Amidst all the political turmoil and flood during this campaign, an article came across my sight. I am saddened by the headline (by the Economist) that the world is going to miss the 1.5°C target that was set to combat global warming.
Malaysia is not exempted from the effect of climate change. The weather is now very unpredictable. Evidently, flash floods are much more frequent. Thus, sustainability and environment protection becomes more relevant today. When I was plantation industries and commodities minister, I have been pushing for the palm oil industry to go for Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification, so that we can proudly proclaim to the world that Malaysia produce environmental friendly and sustainable palm oil.
Going one step further, MPOB has imposed extra RM1 cess from the palm oil industry since 2020 to plant forestry trees and wildlife conservation. We have kicked start the project of planting one million trees in a degraded forest in Sabah. We used all these initiatives to counter the anti-palm oil movement from the West and European Union (EU). In our Tawaran Harapan manifesto, PH had pledged to table the ‘Climate Change Act’ in Parliament that will set targets for carbon emissions and forest coverage by 2040. This general elections is a good opportunity to reset our efforts against global warming. We need more dedicated leaders to handle the disasters caused by climate change crisis.
Support PH, for the sake of future generation.