气候变迁导致降雨骤增，更揭露了我国长期忽视排水需求的根本问题。我们该如何对治频频发生的严重水灾呢？
每年年杪至年初，水灾一直是马来西亚的重大课题。根据国家灾难管理机构（NADMA）灾难控制中心发出的最新全国灾难事故报告指出，2023年11月11日至2024年1月13日期间，累计有2万2966户家庭和7万4807名受害者安置在临时疏散中心（PPS），其影响农地达4900公顷，造成我国2300万令吉的经济损失。
(图片：淹没的村镇。 | 来源：Canva 图片库)
Category Archives: Insight
Short features 500-1200 words
Unlocking Rare Earth Riches in Malaysia
The world wants a lot more rare earths to power its green technology and meet climate goals. This offers lucrative opportunities for Malaysia to tap into its subterranean rare earth deposits of 16.1 billion tonnes. But first, the country wants to develop guidelines for a rare earth mining method said to be safer for the environment. Can Malaysia produce rare earths for the world’s green technology, and keep itself clean too?
(Image: A rare earth mining facility in Perak; satellite image taken in January 2022. | Image: Google Earth)
As Disasters Rise, Climate Change Act Clearly Needed
While its towns bear the consequences of extreme weather, experts and politicians push for a long-awaited climate bill to be signed into law.
MANY Malaysians remember the floods of December 2021, when roads turned to rivers, and homes were swept away or submerged by rising water.
The disaster claimed 50 lives, at least 400,000 people had to be evacuated and financial losses were estimated at RM6.1 billion, according to a 2022 analysis by Serina Rahman, an environmental anthropologist.
Young Syefura Othman, the member of parliament for Bentong district in Pahang, recalls how three consecutive days of pelting rain inundated her constituency. The flooding happened “of course because of climate change,” she said.
(A man walks through floodwaters in Taman Sri Muda, Malaysia, December 2021 | Image: Alamy)
Securing Water in a Harsher Climate
El Niño sparks concerns of dry taps in Malaysia. And as global temperatures increase, so will droughts and heatwaves, experts say. In response, government agencies are coordinating water assets and integrating water management for better water security.
EL NIÑO is back, casting its fiery spell upon Malaysia once more.
Last observed in 2019, this natural phenomenon is often synonymous with hot and dry weather in Malaysia. During particularly strong El Niño events in 1997 and 2015, millions of Malaysians endured water rationing – some for months – as dams dried up.
Now, experts are sounding the alarm as they predict this El Niño weather might last until March 2024 and intensify. To shield ourselves from the impacts of El Niño, it is now more vital than ever to ensure our water resources are well prepared. But can we?
(Photo: Air Hitam Dam is one of three dams on Penang Island. Authorities had to do cloud-seeding in June 2023 to replenish the dropping water levels at the dam. | Image from Google Earth Pro, June 22, 2022)
Explainer: El Niño and Southeast Asia
Weather happens because nature seeks stability. Excess heat, moisture or pressure in one place will move to fill gaps elsewhere. Imagine pouring water into a pool: the water level will rise instantly at one end before it flows to the lower ends of the pool.
What holds true for a pool also holds true for the oceans. At the Pacific Ocean, heat, winds and moisture interact in a major climate phenomenon called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSO alternates among three phases, of which El Niño is the warm phase.
（Image: This year, sea surface temperature in the eastern Pacific Ocean has been warming up more than average. | Image by European Space Agency)
What’s in store, El Niño?
El Nino reliably warms up Malaysia but its impact on rainfall is more nuanced and spotty. Still, as global warming drives more extreme weather events, experts foresee El Niño causing more droughts too.
LAST MONTH must have felt like a furnace for many people across the world. Hundreds of millions suffered heatwaves in India, Europe and the United States. Dozens died. Since 1850, humans have waged world wars and landed rovers on Mars, but we have never stifled in a warmer month than July 2023.
July also marked the return of a natural climate phenomenon called El Niño. Last observed in 2019, El Niño tends to lead to warmer and drier months in tropical Asia. Scientists expect this El Niño to last through March 2024.
(Photo: At its Weather Operation Centre in Selangor, the Malaysian Meteorological Department constantly monitors the country’s weather using satellite and radar data. | Pic by YH Law)
Pouring Concrete on Tioman Island
Pouring Concrete on Tioman Island
The proposed airport in Tioman island will destroy part of a fringing reef and island hill forest, as well as put a landing strip right in front of two villages.
Text by SL Wong | Photos by David ST Loh
Published: July 27, 2023
Regrowing Sabah’s precious rainforests
A Sabahan conservationist is studying the carbon sequestration from her project’s tree planting efforts in the severely logged Lower Kinabatangan River, in order to better understand and implement reforestation more effectively.
What Way If Not the PJD Highway?
While many Petaling Jaya residents don’t want an elevated highway through their community, they are still keen to drive. This is Part 2; read Part 1 for an interactive trip along the PJD highway.
TRAFFIC jams are a painful part of life in the Klang Valley. The Malaysian way to ease traffic, however, appears to focus largely on mega infrastructure: huge, tolled highways that cost hundreds of millions of ringgit to build.
In 2022 alone, two elevated highways were completed: the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Highway (DASH) and the first phase of the Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Highway (SUKE).
And the government is evaluating the proposal of yet another elevated highway: the Petaling Jaya Dispersal Link Expressway (PJD). However, unlike the earlier highways, the PJD would pass through some of the most crowded residential and commercial areas in Petaling Jaya.
