Global warming is already altering the world’s climate. Its impacts are felt in all sectors and regions of society, through changes in mean temperature and precipitation as well as through changes in the frequency and intensity of climate extremes which will lead to flood, drought, coastal erosion and seawater inundation.
Malaysia flood records shows Malaysia flood record showed that out of eight (8) major floods that occurred between the years 1970-2008, four (4) of them occurred in the decade of 2000-2007 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007), two (2) events occurred in the decade of the 1980s (in 1986 & 1988) while one incident occurred in the 1970s decade (1970) and 1990 (1993), respectively. While there are also another 23 flood occurrence during 1980 – 2010. The flood events affected more than 639,000 people, with more than 1,000,000 USD of economic damage including agriculture and food security, water resources, aquaculture, coastal zones and public health.
In 1998, Malaysia experienced severe drought affected 1.8 million residents in southern Kuala Lumpur City, Bangi and Kajang (whose water supply are sourced from the upper Langat River catchment), bringing in its wake 5 months of disrupted water supply. The droughts also make its mark in other areas such as Penang, Kedah, Kelantan, Sarawak, and Sabah.
The sea level rise phenomenon also shows that from November 1984 to January 1986, out of the country's coastline of 4,809 km, about 29% or 1,380 km was facing erosion. Moreover, the rate of sea level rise using tide gauge observations along Malaysia coast for the period 1984-2010 is 0.2 to 4.4mm/year while the rate of sea level rise based on satellite altimeter data along Malaysia coast for the period 1993-2010 was 2.7-7.0mm/year. If the global temperature keep increasing, there are vulnerabilities some of the low lying areas around Malaysia coastline will be flooded.
|