THE minister in charge of environment made a comment that Malaysia is not vulnerable to climate change impact to justify why US President Joe Biden did not invite Malaysia to join a virtual get-together on climate change.
Biden needs to quench the “thirst” of green agenda proponents who gave him support to become president. Unfortunately, Biden’s policies do contradict when it comes to the oil and gas sector.
Green washing is a new way of showing that an entity is environmentally friendly. So, some quarters in Malaysia should not be bothered with a meeting in the US because they are not the United Nations.
Why would a Malaysian minister denounce the impact of climate change to us? Much allocations were used by agencies under his ministry to justify the need to mitigate and adapt to climate change involving reports, studies, new policies, new agencies and foreign “study visits”.
More importantly, the prime minister outlined six approaches to be implemented by the government on climate change issues after chairing the first meeting of the Malaysian Climate Change Action Council recently. Thus, climate change has direct impact on Malaysians and especially on our water cycle, contrary to statements by the environment minister.
Just look at the freak weather that we have been facing in recent years. Less water or too much water is the risk Malaysia has to learn about, mitigate and adapt to. In addition to that, Malaysia has to adopt an organic growth approach to manage greenhouse gasses to reach net zero status as the path forward is uncharted.
Weather pattern
Drop in rainfall or change in rainfall pattern may have an impact on the function of our dams. This will directly affect raw water availability that fuels the economy. Similarly, higher rainfall intensity will fail the flood mitigation works which are designed based on historic data which may be older and having lower climatic risk components. Some instances of this can be seen sporadically in Malaysia.
Food security
Suitable wet and dry conditions are vital to ensure optimised crops yield. If climate affects lifecycle of pests and beneficial organisms, it may also have an impact on crop yields. Aquatic produce are also dependent on similar conditions to ensure Malaysia can sustain the domestic demand. With rising food imports and unknown parameters of climate impact, are we heading to insecurity?
Correct measurement
Based on latest technological development, it is sad to say that the world and its leaders are moving to an extreme solution without taking a holistic picture. It can be due to lobbying or inability to grasp the actual reality that is causing blinded measurement to the environment. The world is attacked with various types of degradation – land use change, toxic chemical pollution, increased loading of pollutants and climate change, to name a few. Thus, it is absurd for the world to measure technological solution just using “global warming” ruler.
Let us take an example of achieving 100% electric vehicle implementation globally by 2050. Microchips, processors, batteries and many more needs depend on mining to produce these products to achieve the 2050 target. The need to have charging stations at every corner of the world is a second hurdle that needs to be addressed. Electronic waste (e-waste) “tsunami” will follow shortly.
What is the environmental impact of this policy? How much heavy metal pollution will come from mining and e-waste generation? What happens to poorer nations and poorer citizens in a nation that cannot afford an electric car to earn a living? How much improvement will be put in place for “last-mile connectivity” to ensure there is increase in public transportation usage and it is able to cater a peak hour situation to prevent overcrowding?
Taking into consideration high urban population density that is already a planning nightmare for many nations, just imagine a Covid-19 like outbreak happens few decades from now. If we put so many people on public transport during peak hours, what is the type of outcome we are looking at?
The issues we raised are only bound to the electric car’s bullish proposals around the world. We have not touched other much riskier technological solutions that are being put forward to bind many nations so as to profit a few while using a lopsided measurement.
“True wisdom comes to each of us when we realise how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” – Socrates
This article was contributed by Piarapakaran S, president of the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer), a non-government organisation involved in research and development in the fields of water, energy and environment.
Source: The Sun Daily
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