Today, we face two of the most challenging phenomena — rapid urbanisation and climate change. Both will affect our future.
Urbanisation with its problems of security, waste, air quality, and traffic congestion. Climate change with its impact on food security, extreme weather, and rising sea levels which threaten those low-lying habitats.
At the current rate of sea level rise, some shoreline areas in the country may just be drowned.
I am told even my hometown Kota Baru may not be there for long as world temperatures climb and arctic ice continues to melt.
Not many among the public know this.
During our recent conversation on sustainability, ardent members of the Friends of Sustainable Malaysia were treated to a lively update on how Malaysia was dealing with the smart city agenda by the Norliza Hashim, CEO of Urbanice, an agency under the Housing and Local Government Ministry.
Malaysia is a fast-growing nation with 78 per cent or 26 million living in urban areas. And the number is growing despite the many projects by the government to spruce up rural areas.
Many are still attracted to the bright light that cities offer. About 65 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is contributed by urban activities.
This may lead to further disparity between rural and urban growth. In fact, poverty is fast creeping into cities. The number of urban poor is rising.
We were told cities consume 70 per cent of the nation's energy. They are mostly coal-fired.
The urban energy consumption comes from buildings, transportation and industry. Traffic congestion and urban pollution have become commonplace in the cities.
This is despite the investments in Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Mass Rail Transit (MRT). People still prefer cars, blaming the poor last mile service for avoiding travel by trains.
It became clear that addressing urbanisation is a continuous challenge as we need the resources to meet the needs of our present and future societies.
Malaysia faces several environmental challenges. Through urban development we have lost 29 per cent of tree cover which could have accelerated climate change, increase in temperature, flooding and soil erosion.
Over the last decade the climate change crisis has intensified inducing extreme weather-related disasters such as floods, and landslides due to the increase in annual rainfall and the effects of the heavier monsoon.
Such extreme weather has exacted huge economic and personal losses. Sustainable urbanization is seen as the game changer for cities to be greener and sustainable as we meet the needs of future societies.
SDG 2030 is the universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. But the recent announcement by the UN of the SDG report card is very worrying.
The UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2024 reported that only 17 per cent of the SDG targets are on track and current progress falls short of what is required to meet the SDGs.
In support, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda seeks to align financing policies and flows with economic social and environmental policies.
A key challenge is the exorbitant cost to achieve the SDGs.
It has been estimated that achieving the 2023-2030 goals could cost between US$5.4-6.4 trillion annually or US$1,200 per person per year.
Implementing sustainable urban development is a multifaceted endeavour — requiring creativity, persistence, and a shared vision of building better cities.
Stakeholder management is crucial. Making cities sustainable call for much behavioural and mindset change. Not just the common people, but also among businesses.
A majority of businesses have yet to buy in on the need to have proper waste handling. The almost regular water supply disruption in Kuala Lumpur is a case in point.
If businesses are more responsible and diligent in ensuring that their factory effluents are adequately treated and do not pollute the rivers, we will have fewer disruptions which not only burden the households but are also costly to businesses.
The reality is that urbanisation is not slowing down. Rural urban migration is seen picking up pace in all countries, especially the developing economies.
Unless more jobs are created in the rural areas, there is no way to stop the flow. The only way out is to develop more innovative ways to deal with the smart city challenge.
* The writer is a professor at the Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI, UCSI University