Insightful webinar on climate change and green economy

UTAR Centre for Economic Studies (CES) in collaboration with Economics Student Association Universiti Utara Malaysia (ECOSA UUM) conducted a webinar titled “Road to Environmental Sustainability” on 8 October 2021 via Cisco Webex and Facebook Live. The webinar received a total of 248 participants in attendance and 504 views on Facebook Live.

The talk was delivered by Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology (FEGT) lecturer ChM Ts Dr Tan Kok Weng, and UUM School of Economics, Finance and Banking senior lecturer Dr Shamsul Bahrain bin Rawi. The webinar was moderated by Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF) lecturer Dr Chen Fanyu.

The webinar aimed to create awareness about climate change and natural disasters, and highlight the importance of the green economy towards achieving sustainable development. It also aimed to provide in-depth knowledge to participants about the impact of climate change and the concept of green economy. At the end of the webinar, the students were able to grasp knowledge on how to reduce climate change and explore the benefits of a green economy from the perspective of environmental sustainability and social equity.

The first session started with Dr Tan presenting his topic titled “Understanding the Climate Change and Natural Disaster”. He explained climate change and shared the environmental issues happening in each country. He said, “Climate change is the changes of long-term (decades or longer) climate conditions, namely temperature, precipitation pattern, humidity and many more. Global warming is part of climate change and it is a man-made greenhouse effect.” He added that the impacts of climate change include increased surface temperature (global warming), melting of ice glaciers, the rise in sea level, extreme flood, prolonged drought, and decrease of agriculture production.”

Speaking of the potential impacts of climate change, Dr Tan said, “The rising ocean temperature and acidification could impact the disruption of marine biodiversity (loss of coral reefs) and food security (reduction of fish resources). The loss of arctic sea ice could lead to sea-level rise and saline intrusion at coastal zone (loss of human settlement), and disruption of water security (groundwater pollution). Next, extreme precipitation could cause a landslide, loss of property and economy, risk of human insecurity, loss of agricultural productivity and income. Last but not least, the frequency and intensity of extreme heat could result in high mortality rate, thus increasing the burden of health and emergency services.”

“There are two approaches to respond to climate change. These approaches are known as mitigation and adaptation.  Mitigation is focused on reducing the emissions and greenhouse gases concentration in the atmosphere, providing clean energy and sustainable/green transportation which allow the ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change and economic development. Adaptation builds up climate resilience, such as infrastructure upgrades, implementation of disaster risk management and insurance, and research & development approach. Adaptation is mainly involves adjusting to actual or expected future climate,” he clarified. 

The second session continued with Dr Shamsul. He shared his topic titled “Green Economy Sustainable Development”.

Sharing his expertise, Dr Shamsul said, “A sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The dimension of sustainable development is categorised into three, namely environmental (a viable natural environment and sustainable natural build environment), social (the nurturing community and equitable social environment) and economic (sufficient economy and sustainable economic development).”

Dr Shamsul stated that the green economy is an economy that aims to reduce environmental risks. He highlighted that growth in terms of employment and income are driven by activity investment that allows to reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance the efficiency of energy and resource, and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Moreover, he explained that the green economy does not replace sustainable development, but only creates a new focus on the economy, investments, capital, infrastructure and positive social and environmental outcomes. Furthermore, he also underlined that the deregulation of electricity, the usage of solar power and the development of green buildings could manage energy consumptions, promote low maintenance and operational costs, and enhance indoor environmental quality.

“The sustainable consumption and production will improve the production processes and consumption practices, as well as reduce the resource consumption, waste generation and emissions across the full life cycle of processes and products. Meanwhile, resource efficiency refers to ways in which resources are used to deliver value to society and aims to reduce the number of resources. The emissions and wastes are generated per unit of product or service. As for Malaysia, we are improving environmental sustainability by operationalising the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), 2021-2025. One of the themes, known as Advancing Sustainability, is the centrepiece of the green economy agenda under the 12MP,” he added.  

CES Chairperson Dr Vikniswari Vija Kumaran shared her thoughts, “This webinar is to raise awareness among students on issues pertaining to climate change and the importance of green economy. This would be the starting point and will go long way in creating a new generation that can effectively work toward mitigating the challenges of global warming. Education is the first defence line to spread awareness and affect people’s behaviour and attitudes toward the environment.”

The webinar ended with Q&A and group photography sessions. The webinar is associated with SDG 4 – Quality Education as this webinar ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all. It is also associated with SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities as it aims to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Watch the webinar here.