The 15th general election has already passed, and as a result, a unity government has been formed to govern the country for the next five years. Among the biggest components in the unity government coalition are Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional. In the GE15 manifesto, one of the common points outlined by the two components is environmental conservation. Although the government formed is not represented by one political party alone but a combination of many parties, the manifesto needs to be implemented by a unity government so that environmental issues are not left out of the country’s main agenda.
The main focus on environmental issues is an urgent need considering that the environmental crisis caused by global warming is becoming more critical today, leading to widespread natural disasters in all parts of the world and Malaysia is no exception. In Malaysia, for example, a series of major floods that have occurred over the past few years have claimed many lives and tens of thousands of victims had to be moved to temporary settlements, while many were left homeless.
The occurrence of natural disasters that are becoming more frequent is a clear warning to all parties, especially the leadership of the country, about the deteriorating planet earth that needs serious attention to prevent it from getting worse. Immediate and proactive action needs to be mobilised comprehensively to ensure that natural disasters such as floods and other natural disasters do not recur in the future.
Global warming and climate change today put pressure on the stability of the environment and ecosystem. Both are closely related to each other and also have a negative impact on human well-being.
In fact, the world’s climate change is caused by global warming that has been happening continuously since the pre-industrial era. The main cause of global warming is due to the increase of greenhouse gases linked to the depletion of the ozone layer. The increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases is caused by the widespread use of fossil fuels, uncontrolled deforestation and unsustainable land use changes that also contribute to this issue.
It was found that climate change and global warming not only put pressure on the environment and ecosystem, but also affect the economic, social and political systems. In addition, an increase in the temperature of the planet Earth above 1.5 degrees Celsius will invite and worsen the risk of natural disasters such as drought, floods, heat waves, lack of food supply and poverty for hundreds of millions of people around the world, especially for people in low-lying areas, deltas, coastlines and islands.
In fact, long droughts, floods and rising sea levels that are happening more frequently due to the effects of global warming will also affect residential areas, the balance of biodiversity and even agricultural yields. In addition, disruption to the balance of biodiversity and agricultural activities will also affect the sustainability of food supplies and important sources of medicines, thus leading to problems of starvation, malnutrition, the spread of disease outbreaks and a lack of resources for the production of medicines. This will certainly affect the quality of human life, thus giving a great impact to the survival of universal life.
It is not too late for us to mobilise our energy and take appropriate proactive steps to address the increasingly critical issues of climate change and global warming. All parties need to join hands to deal with it to the root so that it does not have a worse impact in the future. Therefore, each of us needs to play our respective roles thoroughly by changing all aspects of life to a more environmentally friendly or sustainable lifestyle. In addition, the role of government is also important to ensure that aspects of environmental governance can be improved and strengthened so that the issue of global warming can be dealt with more effectively. This is because, if efforts to deal with it are not done proactively, we do not know about the reality of the impact of global warming on the environment and the future of our future generations.
All parties, both government and non-governmental organisations, must play a joint role in providing continuous exposure and education to all levels of society through a two-way approach so that the community also has the opportunity to express any form of suggestions, ideas or constraints in the effort to form community groups who are fully prepared to cultivate a sustainable lifestyle. Indeed, a good and effective environmental governance requires cooperation from all parties to lead the community towards a sustainable and environmentally friendly lifestyle in line with religious demands.