KUALA LUMPUR: Multi-hazard forecasting systems for cities would prove helpful in gauging municipal temperatures, producing hazards modelling and managing risks in a changing climate.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group II vice-chair, Dr Joy Jacqueline Pereira, said that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) had already taken the initiative, which would allow the data to be used in implementing emergency response in the constituencies, as well as for land use planning and development control.
She said Phase 1 involves meteorological forecasting through several parameters namely, precipitation, temperature, humidity and wind speed.
Phase 2, meanwhile, relates to geophysical and atmospheric hazards modelling including floods, landslides, strong winds, urban heat and air pollution.
Finally, Phase 3 of the multi-hazard forecast provides a platform for managing and communicating risks in a changing climate, she said.
"Opportunities for integrated implementation of climate change mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk reduction are most optimal at the local level, specifically in cities.
"The development of a risk register on disasters and emerging hazards at the local government level is the first step for informed decision-making and risk communication, supported by a neighbourhood-scale system such as the KL multi-hazard platform," she said in her presentation at the '2022 Climate Change Symposium: Direction of Malaysia's Climate Crisis Response' held at the Parliament House today.
In a subsequent forum, Environment and Water Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Zaini Ujang said coordination among agencies at the local or municipal level was crucial in addressing the floods issue.
"There are seven agencies involved in flood mitigation, involving drains in different areas, namely, private, municipal, highways and the main drainage system before the river.
"90 per cent of flash floods are caused by clogged drains, thus the easiest way to fix this is to clear them," he said, commenting on the country's level of preparedness to face the northeast monsoon, which is forecast to to cause huge floods later this year.
In reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and accelerating energy transition, Zaini said many countries have agreed to shut down their respective coal power plants.