, Economic and Environmental Protection Aspects in Poland and Malaysia

Our research aims to provide a comparative analysis of water governance components by presenting the complexity of water-covered land use by the extractive industry in terms of legal, economic, and environmental protection aspects in Poland and Malaysia, along with the corresponding regulations and their implications. This paper discusses the legal forms of land ownership and use, as well as the currently applied principles for calculating fees for using state-owned water covered land that contains mineral deposits. We also present a comparison of selected technologies for the extraction of sand and gravel aggregates under water with their environmental impact. This research highlights the need for specialized valuation frameworks tailored to the geological and regulatory landscape of Poland and Malaysia. We suggest that the market value of land located above a mineral deposit, calculated individually for each deposit-property, should serve as the basis for calculating the lease fee. This discussion should encompass not only the principles and methodology involved in estimating the magnitudes of lease rents on mining industry and its profitability, but also the identification and criteria for assessing the risks associated with ongoing or planned mining ventures and concerns about the protection of river ecosystems. Our research contributes in providing data to stakeholders on extractive industry that operates within flowing and standing inland waters. The key finding of our research is that, in our opinion, the water governance frameworks in Poland and Malaysia are inadequate for protecting public finances and for internalizing the environmental externalities inherent in the economics of mining.