Planetary Health Matters: The year we choose resolve over retreat

A Jan 13, 2025, photo of charred homes and burnt cars in the Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles. There were 31 direct deaths and about 400 additional deaths reported in a later study of the wildfire. At RM243.6bil the California fires are the most expensive disaster in the world, insurers say. The planet cannot afford more such disasters year after year. — AFP

LOOKING back over 2025, it is difficult not to feel downcast.

Geopolitical tensions have intensified, conflicts have become more entrenched, and global cooperation feels increasingly fragile. Even without the climate crisis, this would be a sobering moment. Then 2025 closed with a series of climate shocks that brought home, with painful clarity, how closely environmental instability and human security are now intertwined.

Across this region, the impacts were stark and immediate. Cyclone Senyar tore through parts of Indonesia and northern Malaysia, leaving a trail of flooding, infrastructure damage, and prolonged power and water disruptions that affected millions. In Vietnam, severe floods inundated historic cities such as Hoi An and Nha Trang, destroying homes, paralysing tourism, and erasing decades of development gains in a matter of days. In Sri Lanka, Cyclone Ditwah brought intense rainfall that submerged agricultural areas, wiped out harvests, displaced communities, and placed additional strain on an economy still struggling to regain its footing following political unrest.

These were not isolated huma­­ni­­tarian emergencies. They were economic shocks. Small businesses collapsed, supply chains were disrupted, public finances were stretched, and household savings were wiped out. Productivity losses from heat and flooding compounded the damage, while recovery costs diverted scarce resources away from education, health, and long-term development.

Most worrying of all, these events underscored the far greater costs of inaction. Every delayed investment in resilience and every postponed emissions cut increases future losses and narrows the options available to policymakers.

At the same time, science has continued to deliver increasingly urgent warnings. The renewed focus on planetary tipping points reflects a growing understanding that climate change is not a linear problem.

Recent shifts in the El Niño Southern Oscillation (Enso) weather phenomenon have once again highlighted how vulnerable societies are to climatic extremes. Enso is not just a weather pattern, it is a risk multiplier. As global temperatures rise, Enso effects become more destructive, pushing ecosystems and social systems closer to thres­­holds beyond which recovery becomes uncertain or impossible.

When coral reefs bleach repeatedly, when forests fail to regenerate, when water systems collapse under stress, the consequences are long-term and systemic. Food security, health outcomes, economic stability, and even national security are affected. These are not distant future scenarios. They are unfolding now, often faster than our institutions are able to respond.

The start of 2026 has done little to ease anxiety. The global landscape is increasingly polarised. Renewed political turbulence in the United States, tensions around Venezuela’s resources after the US kidnapped its president, and continuing American interest in "taking control" of Greenland all point to an intensifying contest for energy, minerals, and territory.

At its core, this is about resource control in a world coming to terms with planetary limits. The behaviour of major fossil fuel powers has become more defensive and, in some cases, more aggressive, threatening collective efforts to reduce emissions, protect biodiversity, and live within planetary boundaries.

Yet it would be wrong to conclude that progress has stalled entirely. While global processes and multilateral mechanisms often appear gridlocked, meaningful change is happening from the ground up.

Cities are moving faster than nations, communities are adapting in practical ways, and youth voices are becoming louder, more organised, and harder to ignore. This decentralised momentum matters because it shows that action does not depend solely on perfect global consensus.

There were also important institutional signals in 2025. In Malaysia, the National Planetary Health Action Plan was finalised, providing a long overdue framework to align human health, environmental protection, and economic development. Regionally, Asean articulated a clearer focus on climate action through its Vision 2045, recognising that long-term prosperity depends on environmental stability. In Europe, mandatory sustainability reporting became a central pillar of economic governance, embedding accountability into the financial system.

Perhaps most significant was the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on states’ obligations in relation to climate change. This was a landmark moment, affirming that climate inaction has legal consequences. Doing nothing will open the door to further litigation, reshaping how governments and corporations assess climate risk and responsibility.

Globally, renewable energy investments continue to expand at a record pace, demonstrating what is possible when policy, finance, and innovation align, even as overall energy demand continues to rise. These gains matter, but they are not yet sufficient to close the gap between ambition and reality.

This is why 2026 must be a year of acceleration rather than hesitation. For Malaysia, this begins with treating the recently launched Health Action Plan not as a standalone document, but as the foun­­dation for a broader social, policy, and behaviour reset. Plane­­tary health must inform how we design our cities, manage food systems, educate our children, and define economic success.

Malaysia’s commitment will also carry international weight when we host the first Global Tipping Points Conference in Asia in 2026, scheduled for October. The conference will bring together voices from science, policy, business, culture, and communities to centre the lived realities of South and South-East Asia. At a moment when the world is searching for credible pathways forward, this gathering will position Malaysia as a serious contributor to shaping decisive action ahead of COP31 (the 31st Conference of Parties to the Climate Agree­­ment) in November 2026, with a focus on accelerating positive tipping points for human and planetary health.

An urgent national expert briefing on climate change is also needed to ensure decision-makers across government, business, and civil society share a common, science-based understanding of the risks ahead. At the same time, planetary health thinking must be embedded more deeply into Malaysian society through education, media, and community leadership. This is not about alarmism. It is about preparedness and collective responsibility.

Yes, we are in a tough spot. The pressures are real, and the challenges are complex. But withdra­­wal is not an option. Malaysia has the opportunity and the res­­ponsibility to lead, domestically, regionally, and internationally.

The past year has shown us the cost of delay. Let 2026 be the year we choose resolve over retreat, action over avoidance, and leadership over complacency.

Prof Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, a physician and experienced crisis leader, is the executive director of the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health at Sunway University. She is the founder of Mercy Malaysia and has served in leadership roles internationally with the United Nations and Red Cross for the last decade. She writes on Planetary Health Matters once a month in Ecowatch. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.