This blog post is going to be somewhat of a more personal
sentiment. I am approaching the tail end of my first term of third year at UCL,
and I have been faced with the haunting reality of climate change in the past
11 weeks more so than I have throughout my entire life. To put it bluntly, I
was not aware of the severity of the situation, and the impact it has and is
going to have on our planet. It evidently took me a long time to understand
that while climate change does occur naturally, the alarmingly high rate of
carbon dioxide emissions over the past couple of centuries has never happened so
quickly before.
The way climate change affects regions and countries
differently forces individual nations to keep reorganising their priorities. In
addition, further globalization has got these countries having to think about
bringing in aid to other countries. As someone who hails from the other side of
the fence, a developing country, climate change is inevitably hitting me a
little harder.
I come from Malaysia, a beautiful country located in
Southeast Asia. My country consists of Peninsular Malaysia, which shares
borders with Thailand and Singapore, along with three other states located on
the island of Borneo, commonly known as East Malaysia. These two landmasses are
separated by the South China Sea. Being in very close proximity to the equator
calls for humid, tropical weather pretty much all year around. Malaysia is on
its way to become more and more developed, with a large proportion of the
economy being focused on business, trade and investments. I live a comfortable
life back home, which is the case for a lot of families living in urban areas –
we have a strong middle class. I do, however, sense a growing disparity between
the upper and lower middle classes, a possible sign of the rich getting richer.
Poverty still very much exists, however, being more prevalent in rural areas
and coastal towns.
Both the Peninsular and East Malaysia have an abundance of
coastlines, and this immediately establishes a connection to increasing flood risks
due to sea level rise. Awang and
Hamid state that due to climate and topography, the regional sea level is
higher than global projections. There are a significant proportion of
developing countries that stage similar settings in terms of their land. In
countries like Malaysia that regularly experience heavy rainfall, climate
change could heighten the probability of more extreme storms and flood events. Sarkar
et al., 2014 identified the states in Malaysia that were prone to heavy
flooding, and that the 9% of land in Malaysia that carry this risk would affect
about 3.5 million people. It also states that 90cm rise in sea level could
result in a 1200km inundation of coastal zones in Peninsular Malaysia.
Given what a small country Malaysia is, this largely affects
the economy. Through flooding, Malaysia suffers an estimated loss of about
MYR100 million per year (slightly less than £20 million) (Baharuddin, 2007, Sarkar et al.,
2014). This clearly displays the challenges faced by
developing countries, which, while still trying to bridge the economic gap with
developed countries, have to take into account the major economic setbacks. M. Mirza
states that developing countries have taken in about US$35 billion per year to compensate
for natural disasters in the past decade.
We are undoubtedly in a more compromising situation compared
to developed countries. I have recently been trying to think of the simplest
ways possible that funds in my country can be reallocated, and I do realise
that our hands are not completely tied. There are several projects, especially
in the more recent years that we need not have spent so much money on. I am no
economist, so the financial situation in my country is far beyond my
understanding. However, as a common citizen, I have observed that the impacts
of climate change have not yet become a critical issue to address. Corruption,
fraud, bribery, misconduct, crime etc. are the numerous issues that pay a
price, and curbing it would help the economy. Before I pass off as an
idealistic, impressionable millennial, I am fully aware that the reality of it
all is way more complex. The urgency of this situation is simply not quite
understood. I strongly feel that even the smallest changes and collectively
make a difference, as cliché as that may sound.
In some ways I want to thank climate change. It has changed
my view on many things, and it has made we want to question our current status
quo and if we will be able to survive a drastic change. Whether it is
prevention or cure, business-as-usual will not be feasible for much longer. My
opinions in this blog post might be completely, entirely wrong, and that
Malaysia may not necessarily be a benchmark for other developing countries, but
the popular consensus is that these countries most definitely have a larger
hurdle to leap over.
Here are the links to some interesting articles on climate
change in developing countries:
No comments:
Post a Comment