BY VIRMAN JURI
ADAPTATION STRATEGIES to accommodate climate change and flood mitigation plans should be rethought in a new light.
“A well-integrated approach comprising better coastal development and zoning mechanism, redesigning the draining system, and assets assessment on flood mitigation plans are needed to ensure the long-term impact of the projects,” Datuk Professor Dr Azizan Abu Samah, a meteorologist of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University Malaya (UM) told The Petri Dish in a recent interview.
He said: “Floods are a natural phenomenon, and they can be good. For example, soil along the River Nile is fertile for agricultural activity because the soil is often flooded with water.”[ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”block” ihc_mb_who=”unreg” ihc_mb_template=”3″ ]
“But the problem arises when important high-value assets are built short-sightedly in a flood-prone area. Kuala Lumpur was a swamp area before it underwent urbanisation which now makes the city more susceptible to flooding.”
“For this reason, assets assessment is crucial in climate or flood mitigation projects. We need to think about what assets we want to protect. If paddy fields cost around RM10 million to develop, is it worth spending RM100 million on a flood mitigation project to protect them from floods,” he asked.
Azizan said town planners must be realistic as building a mitigation plan is not cheap, and relatively not cost-efficient.
Among the adaptation strategies highlighted by Azizan is proper zoning or town planning.
He explained zoning is a way for authorities to regulate land, specifying which areas of industrial, recreational, residential, and commercial activities could be ideally located. In the context of town planning, proper zoning and ecological planning may help us to adapt to climate change and reduce losses from its impact.
“We should improve our town planning to consider sea level rise, big tides, and winds due to extreme weather. A 50 km/h wind can pile up much water, and the wave will be even greater than what is experienced during high tide.”
“For example, in Kota Belud’s, Kampung Forest in Sabah, the sea level rise recently increased more than it was anticipated, and this caused the tides to wipe out around 100 houses. If more thought had been given to the town planning, these losses could have been avoided,” said Azizan.
He advised that town planning should be more strategic to include flood retention areas, not to build high-valued assets in a flood-prone area, and a better draining system that can withstand a 1/100 probability of extreme flooding.
“The problem with Malaysia is – we never integrate our decision. There should be a joint vertical effort from the government down to the local councils to combat climate change.”
“Crucially, the local councils are hugely responsible for town planning because they are the authority that gives licenses, and determine the location of a particular industry.”
“Hence, they need to be fully aware of the threat of climate change and the important role they must play,” said Azizan, who is also the Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences at UM.
Azizan also emphasised that Malaysia is a water-surplus country, and our approach should not emulate solutions from water-deficit countries.
“During the flood season, we have an excess of water, so we need to think of ways to manage and store the excess water. We should not follow solutions derived from water-deficit countries that are not applicable to us. We have enough expertise, and we have undertaken such excess water management projects in Putrajaya where the excess water was managed strategically.
“Additionally, every disaster mitigation plan should be followed by a return of investment assessment. Everyone must play their role at individual and state levels, and every decision-making process should be guided by science, ” added Azizan.[/ihc-hide-content]
