‘Protecting the environment and planet is everyone’s responsibility’
PETALING JAYA: The National Environment Day passed by silently on Oct 21 without much fanfare. Yet it is an important “Day” as matters pertaining to the impact of global warming need urgent attention and action. The “Day” also presents Malaysians the golden opportunity to commit themselves to chart the right course of action against global warming.
Photo credit: Rahana Husin
This means protecting our environment, reducing our carbon footprint and at the same time creating a competitive edge in a green economy, as well as a holistic formal education that promotes our relationship with nature, said WWF-Malaysia Conservation Director Dr Henry Chan (photo).
“Climate change and climate crisis are no longer buzz words among scientists and environmentalists,” he said in a recent statement in conjunction with the National Environment Day celebration.
The National Environment Day or Hari Alam Sekitar Negara is celebrated every Oct 21 with the theme, Alam Sekitar Tanggangjawab Semua (Environment Is Our Responsibility).
Dr Chan said to help address the urgency of mitigating global warming, WWF-Malaysia and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) are collaborating to undertake an independent study on the potential net-zero pathways for the country.
The study aims to show an optimal net-zero pathway for Malaysia by 2050 and determine the necessary policy framework and interventions needed to achieve this.
In simple words, he said net-zero means for every molecule of greenhouse gas released, there is also a need to take it out to make our net emission zero. At the very basic, our forest acts to remove these greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. As such, it is crucial that we retain as much as possible our forest that acts as our carbon sink.
“WWF-Malaysia and BCG are looking to collaborate with corporations, investors, the government, and the social sector to engage on the possibilities of a net-zero pathway for the country.
“We plan to complete the study before the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties in Glasgow (also known as COP 26) this November 2021,” he said.
Remaining forests need to be conserved and find opportunities to rehabilitate or restore degraded areas with native tree species so that these areas would flourish and could play their ecological roles for all living things.
Dr Chan pointed out that in a time when the impacts of the climate crisis are experienced globally, the country must not take a step backward of converting forests of any type into development.
“Federal and state governments need to work together in increasing forest cover and protection,” he stressed.
“Nature is our ally in addressing the issues we face in the country and globally. Hence we need to have more nature-based solutions incorporated in developing and addressing climate change. Nature-based solutions are about working with nature, not against nature, for everyone’s benefit,” he added.
As such, Malaysia has the potential to create a long term competitive edge and by proactively acting on climate change but it has to start today, for a sustainable and cleaner future.
The closure of schools during the pandemic has exposed disparities in education, flaws in remote learning and the essential role schools play in student health and wellbeing. It has also shown a clear manifestation of our broken relationship with nature. Therefore, we need to create better learning systems that recognise the importance of the environment which covers climate, nature and people’s issues.
Different stakeholders need to be involved in formulating the country’s future environmental education and education for a sustainable development plan for comprehensive implementation.
The plan should address solutions on budget constraints faced in the education sector, training of teachers, teaching methods and approaches for both students and adults, teaching resource materials, governance structure and enabling conditions.
Photo credit: Rahana Husin
This effort should be seen as supporting Malaysia’s environmental related policies such as Nationally Determined Contributions, National Policy on Biological Diversity 2016-2025, National Policy on Environment and others aligning to Malaysia’s commitments to the International Agreements such as Paris Agreement, Convention on Biodiversity and Education for Sustainable Development: Towards achieving the SDGs.
