PREVENTING climate change and reducing its effects are the main targets in the fourth strategic thrust of the 11th Malaysia Plan.
Referring to the massive floods in the peninsula last December, the report admitted that climate change has caused an increase in the “frequency and intensity of natural disasters”.
As a remedy, the Government’s plan for the next five years is to discard the “grow first, clean up later” mentality and to pursue development in a more sustainable manner right from the start.
Of all the goals set, two exceptionally ambitious ones stand out: to reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity of GDP by 40%, and to protect more than twice the number of those who live in flood-prone areas compared to the standards achieved in the previous Malaysia Plan.
To realise the plan to reduce carbon footprints, the Government will provide incentives in the form of carbon tax, green tax and green bonds.
Businesses will be encouraged to adopt newer forms of renewable energy and by 2020, it is expected to contribute to 7.8% of the total installed energy capacity in the peninsula and Sabah.
As for flood mitigation plans, a combination of awareness programmes and a disaster risk management framework will be used to achieve the target of protecting two million Malaysians from floods.
The framework will comprise programmes to reduce the impact of natural disasters and to speed up response time to communities that are prone to natural disasters.
Restoring jungles and protecting endangered animals and plants from extinction are some of the plans that the 11th Malaysia Plan has in store for the environment.
The Government promises to conserve Malaysia’s biodiversity so that future generations can have access to the same resources today.
Advance reproductive technology will be used to help increase the numbers of several species, including the tiger, sambar deer, elephant and gaur as well as plants such as slipper orchid and asam batu.
The health of Malaysian rainforests, being the natural habitat of the above species and which act as important water catchment areas, are the primary concern of the Forestry Department.
The department solicits the help of the orang asli to protect forest reserves by providing them with alternative ways of earning money.
It was reported that the department managed to lift the indigenous people of the Kelawat Forest Reserve out of poverty.
With training programmes on language and entrepreneurship, the orang asli managed to increase their household incomes by 80% through the sale of rubber latex and fruits in 2014.
Plan protects Malayan tigers too
The Star 22 May 15;
PETALING JAYA: The animal that symbolises Malaysia – the Malayan tiger – has leapt into the 11th Malaysia Plan.
With not more than 350 of this large cat still roaming our forests, the Government plans to increase its numbers along with other endangered species such as the elephant, sambar deer (rusa) and the gaur (seladang).
One such existing initiative that will be intensified is the 1Malaysia Biodiversity Enforcement Operation Network (1MBEON), which aims to curb wildlife poaching.
Spearheading the programme are the National Resources and Environment (NRE) Ministry as well as the Defence Ministry.
The NRE’s Department of Wildlife and National Parks director of ex-situ conservation division Fakhrul Hatta Musa revealed that the programme has managed to cripple several poaching syndicates since its inception last year.
“Our aim is to stop poachers from harming protected wildlife,” Fakhrul Hatta said.
Fakhrul Hatta explained that 40 officers from the NRE and 60 army personnel patrol the forest reserves in Malaysia.
So far, the programme has conducted five operations, successfully nabbing at least 10 poachers.
Each operation, he said, lasts 18 days with the budget for food, staff allowance and transportation costs setting his department back by RM50,000 each time.
“We always need more officers to have more regular patrols,” he said.
So far, 1MBEON has managed to save wildlife with an estimated street value of RM500,000 from being poached.