KUALA LUMPUR: Climate change has been discussed for decades, and its catastrophic impacts are well documented, but it is often perceived as abstract and a distant threat affecting people in distant places.
With increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events like heavy downpours, heat waves and droughts, Malaysia is witnessing firsthand how the crisis can wreak havoc on the planet and affect people's livelihoods.
The floods of Dec 2021 were declared a "once in a century" disaster and the fish shortage due to rising sea temperatures in Malaysian waters is another example.
But it's not all doom and gloom. Experts said the worst can still be avoided with urgent and sustainable climate action.
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
"The climate emergency is an existential crisis, which is informed by science," said Climate Governance Malaysia chairperson Datin Seri Sunita Rajakumar.
Read more: Calling it what it is: Climate Emergency
"Slow moving ecological systems are being affected by human activities. Earth simply cannot support both population growth and economic growth at the same time," she said in a video entitled 'Is Climate Emergency Real?' produced by the European Union (EU) in conjunction with the EU Climate Diplomacy Week.
The EU delegation in Malaysia has been working on a video series focusing on sustainability and climate change as part of ongoing partnership between the EU and Malaysia.
Sunita cited the World Meteorological Organisation's (WMO) flagship State of the Global Climate report, which cited that the global average temperature in 2020 was about 1.2°C above pre-industrial level.
WMO, in a new climate update issued in May, said there is a 93 per cent likelihood of at least one year between 2022 and 2026 temporarily reaching 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level, becoming the warmest on record.
Associate Professor Dr Helena Varkkey of the Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya warned that global heating is "definitely speeding up faster than it should have been."
People will talk about melting ice caps and polar bears not having a place to land when they discuss climate change. That is a bit difficult for us to relate in a tropical country.
"But Malaysia is having more extreme heat waves. We also have more rain in general and this is why flooding is a very good indicator to show that things are really changing here as well."
UNSUSTAINABLE HUMAN ACTIVITIES AND FOOD SECURITY
Climate change is generally caused by an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, exacerbated by human activity, Varkkey explained.
"We use fossil fuels, we burn coal, and our petrol contribute the majority of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. On top of that, there is overfishing and deforestation which reduces earth's ability to absorb the emissions."
Read more: Tax windfall profits of fossil fuel companies, says UN sec-gen
Varkkey also raised the issue of food security, which is closely linked to climate change.
"About 10 per cent of of our society relies on agriculture. So, if anything happens to the agricultural sector, many of our people will lose their livelihoods.
"The world we came into was better than now. We have made it worse during our lifetime and our children will have to live with the consequence. We don't want to leave that legacy when we go."
ACT NOW
Varkkey urged people to start taking small steps to fight climate change.
"What can we avoid doing that can be better for the climate?", Varkey suggested people ask themselves as they go about their daily lives.
"When you think about it in small bite size pieces, you can actually build up to something bigger and it will become part of your habits and your natural lifestyle."
Meanwhile, Ecoknights programme director, Fadly Bakhtiar spotlighted the importance of volunteering such as with cleaning up public spaces to normalise such habits in Malaysia.
EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said it is important to involve local communities in conservation efforts, "giving them a pride, being a guardian of their own territories."