COMMENT | Pledging anything on an international stage is not something to be taken lightly. Once a pledge is given, the giver is duty-bound to stand and act accordingly.

By all rights, Malaysia, having now taken the pledges on climate change, must fulfil them not only for climate change but more for ourselves and the future generation.

However, it would seem that the present Malaysian government does not take climate change or natural environment issues seriously.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had pledged that Malaysia will meet her carbon goals by 2050, yet Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man failed at COP26 to address the most urgent issue!

The pledges made were not realistic and merely greenwash. We could only guess that it was done deliberately to avoid taking the international pledge to stop deforestation at COP26 with a bit of face-saving.

Our government has never taken natural environment seriously, approaching it from an exploitative stance instead of a conservative stance. The natural environment is seen as a form of money earner, an ATM, to be used and depleted as they see fit.

One must understand that there is little illegal logging or mining in Malaysia. It is all approved!

We, Malaysia, as one of the tropical countries encircling the equator, must not only take the deforestation pledge but must act without reserve to achieve all the conditions stated in that pledge.

Ban all logging, mining, and all other harmful practices and immediately start recovery works, for example, replanting and protecting the natural environment and all its related biodiversity.

Replanting 100,000,000 trees but then only maintaining 50 percent forest cover is at best an oxymoron and illogical from a conservation point of view.

As far as Peka is concerned, reforestation is the cheapest and fastest way to help in mitigating climate change.

If all the countries along the equatorial belt were to move on this act alone, it will show a vast improvement in our climate condition. This is not high-powered science; it is just logic.

 History tells us that the tropical forest had faced depletion throughout its history, but it had always been able to recover as the rainforest bulk was still there to absorb carbon and all the other gases produced by human activities.

However, these last 10-20 years had seen enormous tracts of the rainforest being depleted at an alarming rate – all in the name of ‘for the good of the people’!

And this practice is still going on.

It is unfortunate there are people who still believe that climate change is either bogus or ‘an act of God’ or natural evolution of the planet.

Mental apathy is one of the most difficult to dissuade and change.

Peka had always tried to shift this apathetic mental paradigm, but it had been slow and arduous with many obstacles, mostly stepping on the toes of the governing powers.

Malaysia had been an agricultural economy for a very long time. We were, at one time, the biggest producer of rubber. We are now one of the top producers of palm oil and now, we are vying to be the biggest producer of durians in the world!

Constant protest and demands to change the existing forestry laws as well as the constitutional laws to slow down the rate of deforestation have fallen on deaf ears.

 For the Malaysian natural environment to have a fighting chance, a moratorium on logging and mining for at least 20 years must be put in place immediately. This is to give the rainforest a chance to breath and rejuvenate.

Malaysians must act and demand the governing bodies to do their due diligence on all environmental matters and not hide behind federal, state, or royal banners.

On this matter, we demand that the governing voice for the natural environment must be one of reason, someone well-versed on the issues, who would not shy away from high-powered intellectual forum, and finally, not those who only listen to illogical advice from so-called experts who think that logging has nothing to do with climate change.

Barring that, it will not be surprising if Malaysia becomes the next Brazil for wiping out our natural forest and all its biodiversity under the pretext of ‘planting a 100 million trees’.

SHARIFFA SABRINA SYED AKIL is president of Peka Malaysia

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.