Acting on climate change

AS floods continue to inundate homes around the country, Malaysians need to take a hard look at the realities of a changing climate.

Among the questions that come to mind are how likely will these intense rainfall and floods occur within the coming five, 10, or 50 years? Is our infrastructure prepared for extreme changes in the weather? What can we do now to adapt to the impacts of climate change?

A report from the Deloitte Economics Institute released in August last year states that South-East Asia must act now to prevent the region losing US$28 trillion in economic potential over the next 50 years if no significant action is taken to address climate change (“Southeast Asia’s turning point: How climate action can drive our economic future”, https://bit.ly/3mVUhwz).

This plays out with a few real examples in the context of Malaysia, with the change in weather patterns reducing rice yield by up to 60%, coral bleaching affecting the ecotourism industry and nearly one-quarter of the local insurance industry’s assets being exposed to climate-related risks, according to Bank Negara Malaysia.

Governments and businesses around the world have taken proactive measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change. There are many policy and technological options available, with some more achievable than others.

It is easy to expect governments to be solely accountable for these, but the private sector and citizens have an equally pivotal role to play in realising climate adaptation measures. These include:

1. Translating policy on paper to on-ground implementation. Task forces such as the National Steering Committee on Climate Change (NSCCC) and MyCAC (Malaysia Climate Change Action Council) exist as constructive platforms to incubate climate resilience ideas. We need to convert these ideas into practical guidelines and regulations for matters such as building standards and procurement criteria at federal, state and local government levels;

2. Partnering with academia to identify high-risk economic sectors and locations in order to yield the best cost-benefits when investing in climate adaptation measures, such as installing flood dams;

3. Layering rainfall projections with the capacity of drainage systems. Members of the public have a huge role to play here to keep the drains clean; clogged drainage systems will come back to bite us hard when heavy rainfall leads to floods.

4. Reviewing and providing adequate resources for disaster warning systems;

5. Incorporating technology such as satellite surveillance for critical sectors like forestry and timber. These technologies can help to hold those responsible to account for their activities;

6. Drawing solutions from nature, such as mass-planting mangroves at coastal areas to break the waves during storm surges; and

7. Exploring funding opportunities for local governments and businesses such as the Green Climate Fund, World Bank and Adaptation Fund. There are millions of ringgit worth of financial support available as long as the business case of investing in climate adaptation is proven.

Malaysians can sometimes be a cynical bunch for various reasons, but on the topic of climate change, can we afford to continue pretending that it does not impact us? How many more tragedies like the recent floods will we pass over until we do something constructive about climate change?

And even if we want to, do we currently have the capacity and resources? These are difficult but inevitable questions, but it would do us more good if we plan for and act on these issues now than leaving it too late.

LAM KA-JHUN

Senior analyst, Sustainability & Climate Change, Klang