STRATEGIC STAKEHOLDER FORUM FOR INCORPORATING CLIMATE RESILIENCE IN THE NATIONAL WATER RESOURCES POLICY ACTION PLANS IN MALAYSIA
Malaysian Water Partnership, in collaboration with the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (DID), conducted the Stakeholder Forum for Incorporating Climate Resilience in the National Water Resources Policy Action Plans on the 27th and 28th of October 2014. This activity was a response to the launch of Malaysia’s National Water Resources Policy on 24 March 2012 which recognized climate change as an important issue to be addressed in the policy formulation. This forum was attended by 90 people from 40 institutions.
The forum was opened by The Secretary General, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Malaysia and followed by keynote speaker speech from UNESCAP. Five other speakers from government institutions and research centres also presented their ideas related to climate change resilience in agricultural water demand management, climate resilience adaptation strategies in water related planning, climate change resilience in flood management, and status of climate change resilience.
In the Forum, Malaysian Water Partnership engaged key stakeholders in land and water sectors from public, private, academia and NGOs to support the development of the National Adaptation Responses to climate change. This activity also created national level awareness on climate change and importance of climate resilience among the stakeholders. The main recommendations of this forum are organized under four themes. They are flood management, water and people, water and agriculture, and water and development.
COMMUNITY FLOOD – PROOFING AND ADAPTATION FOR CLIMATE RESILIENCE
Malaysian Water Partnership (MyWP) under the Global World Partnership (GWP) aims to create a platform and pathway to the community to be flood-proofing and adapt for climate resilience. Global Environment Centre (GEC) entrusted as a working partner to implement this training. Series of stakeholder consultations and meetings held in conjunction with this motive to identify and achieve the aim through the targeted community.
The preparatory meetings were carried out on 23rd May 2016 and 16th August 2016 with Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Pasir Mas and other related departments such as BOMBA, District and Land Office, Social Welfare Department, District Health Office and DID Kelantan. The committee agreed to conduct the programme on August 29th 2016 with the support of various agencies and a total of five (5) papers from GEC/MyWP, DID Pasir Mas, National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA), District Health Office and Social Welfare Department together with hands-on and field training
In total 78 representatives from 15 villages within the vicinity of Pasir Mas area participated in the one (1) day flood preparedness-training programme. The training focused on Pasir Mas local communities, which were located within the Sg Golok river basin due to the frequent flood incident almost every year. The majorities of the participants that attended the training were village heads and local residents as well as the representative of local authorities and government agencies. The programme focused on the early preparation for flood especially on the communities’ role during flood event, grab bag and 72H Kit preparation as well as potable water management. In addition, the communities also exposed to flood ‘Town-watching’ training, which captured the communities’ interest.