MARCH 15 Mother nature has given us yet another reminder about the need to preserve our environment, keep our cities clean, reduce carbon emissions, and protect our natural resources. Floods are not an act of God alone, but it should be clear that they are not a singular event. Climate scientists believe that severe floods, along with other extreme weather events like tornadoes, are becoming more common as a result human-caused global warming, and its resulting rising sea levels.
We can expect natural disasters to become more frequent, and even more dangerous, with climate change accelerating, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned years ago. For Malaysia, this means dealing on a greater scale with recurring flooding, sinkholes landslides droughts, tsunamis, and other natural disasters.
If we want to stop and reverse climate changes, it will take the efforts of all countries. If we want to preserve the environment, we need a whole-of-government approach that brings together all government agencies.
There is currently no central agency that coordinates the environmental sustainability efforts of all state governments and ministries. The Department of Environment, which is part of the Ministry of Environment and Water, currently bears the responsibility for ensuring sustainable development in the country. It is a small department with limited power. This is undoubtedly a large task and too much for any one government department. This is even more true if a central agency is not involved.
This is the problem and the solution. Our single pursuit for economic growth has caused significant environmental degradation which has boomeranged and has now been borne out in the form of unmitigated disasters. To achieve national sustainable development, we must coordinate economic planning and environmental preservation.
It is now that sustainable development must be integrated into national coordination. This will require economic and environmental concerns to be assessed more thoroughly, in concert. The collaboration between ministries and departments can lead to synergies at the federal level. It is important to maintain contact with the respective state economic planning departments at the state level. This is especially important for environmentally sensitive activities. These include logging and mining, the development of forest and river reserve, river polluting industrial or agricultural activities, poor agriculture practices, overfishing, and many other activities. We can expect stronger protection of the natural environment with active federal involvement and consultation, especially for our water catchment area, highlands and river reserves and natural forests.
Undoubtedly, land is a matter of state when it comes land use for economic activity. For Peninsular Malaysia, however, the federal government coordinates land use through the Department of Director General of Lands and Mines under the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. It is important to remember that JKPTG has a greater number of enforcement officers and powers than the DoE. These two agencies have been in the same ministry since the beginning of the new millennium to ensure that there are synergies with environmental protection.
These two entities are now separate, which means that coordination of environmental preservation is more important. As this effort cuts across various ministries, a whole of government approach can begin to solve economic-environmental issues concurrently (not consecutively). Other ministries and agencies that are critical to the government can now join this war room. These include the Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation and Public Works Department, among others. A higher authority than any one ministry is necessary to effectively lead the warroom.
We can expect Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) to be more serious if we coordinate both economic and environmental development, especially when it involves large land areas. One-Stop Centres for Land Development will be more holistic and include multidisciplinary input. They will prioritize eco-friendly, low-carbon footprint, non-flood exacerbating, projects. Each ministry responsible for their respective areas of responsibility, such as MITI (industries), MOA(agriculture) or KeTSA (mining), will be required to conduct rigorous ESG monitoring. Before any approval is granted, the true economic benefits as well as environmental costs will be carefully weighed and measured. You can argue that longer approvals for investment will make us less competitive. Can the promise that more jobs and higher incomes will be attained justify the loss of life and property from natural disasters caused by our neglect of the environment.
The prime minister stated that the government is seeking a long-term, comprehensive solution to floods. Sustainable development is crucial for preventing and reducing future billion-ringgit disasters.
Estimated losses from the floods of recent years at RM6.5billion, human-induced natural hazards are a major economic problem that must be addressed in conjunction with economic planning. DoE should elevate its responsibility for coordinating national sustainable developments to a central agency. This would allow it to better focus its function as an operating agent.
The time is now for central agency environmental coordination. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound cure, as the old saying goes. Instead of proposing more projects to fix the consequences of costly natural catastrophes, we must first address the causes. The outdated emphasis on the economy alone does not deserve the top priority position. If we want to plan for the future better, we must place equal emphasis on the environment and the economic. Economic benefits and their environmental costs must be evaluated together and systematically to ensure economic development is sustainable.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or organisation and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.