PERMAISURI: The National Coastal Vulnerability Index (NCVI) introduced under the Second National Coastal Zone Physical Plan (RPP-2) showed that 425km of Malaysia’s coastline is affected by coastal erosion, says Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.
The Housing and Local Government Minister said in addition, the NCVI has categorised 35 coastal zones as having very high levels of vulnerability and another 35 zones in the high level of vulnerability category.
Reezal Merican said rising sea levels are expected to affect more than 20,000ha of coastal areas by 2030 and more than 123,000ha of saturated built-up areas are at risk of being hit by a tsunami.
"The NCVI is a method that shows the ecosystem diversity in a coastal zone and is an evaluation towards the level of exposure or vulnerability in a certain area.
"It also acts as an alert system on the risks that exist.
In short, the NCVI sees the potential for disasters that can occur along the coast," he said in his speech at the launch of the RPP-2 at Laman Seri Rhu Sepuluh near here on Tuesday (June 14).
Reezal Merican said the RRP-2 has been approved during the National Physical Planning Council meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in October last year, replacing the first document prepared in 2012.
The document contains strategic plans on land use, environmental conservation and management along 3,800km of coastline in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan.
"The RPP-2 document also takes into consideration geohazards like coastal erosion, tsunami and rises in sea level that affects residential areas and municipalities along the country's coastline," he said, adding that the RPP-2 produced by PlanMalaysia also involved 45 local authorities that manage the coastline.
Reezal Merican expressed optimism in PlanMalaysia’s success in producing the document that could be extended to produce an Asean Coastal Zone Planning Framework as almost all Asean countries have coastlines, especially Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei. - Bernama
