Sahabat Alam wants urgent reset as 'extreme weather' disasters become more frequent

 

Sahabat Alam Malaysia is calling for an urgent rethink as climate change will bring more and more extreme weather in the future.

Its president Meenakshi Raman, in a statement today, said while rainfalls were unusually high in parts of the country, this shows that preparations are needed for such unexpected events, which are likely to happen more often with greater frequency due to the adverse impacts of climate change.

"Malaysia is usually prepared for the seasonal flood occurrences on the East Coast with the normal monsoons this time of the year.

"However, what was rather unexpected was the massive floods that hit especially the Klang Valley most seriously this time around, due to the phenomena such as the Tropical Depression in the region and the effects of super-typhoon Rai that hit the Philippines.

"The world over, unexpected extreme weather events have become more commonplace, and concerns have arisen on the need to focus on adaptation and in building climate resilience, as well as in improving our efforts at disaster preparedness," said Meenakshi.

"Regrettably, we are not moving fast enough despite having plans since the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) on reducing disaster risks through augmenting climate change adaptation and strengthening disaster risk management," she added.

Thus far, 14 people have been confirmed dead while tens of thousands of Malaysians have been forced into shelters to avoid flooding, with Pahang and Selangor being particularly hard hit.

The initial slow reaction of federal and state governments has been widely condemned as ordinary Malaysians sprang into action to reach and rescue those trapped by the floods.

Meenakshi pointed out that Malaysia recently embarked on putting in place a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) to guide legislation, governance, planning and coordination of adaptation measures as well as an adaptation index to measure vulnerability levels of the country against climate change impacts.

"But this effort requires more urgency, as the reality on the ground shows the country is not moving in the right direction, with business-as-usual development projects and plans, as we are not planning or preparing adequately or at all for the current and impending climate impacts.

"Are our policy-makers and planners at all levels of government, including the architects and engineers sufficiently aware of the current and impending impacts of climate change? Are we planning for future threats and disasters?" she asked.

She said that there does not seem to be enough consideration given to whether new projects contribute to increasing climate resilience or if they undermine them.

"We have to sound the alarm bells even louder and adapt (if possible) to the ‘new-normal’ of climate change impacts. We have to also be ready to face situations where adaptation is no longer possible.

"The time to invest in adaptation plans and measures that build the country’s climate resilience is long overdue. Urgent responses are needed now and we can learn from what other countries are already doing.

"Urgent adaptation plans that include ecosystem-based approaches are needed to ensure buildings, infrastructure and coastal areas are resilient to storms, increased rain, withstand floods and sea-level rise, etc.

"Forest and soil conservation measures, including the protection of watersheds and rivers to prevent and mitigate against floods, turning urban areas into ‘sponge cities’, and the strengthening of our coastlines through mangrove forest protection and rehabilitation are all vital parts of the plan," she added. - Mkini