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IN LIGHT of the poor response to the massive floods affecting several states in Peninsular Malaysia, Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia demands that the federal and state governments prioritise climate resilience to immediately address the extreme climate events in our country with concrete people-centric – and not false – solutions.
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report stated that climate change is “widespread, rapid, and intensifying”, and this is exactly what we are seeing play out in Malaysia today.
However, we are hopelessly unprepared. Not properly protecting our people from the full effects of disasters is a violation of our rights to life, health, food, water, shelter, a safe and healthy environment, and livelihood.
Besides the fallout from Typhoon Rai, other causes that have exacerbated the floods in the country are:
– The continual loss of rainfall catchment areas due to deforestation by logging (both legal and illegal);
– The degazettement of forest reserves and conversion to plantations, mining, or mixed developments;
– Poorly planned developments with no proper impact/risk assessments near forest reserves, causing forest fragmentation;
– Cities that have been built with low permeability to absorb rainfall; and
– Changes in river management systems from unchecked canalisation, and loss of buffer zones and setback lines due to developmental pressure.
Forming a special commission
Hence, we demand that the above activities be put to an immediate halt.
We demand that the Malaysian government declare this situation as a “national disaster”, and authorise the formation of a special commission to formally investigate this disaster and the efficacy of response actions, and to recommend reparations/compensation to those negatively impacted by any negligence on the part of the government.
The independent members of this special commission must comprise independent scientists and local experts on flood-related issues, representatives of the affected communities, non-governmental organisations, disaster risk reduction management (DRRM) experts, health professionals, and town planning and sustainability experts. The investigation findings must be read out and debated in Parliament as soon as possible next year, and the publication made accessible to the public.
We demand that the federal and state governments expedite the development of a robust National Adaptation Plan with a focus on resilience with clear targets, future scenario planning, and an implementation roadmap that covers all possible – not only probable – climate ramifications holistically.
All consultation processes with local governments and non-state stakeholders must be transparent, meaningful, and inclusive to ensure the building of community resilience components that include rural and urban settlement and landscape design, social capital, ecosystem capital, rural and urban technological capital, and adaptive capacity incorporating DRRM.
We demand that the federal government expedite a national disaster risk reduction plan, which includes instituting nationwide cross-sectoral training in community-based disaster risk management.
We demand the setting up of an independent multi-stakeholder community resilience unit to oversee a nationwide programme to build community resilience in all factors beyond just disaster risk management.
We remain deeply saddened and disappointed by the slow and ineffectual response, interagency blaming, and lack of coordination across government agencies in dealing with the current flood crisis.
We are also very discouraged that the government has not acknowledged the climate crisis as the emergency that it is. The rakyat is awake and ready for a just transition, but are our leaders? – The Vibes, December 23, 2021
Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia is a civil society movement to demand the Malaysian government for serious climate action