NGOs call for climate emergency declaration by September

 

A coalition of environmental rights groups has called on the government at federal, state and local levels to officially declare a climate emergency in the country by Malaysia Day (Sept 16).

The coalition, dubbed Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia (GDIMY), issued a letter dated March 4 which will be sent to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s office next week, listing 12 specific demands.

This is to limit global warming to within 1.5 to 2 °C and build climate resilience.

Among the demands include recognising climate emergency as a health emergency, and implementing low-carbon, sustainable and equitable health systems throughout Malaysia as a result.

At a press conference today in Kuala Lumpur, former Association for the Protection of the Natural Heritage of Malaysia (Peka) president and environmentalist Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil said the government should have focused on these demands at least five years ago.

“We should focus on the objective of educating and pressuring the government to declare climate emergency immediately, by the third quarter of this year, solely because our lives, our loved ones and the future generation depend on it.

“Our government, when it comes to the environment, has always put it last on the list. They don’t prioritise the importance of a good environment,” she said, alluding to a lack of political will and sincerity.

Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil

She claimed that the governments have little to no regard for the future of the environment due to abuse of power and greed.

“As we all know, the states are banking on natural resources such as timber and metal to compensate for their lack of talents to generate income for the state.

“This is further fueled by abuse of power, cronyism, bribery and the greed to enrich themselves with little or no regard for the future, to face the onslaught of nature’s wrath,” she said.

First to be impacted

Sabrina added that when it comes to matters involving climate change, the poor and middle-class communities are the first to be impacted.

In their letter to the prime minister, GDIMY also demanded for several steps to be taken by the government, including sustainable methods in ensuring food and water security.

“Prioritise Malaysia’s food sovereignty by ensuring complete food security for Malaysia to prepare for current and future climate impacts by redirecting policy towards agroecology and away from industrial agriculture.

“Prioritise Malaysia’s water sovereignty by ensuring complete water security and resilience for Malaysia given that the incidence of droughts and heat waves are predicted to increase significantly in Southeast Asia,” read the letter.

Protect Malaysia’s biodiversity

They also called on the government to protect Malaysia’s biodiversity by declaring at least 55 percent of land area as terrestrial forest reserves, 30 percent of terrestrial forests gazetted as Totally Protected Areas, and 30 percent of marine waters as Marine Parks, while upholding indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ rights to own and manage the protected areas according to their Indigenous, traditional, sustainable customs and practices.

GDIMY said they were open to discussing the issues with the government to move forward in mitigating the impacts of climate change.

GDIMY consists comprises non-governmental organisations including Peka, Parti Sosialis Malaysia, Klima Action Malaysia, Greenpeace Malaysia and Sahabat Alam Malaysia. - Mkini