Good morning. Last night, I met up with some Subang Jaya community leaders and at the same time finished reading the UN Special Rapporteur report on the topics of extreme poverty and human rights by Professor Philip Alston.
While the report recently made controversial headlines on the issue of poverty; I noted in great dismay his findings on climate change was equally, if not more shocking!
Professor Alston noted that our officials in state and federal levels, IGNORED and paid NO ATTENTION to climate change. Climate change is not even a factor in the current PH government policies. In my opinion, this tidak apa attitude is even worse than the mishandling of Lynas.
You have to read the following excerpt of his report, to believe:
“Climate change was largely ignored by the officials I met with. The consequences for Malaysia in the coming decade and beyond will be dramatic, and the worst hit will be those already living in poverty. Climate change threatens to undo decades of Malaysia’s development progress, especially for poor households dependent on agriculture who may be stuck in what the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific calls a “vicious cycle of poverty, inequality and disasters.”
It is alarming that officials at the state level, who are responsible for land and natural resources management, and officials at the federal level who handle social protection, rural development, and vulnerable groups, seem to be paying almost no attention to the risks facing poor people who will be particularly affected by climate change. Nor did I receive any evidence that they are factoring climate change into their poverty and social protection policies.
Current economic planning appears to be blithely proceeding as though climate change is a matter of community education, rather than requiring deep changes in official policies. In 2019, petroleum provided 30.9 percent of Malaysian’s fiscal revenue, and the country reportedly accounts for 28 percent of global palm oil production. Malaysia’s economy and fiscal revenue will presumably be greatly affected by any meaningful global commitments to reduce carbon emissions and deforestation, with potentially severe implications for public expenditure.”
Here is the link for the full report: