SIBU: No one is immune from the consequences of climate change, the only difference being the severity of its effect.
Stating this, Deputy Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Michael Tiang said its direct effect is something that would be experienced immediately, namely, disaster.
“For example, last year, two-thirds of Europe experienced the worst drought in 500 years and at least 15,000 people died because of the extreme hot weather,” he said at the opening of a Climate Change Action Plan Seminar organised by Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) here Tuesday (Mar 21).
“The unprecedented floods that submerged huge swathes of Pakistan killed nearly 1,500 people and impacted 33 million people out of a population of 220 million.
“It also put pressure on the country’s fragile economy. Looking at our own home, recently, Kuching was hit by flash floods and I am sure, that we received videos from our friends or we watched it on social media and we even read on the news that cars were submerged and even Sarawak General Hospital was badly affected by floods.
“This happened because Kuching experienced 20 per cent higher amount of rainfall this year compared to the previous ever recorded.”
These, Tiang said, are only few examples of the direct effect of climate change.
“We are feeling the impact of climate change now, which means, whatever we are experiencing today is a glimpse of the possible fate that our children would have to face if we continue to be ignorant of this issue and allow the climate to keep changing at a faster pace.
“If we do not do something now, more cities would be submerged, more homes and lives would be destroyed, food would be scarce, there would be more poverty, people would be starving, and eventually, our economy would be weakened.”
That is why, he pointed out, the Sarawak government has placed environmental sustainability as one of the three main pillars in its Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030.
This is an ambitious plan for Sarawak which is implemented to answer to the global call to fight against climate change, he said, adding Sarawak must have development and must move forward with the advancement of technology so that the people can have better opportunity to achieve their dreams and goals.
However, he stated that pursuit of advancement could not be done at the expense of the environment.
“We cannot put our nature in jeopardy because if we do that, the ones who suffer are the people. Economic growth and safe environment must come together and it can come together.
“Economic activities that put environment into consideration will drive the state’s prosperity even further. I believed the state can achieve beyond the goals that had been set with green economy.
“This is the kind of Sarawak that the government has envisioned. The government has plans to reach that target. The Premier of Sarawak has worked really hard to change the economic model and is repositioning the state towards becoming a major green energy economy in Southeast Asia.
“This is what the state government is doing and will do. However, the state government still needs the support from its local authorities to play their part well in encouraging the community to save the environment,” he said.
Saying that SMC has done a wonderful job in implementing policies to encourage the people to save the environment, he said some of the policies include no plastic day, no plastic straw, no polysterene and so forth.
While some people might not be able to see the bigger picture of what these policies would have on the environment, he said it is important for the local authorities to continue to educate the people on their roles to save the environment.
“The power to stop climate change is in our hands. All of us can do something about it and let us all do it not for our sake, but for our children’s sake. We should leave this world in a much better state than we are in now,” Tiang added. Also present were SMC Chairman Clarence Ting and his deputy Bujang Abdul Majid.
