A few days ago, the British Government declared a national emergency when extreme heat waves soared through Europe. The declaration was made based on the Met’s Office Heatwave Warning Levels stated out in England’s Heatwave Plan. Coincidently, in the very same week, the British High Court ruled in favour of climate activists in an ongoing court case between 3 NGOs and the British Government. The High Court ordered the United Kingdom Government to explain in detail how the government plans to achieve their net zero policy target. Imagine, a government losing a challenge in court against climate activists for failing to provide the necessary policies to ensure carbon emission reductions are met in accordance with their Climate Change Act of 2008.
Ironically, here in Malaysia, the Pahang state government is suing environmental activists for speaking out on the issue of logging. This clearly shows how different our country is in its commitment to climate change and environmental issues as compared to foreign countries.
In foreign countries, there are already systems in place to measure the severity of natural disasters to ensure there is a reliable plan for managing disasters. But has our country provided such a system to identify the probabilities of extreme weather? If so, have we practiced using these systems efficiently and effectively?
In foreign countries as well, the Government has already drawn up mitigation and adaptation plans to combat extreme weather that were predicted through their various systems. What about the Malaysian Government?
In foreign countries, the government takes full responsibility for policies that were introduced. In fact, the government can be punished if they are unable to explain the relevant steps that need to be taken towards achieving the policy. Is it possible for our country to practice such efficient checks and balances one day?
In the upcoming State Assembly session, the Selangor State Government will present its First Selangor Plan (RS-1), which involves various initiatives to address the issues of climate change. I hope these initiatives will address 1) ways to measure climate change issues; 2) plans of adaptation and mitigation before the occurrence of yet another natural disaster due to climate change; 3) devise a detailed prevention plan to address climate change issues; 4) incentives to encourage the participation of all corporate sectors in addressing climate change issues; 5) KPIs and detailed measures to achieve “net zero” carbon emissions.
Efforts to address the issue of climate change are a shared responsibility. However, as a government, a huge responsibility lies upon them to ensure our environment is not compromised for the sake of the people.