NATURE is essential for our people, economy, and our future – it provides the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and holds within it the foundation for life. But nature is in crisis.

Globally, we have seen an alarming increase in emergencies, with no immediate recourse. In September 2023, within the span of just 12 days, the world saw massive floods hit Hong Kong, Taiwan and parts of China, Storm Daniel rampaging through Greece, Turkiye, Bulgaria, Spain and most severely, Libya, where entire buildings were washed away. Parts of Brazil and the United States were also affected due to unusually heavy rain.

In Malaysia, from the end of 2021 to the beginning of 2022 alone, floods affected over 125,000 people, causing at least 54 reported deaths and leaving many in a state of loss and grief. In addition to the devastating human costs, the Statistics Department of Malaysia estimated that the floods cost RM6.1 billion in damage to properties, vehicles, and manufacturing, agricultural and business sectors.

In light of these disasters and the upcoming Budget 2024, WWF-Malaysia hopes that more allocations for nature conservation projects will be given towards addressing the inevitable impacts of a worsening climate, to pave the right way forward for a sustainable future. Adaptation and mitigation to climate change must be our top priority, as people are already bearing the devastating brunt of climate change and weather-related disasters.

We can use nature-based solutions which protect, sustainably manage, or restore nature to solve a wide range of social, economic, and environmental problems. These solutions can provide food and water security, mitigate climate change, reduce the risk of disasters, and are a key tool to safeguard people from climate change and weather-related disasters and hazards.

Nature provides us with a wide range of ecosystem services, and when nature is degraded, it will have a negative impact on the economy. Industries rely heavily on these services like clean and consistent water, food, pollination services, temperature regulation, and clean air. When these critical but often unvalued services by nature are disrupted, they in turn impact the economy.

These figures are evident in a 2022 analysis by Bank Negara which reported that of the commercial loans analysed, 54% (RM398 billion) of lending were given to sectors that depend to a high extent on ecosystem services.

The Ecological Fiscal Transfer (EFT) is a mechanism where the Federal government transfers money to state governments based on their protected areas. This allocation allows states to take better care of their natural ecosystems and can also be used to partially offset the costs that states face from protecting their nature. The EFT was introduced in the 2019 budget speech and has increased from 60 million in 2019 to RM150 million in the 2023 Budget. 

These encouraging developments show that the federal government has reacted to state demands for more financial resources for conservation and protection. However, the current funding level of RM150 million per year is insufficient to offset costs to states and compares poorly to the tremendous current and potential costs we face from climate change. 

To encourage state governments to increase Protected Areas to 20% of our total land mass as specified in our National Policy on Biological Diversity, RM1 billion has been suggested as an appropriate sum for the EFT, which amounts to just 0.3% of the budget proposed in 2023. 

We must safeguard nature and ensure the longevity and health of our people and planet. Carefully planned and implemented nature based solutions can bring tremendous value, as they are usually cheaper than man-made infrastructure and bring multiple benefits to the people and local communities.

For Budget 2024, WWF-Malaysia hopes to see an increase in the allocation for EFT, as well as an overall increase for investments in nature and nature-based solutions. We urge the government to prioritise nature conservation and take better care of the natural world before it is too late, so that it can continue to sustain us all into the future. – October 9, 2023.

WWF-Malaysia reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.