‘Strategic green spaces can reduce urban temperatures’

A 2018 map of Johor Baru district showing substantial changes in land surface temperature compared to 13 years ago in 2005.

JOHOR Baru, with its robust ecosystem of economies and beautiful tourist destinations, is under threat from climate change.

A recent land surface temperature (LST) mapping study conducted by social purpose organisation Think City showed five cities in Malaysia recording higher temperatures over the last few decades.

Johor Baru was placed second highest on that list.

Johor housing and local government committee chairman Ayub Jamil said the state government hoped to address the issue by planting one million trees in the next five years by working with all 16 local councils in the state.

He said property developers and non-governmental organisations would be roped in for the green initiative.

“To get the ball rolling, the state has allocated RM700,000 under the Johor Budget 2021 to plant 100,000 trees beginning April.

“The size and types of trees will be determined by the local councils according to their respective locations, ” he explained.

According to Think City’s study, Johor Baru recorded peak temperatures, an increase of 6.7º Celsius within a period of 13 years – between May 2005 and May 2018 – as compared to other Malaysian cities.

The study revealed that there was extensive monoculture and activities detected in Johor Baru and the city’s rapid gentrification, increased economic corridors and number of industries have contributed to significant temperature rise.

This was especially reflected in the Tanjung Langsat industrial area and Pasir Gudang, where temperatures rose to over

33º Celsius in 2018.

The study identified Seri Purnama and Pasir Gudang as the hottest areas owing to the fact that they are confluences for many heavy industries, such as transportation and logistics, petrochemicals, electronics and plastics.

Skudai and Johor Baru city centre, where many human activities and businesses concentrate, were also singled out for recording higher temperatures.

Think City concluded that between 2005 and 2018, Johor Baru had substantially expanded its physical landscape, along with the fact that the state is situated near the Earth’s equator.

Therefore, the effects of global temperature rise has naturally amplified the city’s temperature.

The organisation’s resilience community of practice lead for environment and climate change Sofia Castello said trees have been identified, in multiple studies, as having an extraordinary potential in reducing urban temperatures.

She said introducing strategically planted green spaces in a city could reduce atmospheric temperatures to between 2º and 8º Celsius.

“This is why we see cities all over the world adding new green spaces.

“But it’s not just any tree or any location, as planting the wrong species can lead to the loss of all trees that line a street at once due to a specific vulnerability.

“The wrong location could also lead higher air pollution due to the blocking of natural air flow corridors, ” she said, adding that Think City was developing a climate-resilient street tree species study for Malaysia together with the National Landscape Department.

There was much to be done by all sectors of society, including private citizens, in terms of mitigation and adaptation to lessen climate change impacts as well as reduce fossil fuels, protect priority ecosystems, halt deforestation as well as develop and promote public transport, she stressed.

Castello, an experienced landscape architect with a history of working in all types of landscape architecture projects, noted that there were three main areas of climate change impacts in Malaysia – increase in temperatures, change in rainfall patterns leading to flooding and rising sea levels.

Each area comes with economical impacts and benefits if the right actions and solutions are implemented, she said.

In terms of reducing temperature, she explained that nature-based solutions would have an immediate economic benefit, such as the reduction of energy consumption from air-conditioners which reduces both economic and carbon emission costs.

In the medium and long term, the benefits would increase substantially, allowing neighbourhoods to remain liveable and public health to be protected despite temperatures rising, Castello added.

“The changes in rainfall patterns will likely be the most costly for cities as just one event can have dire consequences – as seen in Penang where the heaviest rainfall in the state’s history in November 2017 led to RM1bil in damage, ” she noted.

She highlighted a study showing Malaysia’s total cost of sea level rise with adaptation (efforts to mitigate and anticipate rise in sea level) was estimated at RM662mil compared to no adaptation, which would cost the country RM27bil per year in 2100, which was a substantial economic difference.

“Governments play the most crucial role in all these aspects, as they are in charge of regulations and international agreements while local governments, in particular, have a special role in developing climate adaptation projects to protect the people from inevitable changes that are coming.

“Meanwhile, individuals have the right, some say obligation, of demanding these changes from their elected officials as well, ” Castello said.