Make Malaysia resilient

Less of this: Illegal logging busted in Sedilu National Park in Sarawak in February 2020. — Sarawak Forestry Corp

IN light of the poor response by the authorities to the floods currently ravaging several states in Peninsular Malaysia, Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia (GDIMY; or Climate Emergency Coalition of Malaysia) demands that federal and state governments prioritise climate resilience to address the issue of extreme weather events immediately with concrete, people-centred – and not false – solutions.

The latest IPCC (Intergovern-mental Panel on Climate Change) report states that climate change is “widespread, rapid and intensifying”, and this is exactly what we are seeing playing out in Malaysia today. However, we are hopelessly unprepared. Not properly protecting the people from the full impact of disasters is a violation of our rights to life, health, food, water, shelter, a safe and healthy environment, and a sustainable livelihood.

Besides the fallout from Typhoon Rai, other causes that have exacerbated the floods in the country are:

> Continual loss of rainfall catchment areas due to deforestation by logging (both legal and illegal).

> Degazettement of forest reserves and conversion to plantation, mining or mixed development.

> Poorly planned development with no proper impact assessments near forest reserves causing forest fragmentation.

> Cities with low permeability to absorb rainfall.

> Changes in river management systems from unchecked canalisation and loss of buffer zones due to developmental pressure.

1) We demand that the above activities be halted immediately.

2) The Federal Government must declare this crisis a national disaster and authorise the formation of a special commission to investigate the efficacy of the response to the disaster, and to recommend reparation/compensation to those negatively impacted by any negligence on the part of the authorities.

The members of this special commission must comprise independent scientists and local experts on flood-related issues, representatives of the affected communities, NGOs, disaster risk reduction management experts, healthcare professionals, and town planning and sustainability experts. The investigation’s findings must be read out and debated in Parliament as soon as possible in 2022, and the publication made accessible to the public.

3) The federal and state governments must expedite the development of a robust national adaptation plan with a focus on resilience and with clear targets, future scenario planning, and an implementation roadmap that covers all possible (not only probable) climate impacts holistically.

All consultation processes with local governments and non-state stakeholders must be transparent, meaningful and inclusive to ensure the building of community resilience components which include rural and urban settlement and landscape design, social capital, ecosystem capital, rural and urban technological capital, and adaptive capacity (which incorporates disaster risk reduction and management).

4) The Federal Government must expedite a national disaster risk reduction plan which includes instituting nationwide cross-sectoral training in community-based disaster risk management.

5) We demand the setting up of an independent multi-stakeholder community resilience unit to oversee a nationwide programme to build community resilience in all factors beyond just disaster risk management.

We remain disappointed by the slow and ineffectual response, interagency blaming, and lack of coordination across government agencies in dealing with the current flood crisis. We are also very discouraged that the government has not acknowledged the climate crisis as the emergency that it is.

The rakyat is awake and ready for a just transition, but are our leaders?

GABUNGAN DARURAT IKLIM MALAYSIA (GDIMY)

Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia advocates for a Malaysia that recognises the climate emergency and implements a long-term, low-greenhouse-gas emissions, resilient and sustainable plan of development that upholds ecological justice and empowers all Malaysians to become climate-resilient.