What is exactly our top environmental issues in Malaysia that we are currently dealing with?The simplest thing that first came across in our mind are definitely the trios which are the land, air and water pollution.
Land pollution is the degradation and the defilement of the land caused directly or indirectly by human actions. The pollution results in changes to the land, such as soil erosion. Some of the changes are irrevocable, while others are not. One of the example of the land pollution that we recently encountered must be the imported waste to Malaysia reported by various media during June this year. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of plastic waste are dispatched to Malaysia , which is stuck in hundreds of containers that have remained unclaimed in several ports in Malaysia. Unfortunately, this waste will not only cause land pollution, but will also cause air and water pollution.The waste that can not be reused ends up being burnt in the open, which can contribute to the release of cancer causing toxic fumes into the atmosphere. Our waterways will also be afflicted when the water used from the cleaning process seeps into the ground.
According to a global forest map developed in partnership with Google in 2012,Malaysia had the highest rate of forest loss between 2000-2012. Malaysia’s total forest loss during the period amounted to 14.4 percent of its year 2000 forest cover. The loss translates to 47,278 square kilometers (18,244 square miles), an area larger than Denmark.These data clearly shows that we are losing our forest each year and we know the effect of the act surely going to be deadly.Not only to the wildlife, but also to us.Deforestation and soil erosion are correlated to each other.Trees act as an anchor to the soil.Once the anchor is gone, there are no roots to hold the soil in place during a heavy rains,which wash away the topsoil and the nutrients. Deforested rain forest soil becomes dry and nutrient-deficient as there is no longer vegetation to hold water and nutrients in place. Heavy rains further erode soil and saturate waterways with excess nutrients, disrupting the food chains of tropical ecosystems .Heavy rain and the deforestation surely a fatal combination that could end up in landslide that posses a high threat exactly as happened in Cameron Highlands in October 2018 .
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The second member of these trio is air pollution.What is exactly air pollution means?According to National Geograpic article published on February 4 2019, air pollution is a mix of particles and gases that can reach harmful concentrations both outside and indoors. The outcomes can vary from increased risks of disease to the rising temperatures. A few example of typical contaminants are soot, smoke, mold, pollen, methane and carbon dioxide. Recently in September, our country was stricken by haze,the ‘usual visitor’ that makes Malaysia API reading climbing up to 266, the highest in the world by the World Air Quality followed by South Africa (217), Indonesia (207), India (194) and China (178).
Haze is a suspension in the atmosphere of dry particles of dust, salt, aerosols, or photochemical smog that are so small (with diameters of about 0.1 micron [0.00001 cm]) that they cannot be felt or seen individually with the naked eye. Various activities such as open burning and smokes from vehicle can induces the obscure of the sky’s clarity and limit the viewing distance that appears as a bluish or brownish tint. In Malaysia,API stands for ‘Air Pollutant Index’.It is an index developed that follows the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Pollution Standards Index. The API system includes 6 major air contaminants which could cause potential harm to human health if they exceed unhealthy levels. Ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micron (PM2.5) and particulate matter with a diameter of less than 10 micron (PM10) are the air pollutants included in Malaysian API.
Exposure to haze (i.e short term exposure) may cause irritation to the eyes nose, and throat to even a healthy people and affect the heart and lungs, especially in people who already have chronic heart or lung disease e.g. asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or heart failure. Long-term exposure to the haze and particulate matter can lead to the development of medical conditions such as bronchitis and a higher incidence of lung cancer. In research done within the US and Europe there was found to be a direct relationship between air pollution and cardiovascular and lung cancer death. The smaller PM2.5 were particularly deadly, with 36% increase in lung cancer rate for every increase of 10 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic metre.
The amount of water in human body varies between 50 to 75%.The average adult human body is about 50 to 65% water, about 57-60% on average.In infants, the percentage of water is much higher, typically around 75-78% of water, falling by one year of age to 65%.Since the body needs a lot if water to properly functioning, a person can only survive without water for about 3 days. Can you imagine how we can remain alive if all our water resources are all polluted and we all have a limited access to it?With 70% of water covering the earth, there is only 3% are considered as fresh water and in contrary of that, nearly 2.6% of this fresh water are unobtainable to humans.Either they are locked up in polar ice caps and glaciers, highly polluted or are too far below the surface to be extracted.It leaves us with only approximately 0.4% of the earth’s water that can be use and drank and to be shared among the 7 billion earth inhabitants.
Malaysia receives an average of 3,000 mm of rainfall per year, which contributes to an estimated annual water resources of around 900 billion cubic meters.There are 189 river basins in Malaysia -89 in Malaysia Peninsula,78 in Sabah and 22 in Sarawak. Our freshwater are facing abundant of threats which bring us to one of the catasthropic event that happened in Sungai Kim Kim on June this year that witnessed a staggering 2.43 tonnes of chemical waste extracted from it. Pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides and herbicides poses potential hazard to human health and aquatic life.Consumption of fish, prawn and cockles that have absorbed the toxins contributes to disrupted rates of reproduction and life spans.Contamination of pesticides and herbicides can lead to death or long term chronic disease in humans as well as the aquatic’s life. NRW which stands for Non-Revenue Water is the amount of treated water that is put into a supply system but does not bring in revenue to the water supply company.NRW in our country is too high with the national average being at 40%.This is equivalent to a loss of 40 litres of treated water per 100 litres. In 2017, an average of 5,929 million litres of treated water more than enough to cater the water demand in Selangor and Johor was lost within a day.
To recapitulate,,there is more than in said the environmental issues that now or even bound to happen in our country.Such problems are a matter of deep concern to us and we have to realize the obligations to save the world for all the living creatures that a part of this ecosystem.Let’s us as a Malaysian, love and respect our nature and perhaps with the good attitude, we will bring some changes to the world.
