LETTERS: The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly worrying in Malaysia after several extraordinary weather events such as floods, air and water pollution, extreme temperature fluctuations and increasingly erratic weather.
These events also degrade the quality of life, mainly due to increased socioeconomic disparity and the decline in the health of Malaysians.
One of the ways to address this is to pivot the economy to a more sustainable direction by focusing on energy transition and increasing the promotion of green jobs, especially for youths.
Young people contribute the least to climate change, but are the most vulnerable to its effects.
The government should increase youth involvement by enhancing the capacity of young people, especially in public policy advocacy, focused on environmental and climate issues.
In addition, access to information on the environment and related policies should be eased so that youths are more informed and able to contribute to climate action.
Youths should also be recognised as a strategic partner of the government in policy and decision-making.
This was highlighted at the Youth4Climate 2022 Summit held in conjunction with the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, last month, in which I was the only Malaysian youth representative, with the theme "Powering Action".
This summit enabled young activists to exchange opinions and share experiences and knowledge on issues and initiatives led by them to address climate change, and explore opportunities to collaborate and build a global youth community aware of environmental issues and climate change.
Action on climate change and the environment should involve various parties, including marginalised groups, such as youths and the Orang Asli.
Recent actions by the Malaysian government in addressing climate issues should be commended.
Among these are amending the Environmental Quality Act 1974 to enhance penalties for environmental crime, increasing preparedness for floods by strengthening warning systems, building water infrastructure resilient to climate disasters, developing the National Water Sector Transformation Agenda 2040, implementing the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan by improving the efficiency of energy use and management as well as drafting a climate change bill.
However, I hope that the government will also develop a clear and transparent progress-monitoring strategy of all policies.
The issue of climate change should be taken seriously in the same way that we deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bill Gates, in an article on his personal blog Gates Notes, stated that the impact of climate change may be worse than the pandemic if not addressed immediately. But, if we can do it for Covid-19, we can do it for climate change, too.
Therefore, ahead of the 27th Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27-UNFCCC) which will take place next month in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, I call on the government to prioritise addressing climate change in the development of the country in terms of economics, social and politics as a whole.
MOGESH SABABATHY
Malaysian Youth Climate Advocate, Co-founder of Project Ocean Hope, PhD candidate, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times