Agong’s decree on disaster risk management should be heeded: experts

KUALA LUMPUR – Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah’s decree in Parliament today that the government must emphasise disaster risk management is timely and should be heeded seriously so that immediate planning can follow.

According to environmental protection expert Datuk Seri Zaini Ujang, it follows that planetary health is currently at a dangerous level of uncertainty, in terms of climate change and ecosystem efficiency.

Therefore, he suggested that proactive action should be implemented by various agencies and parties, including non-governmental organisations, using a collaborative approach led by experts in the field who are not tied to changes in political leadership.

“This is because the issue of damage to planetary health is worsening and needs to be dealt with immediately as natural disasters are becoming more frequent, severe, and tragic (which is) happening all over the world including Malaysia,” said Zaini when contacted.

In his royal address at the opening ceremony of the second session of the 15th Parliament, the king said that the government must emphasise the aspect of physical security through disaster risk management.

The Agong said a more systematic and strategic approach should be implemented by the government immediately to deal with the effects of natural disasters, especially the annual floods.

Meanwhile, Sahabat Alam Activists’ Association chairman Hafizudin Nasarudin said there are some areas exposed to the risk of disasters, or known as geo-disaster zones, that are still not reserved or gazetted as protected areas.

He said this means the geo-disaster area is at risk of being “disrupted” by future developments since it has not been gazetted as a protected area.

“When this area is not protected, it will be developed at any time when it receives approval for development activities, this will trigger the occurrence of natural disasters,” he said.

Therefore, he suggested that the government needs to look at and re-identify geo-disaster areas that have not been gazetted so that further action can be taken to protect the area from inappropriate development.

Hafizudin said, once the geo-disaster area is gazetted, it cannot be touched by any party as stipulated in the National Land Code.

Besides that, Renard Siew, who is the climate change advisor to the Centre for Governance and Political Studies, said that there is an unequivocal stand by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that climate change is anthropogenic (caused by human activities).

He strongly believes that there is no such thing as a “natural” disaster as these are events that can and should be prevented.

“We need to look at not just climate mitigation (cutting down on carbon emissions) but also climate adaptation (how we build and rebuild resilience) given the harsher circumstances that we face.

“There is no doubt that the frequency of catastrophic events like floods and droughts will continue to worsen over time,” he added. – Bernama, February 13, 2023