Global Climate Change and Its Effects on Human Habitat and Environment in Malaysia

     

         Climate change is the biggest threat to nature and humanity in the 21st century. Climate change means annual temperature of the earth has swung up and down by several degrees Celsius over the past million years. Temperature records in the past 30 to 50 years have shown warming trends in most places including Malaysia. Climate change may bring about an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as droughts, storms and floods. The effects of global climate change are many and varied. Climate change is caused by the emission of heat-trapping gases – mostly carbon dioxide (CO2) – from vehicles, industry, power plants and deforestation. As these gases build up, they act like a thick blanket, overheating the planet, changing our climate, and threatening our health, economy and natural environment. An analysis of temperature records in Malaysia shows a warming trend. For Malaysia, the temperature changes range from +0.70C to +2.60C, while precipitation changes range from -30% to +30%. Climate change in Malaysia showed this phenomenon have negative impacts on human habitats such as agriculture, forests, water resources, coastal resources, health and energy sector.

     Climate change is a global issue and will be felt in all corners of the world. An analysis of temperature records in Malaysia shows a warming trend. In Malaysia, forecast have been made on climate modeling using 14 GCM’s (Global Climate Models) which shows that Malaysia could experience temperature changes from 0.7 to 2.6 degree Celsius and precipitation changes ranging from -30% to 30% (Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment 2000). In general, Malaysia could be considered a free zone from climate-related disasters. However, mild climate-related disasters are quite frequent to happen lately. These refer to the occurrence of floods and droughts that caused significant socio-economic impacts to the nation while the occurrence of landslides due to excessive rainfall and strong winds happened at the hilly and the latter, at the coastal areas caused minimal damage. The potential impacts of climate change in the Malaysian context would include sea-level rise, reduced crop yields, greater diseases among forest species and biodiversity loss, erosion of shorelines, increased flood intensities, coral reef bleaching, increased incidences of disease, tidal inundation of coastal areas, decreased water availability, loss of biodiversity, and more droughts, among other things. By 2050, projections show that Malaysia’s going to be hotter with a temperature rise of up to 1.5°C. We also expect more rainfall extremes— intense rainfall in the wet period and a lack of rainfall in the dry period. This would lead to higher high flows, meaning more severe floods, and lower low flows, meaning longer droughts. Sea level is also expected to rise anywhere from 15 to 95 centimeters over a hundred-year period, threatening the increasing urban population in our coastal areas. In fact, the rapidly changing weather patterns and climate variability in the region and in the country proper have already seen Malaysians suffer from recent major.