Adaptation to sea level rise in Sarawak River Delta, Malaysia
The study have come into force with the acknowledgement of the facts as reported in IPCC 2015 AR5 synthesis report highlighting climate change impacts is obvious and rapidly surpass human population growth and production rate in this precious but dying Earth. Hence, Natural Resources and Environment Minister of Malaysia (NRE) has taking proactive measures by acknowledging the effort of United Nation Environmental Program (UNEP) in providing baseline database of vulnerability assessment due to climate change for the Sarawak River Basin. This study will indeed supply sufficient information related to one of the impacts of climate change which gaining tremendous attention worldwide – Sea Level Rise (SLR). National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM) under the purview and guidance from NRE and supervised by UNEP have carried out the study thoroughly considering the impacts of climate change on hydrological cycles until the potential inundation area resulted from rising sea level within the vicinity of Sarawak River Basin. The result from the hydrological model and hydrodynamic modelling will become an important reference for the assessment of mitigation and adaptation measures that could be applied in coping with the impacts of climate change within the peat swamp dominated delta of Sarawak River Basin. The highlight of this study approach was the emphasized requirements to adopt or to promote Ecosystem – based Adaptation (EbA) as the primary solution option in coping with the impacts. Ecosystem – based Adaptation is a holistic response to climate change by protecting, maintaining, and restoring natural ecosystems for reducing impacts to human communities and the natural systems they depend on. Ecosystems are being used as being the first line of defense in tandem with physical structures such as seawall, gabion, and rip-raps against impacts of climate change involving protection, sustainable management and restoration of ecosystems to help communities respond to climate change and to adapt to adverse impacts. For it to be effective, adaptation responses involves multiple sectors with design and implement solutions to climate change impacts integrate nature’s infrastructure – mangrove, forests, wetlands, coral reefs and beaches with human-infrastructures and socio-economic needs as the key aspects. This approach is suggested to be used in options for mitigation of the 20 management units (MU’s) within the study area having total vulnerability indices (TVI) scores high (4) to very high (5). The cost for such options using both conventional hardscape with soft-scape ranged from USD 0.10 million to USD 4.00 million with a total of up to USD 13.65 million. The benefits/values of the established mangrove or similar vegetation as habitats for aquatic lives and other dependent fauna apart from just attenuating the sea currents can easily offset the costs involved. Nonetheless, because of the high cost, these options could be done in stages over a period of 10 years. Also the government could concentrate on undertaking or implementing these options in MU’s that are public while advising those MUs to undertake their own mitigation actions on the shoreline in front of or nearby their private properties. The pilot projects chosen for the EbA to be undertaken are mainly traditional fishing village with direct exposure to the full blast of the extreme sea weather. These demonstration sites will be good examples for using EbA as they are representatives of areas at the coastline of Sg Sarawak basin and elsewhere in Sarawak, and even Malaysia. Experiences here will be useful for similar sites not just within Malaysia but elsewhere in South East Asia with similar environmental conditions and sea level rise phenomenon which have shown no retreat as the year progressing.
Authors
Abstract
The study have come into force with the acknowledgement of the facts as reported in IPCC 2015 AR5 synthesis report highlighting climate change impacts is obvious and rapidly surpass human population growth and production rate in this precious but dying Earth. Hence, Natural Resources and Environment Minister of Malaysia (NRE) has taking proactive measures by acknowledging the effort of United Nation Environmental Program (UNEP) in providing baseline database of vulnerability assessment due to climate change for the Sarawak River Basin. This study will indeed supply sufficient information related to one of the impacts of climate change which gaining tremendous attention worldwide – Sea Level Rise (SLR). National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM) under the purview and guidance from NRE and supervised by UNEP have carried out the study thoroughly considering the impacts of climate change on hydrological cycles until the potential inundation area resulted from rising sea level within the vicinity of Sarawak River Basin. The result from the hydrological model and hydrodynamic modelling will become an important reference for the assessment of mitigation and adaptation measures that could be applied in coping with the impacts of climate change within the peat swamp dominated delta of Sarawak River Basin. The highlight of this study approach was the emphasized requirements to adopt or to promote Ecosystem – based Adaptation (EbA) as the primary solution option in coping with the impacts. Ecosystem – based Adaptation is a holistic response to climate change by protecting, maintaining, and restoring natural ecosystems for reducing impacts to human communities and the natural systems they depend on. Ecosystems are being used as being the first line of defense in tandem with physical structures such as seawall, gabion, and rip-raps against impacts of climate change involving protection, sustainable management and restoration of ecosystems to help communities respond to climate change and to adapt to adverse impacts. For it to be effective, adaptation responses involves multiple sectors with design and implement solutions to climate change impacts integrate nature’s infrastructure – mangrove, forests, wetlands, coral reefs and beaches with human-infrastructures and socio-economic needs as the key aspects. This approach is suggested to be used in options for mitigation of the 20 management units (MU’s) within the study area having total vulnerability indices (TVI) scores high (4) to very high (5). The cost for such options using both conventional hardscape with soft-scape ranged from USD 0.10 million to USD 4.00 million with a total of up to USD 13.65 million. The benefits/values of the established mangrove or similar vegetation as habitats for aquatic lives and other dependent fauna apart from just attenuating the sea currents can easily offset the costs involved. Nonetheless, because of the high cost, these options could be done in stages over a period of 10 years. Also the government could concentrate on undertaking or implementing these options in MU’s that are public while advising those MUs to undertake their own mitigation actions on the shoreline in front of or nearby their private properties. The pilot projects chosen for the EbA to be undertaken are mainly traditional fishing village with direct exposure to the full blast of the extreme sea weather. These demonstration sites will be good examples for using EbA as they are representatives of areas at the coastline of Sg Sarawak basin and elsewhere in Sarawak, and even Malaysia. Experiences here will be useful for similar sites not just within Malaysia but elsewhere in South East Asia with similar environmental conditions and sea level rise phenomenon which have shown no retreat as the year progressing.
Citation
Dunstan Anthony Pereira , Nurul Huda Adnan, Assoc. Prof. Alexander K. Sayok, Ir. Radzi Abd Hamid, Noraslinda Awang , Ir. Mohd Zaki Mat Amin . 2016. Adaptation to sea level rise in Sarawak River Delta, Malaysia. Digital NAHRIM Publication Repository.