Malaysia needs to do more on disaster risk reduction

TODAY is the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. Every year on Oct 13, since 1989, the United Nations General Assembly calls for the promotion of a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction.

This year’s day focuses on governance, with good disaster risk governance measured in lives saved, reduced numbers of disasteraffected people, and reduced economic losses.

Malaysia’s well-coordinated responses to the current Covid-19 pandemic demonstrates our ability to put in place a clear vision and plans led by competent, empowered institutions acting on scientific evidence for the public good. Similar responses and a high priority are needed to respond to climate change and the impending crisis.

In 2010, the country came up with a National Climate Policy on Climate Change that underscores the country’s commitment to institutionalise measures to integrate crosscutting issues in policies, plans, programmes and projects. The aim is to increase our resilience in the face of climate change.

One priority area in the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) is on combating climate change and reducing disaster risks through augmenting climate change adaptation and strengthening disaster risk management.

The nation needs to expedite efforts to put in place a National Adaptation Action Plan to guide legislation, governance, planning and coordination of adaptation measures as well as an adaptation index to measure vulnerability levels to climate change impacts.

More urgency is needed in these efforts, as the reality on the ground shows we are not planning or preparing adequately, or at all, for current and impending climate impacts.

Are policymakers 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?

In Singapore, for instance, addressing the challenges of climate risks and impacts is happening at the highest level of government, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself talking about climate change risks.

It has been estimated that it would cost S$100bil (RM30. 5bil) or more to protect the island state against rising sea levels, and measures are being undertaken with a long-term perspective.

We too should be investing in adaptation plans and measures that build the country’s climate resilience. We can learn from what other countries are already doing. There are also international funds available to us, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Green Climate Fund.

Clearly, there has to be a re-set button in the way we do things to secure our future in a world facing a climate change crisis. We have to relook at everything we do from a climate change lens.

Urgent adaptation plans that include ecosystem-based approaches are needed to ensure buildings, infrastructure and coastal areas are resilient to storms, increased rain, floods and sea level rises, etc. Forest and soil conservation measures should include protecting watersheds and rivers to prevent and mitigate floods, turning urban areas into “sponge cities” (ie, designed to capture rainwater to reduce floods), and strengthening coastlines through mangrove forest protection and rehabilitation.

Clearly, a lot more needs to be done, and with extreme urgency. For otherwise, we may be totally unprepared for future disasters, with catastrophic consequences.

MEENAKSHI RAMAN President, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM)