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Climate change: adaptation and assessment of impact on Malaysian dams

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published: 27th December 2017
0.1 ABSTRACT
Purpose: the purpose of this research is to present an understanding of the influence of climate change on Malaysian dams and also assess the approaches adopted by government towards handling these influences in order to create sustainability.
Design / methodology / approach: this is a secondary research that is sourced from primary sources such as the government data base and other reliable sources. The reason for conducting a secondary research is because primary studies on the influence of climate change on dams can take numerous years and also require huge financial backing. On that ground, it was deemed right to conduct secondary research by sourcing information from numerous agencies and comparing the information together.
Findings – findings from the study show that climate change has wielded a number of negative influences on Malaysian dams with the most significant of such being increase in flooding and drought. Additionally, it was found that the Malaysian government has been successful in enacting a number of policies and establishing new agencies that are geared towards reducing these negative influences of climate change on both dams and other resources in the country.
Originality / value: the findings from this paper offer an important implication for understanding the impact of climate change on Malaysian and how the Malaysian government has been able to handle this issue. The paper is original in its own form and represents a clear understanding in the context of the research topic as information were obtained from reliable sources.
Keywords: Climate Change, Dams, Malaysian Government 
CHAPTER 1
1.1 Background of study
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) presented a report on the “Science of Climate Change,” and made known that there have been an increase in temperature (~ 0.3oC) and rainfall (~ 3.0%) in all the Southeast Asia Region in the past decade. In any case, there is also a general agreement amongst scientists that the changes in the behavioural pattern of the el-Nino - ENSO, monsoons, and some part of the Indian Dipole Oscillation circulation systems are being caused by the extreme weathers and variability, which has a subsequent influence on the changing behavioural patterns of the hydrometeorologicaland geo-morphological events. The implication now becomes that the focus change is primarily centred on some of the major river basins in the region, irrespective of the intensities of flood and drought, haze pollutions, slope failures and the rise of new diseases (Robert, 2011). Also in the report are the factors that caused the South Indian Ocean cyclones and the Pacific – South China Sea Regions’ typhoons has also contributed to changes that have been triggered by the warning ocean surface waters as a result of global warming.
Presenting, Malaysia as a country has been to absorb the impact of the climate change as a result of its strong environmental management programmers, that are supported by a very strict economic policies that include effective poverty eradication and programs designed to enhance food production (Robert, 2011). In any case, there is the need to understand that these efforts are meant to address only “the threats of environmental change,” and not designed specifically for addressing the “threats of climate change”, where it has been acknowledge that the impact scenario on Malaysia will generally have a divergent scene in the long term; which will mean that the impact will exceed the environmental thresholds where the affected habitants and ecosystem will not generally have the power to recover back to its normal equilibrium and stable conditions. Still on that same note, climate change has the power of triggering both national and international distributional conflicts such as in the cases of fisheries, and intensifying problems that are already very hard to manage in the region. Based on the above discussions, Robert (2011) made known that a number of concerns exist in the areas of:
1.      Climate-triggered degradation of forests, marines and freshwater resources;
2.      Climate-triggered increase in some hydro-meteorological and geomorphological events;
3.      Climate-triggered decline in the food production capacities and other economic systems that are environmentally driven; and
4.      Issues with climate change and ethical justice like induced displacement and migration of the environment, the deprivation and sustenance of certain livelihood activities, and the negative influence on safety and wellbeing of the more marginalized sectors of the society.
Since the 1990s and onward, Malaysia has been able to engage in a broader scope with the “climate change community”; laying down their own contributions with respect to steep Green House Gas (GHG) reduction, but has focused its attention and resources to a far lesser extent on climate change adaptation needs. Robert (2011) noted that since 2009 to present, climate change has been brought back to the main focus with it’s developed of Second National Communication (NC2) as part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As a support to this drive forwards is a small but focused way in the REGIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION KNOWLEDGE PLATFORM FOR ASIA that is famously known as Adaptation Knowledge Platform (AKP).
1.2 Purpose of research
On the ground of the above discussions, this research aims to contribute significantly towards understanding the influence of climate change on Malaysian s country with special reference on how the influence has been on dams in the country, and the second is to understand how the country has been able to adapt to such influence. On that note, the success of this research will be measured with respect to the extent it has been able to achieve the set research objectives. Thus, the research objectives can be summarized as:
1.      To gain an understanding on what climate change is all about.
2.      To gain an understanding on how the changes in climate has impacted Malaysian dams.
3.      To assess and analyse the measures adopted by the Malaysian government towards mitigating or reducing these negative impacts on its dams.
4.      To recommend on necessary measures that can be used to enhanced the measures already adopted by the Malaysian government.
1.3 Research question
In order to achieve the set objective of this research as reflected in the above discussion, a number of questions will be asked as the guideline and point of measure for the overall research outcome and these questions are:
1.      What is global warming?
2.      What are the causes of global warming?
3.      How have global warming affected Malaysian dams
4.      How the Malaysia adapting to this effects
These questions now define the concepts that will be evaluated in order to call the research a success. The implication now because that the success of the research will depend generally on the extent the above questions have been answered.
1.4 Significance of research
In terms of understanding why the research is important, it has been noted earlier that the issue of climate change is laying a number of negative influence on the environment, and it makes it very important to understand the causes of climate change and the way that it can be potentially reduced. Such an understanding will without doubt influence sustainability in the system positively. This is because when the causes of climate change is highlighted, then the government will be better positioned to define the right approach for combating such changes and the outcome of the whole process will be an increase in the adoption of a system that is free of negative influences of the climate changes. Additionally, the dams are normally rich in aquatic lives that are used to sustain the livelihood of people in the system as well as sustainability of the aquatic lives for the future generation to have access to it.
1.5 Limitation
Although this research can be considered highly significant with respect to the benefits that it will yield on the field of study, it is also important to understand that there are limitations to the research. Basically, there is no given research that doesn’t have any limitation and this is based on the understanding that a number of factors influence the research process either negatively or positively. In terms of the negative influence, the outcome then becomes as hindrance to the success of the research. On that ground, it should not be a surprise that this research also has its own limitations.
The limitation of this research comes in the form of the research scope. While the focus is to gain an understanding of the effects of the climate change on Malaysian dams and assess the adaptation to these effects with respect to Malaysia, the paper ignores the importance of measuring the pros and cons of these effects and adaptation strategy. The fact is that managing the effect of climate change will come at certain incurred costs. As such, it is important to understand the different methods for managing climate change and the cost of each method as measured against how effective the method is. Such an understanding will be used to determine whether the Malaysian government is making use of the right method. In any case, the paper is limited in this aspect because it doesn’t look into understanding these different methods and the applicable cost for each of them.
1.6 Research organization

Figure 1.1: research organization
Still in line with the desire to define the right approaches that will ensure an effective research outcome, this research is organized in line with the steps contained in similar studies. Basically, the steps are divided into five sections. The first section is the introduction. In this section, the overall research objective is stated with the research questions that will b addressed in the course of meeting the stated research objectives.
The second section looks into understanding the relevant theories and literature in relationship to the research topic. This section will cover areas such as understanding the meaning of climate change and the factors that result in climate change, and also understanding the concept of sustainability as it related to managing the negative influence of climate change.
The thirds section is the methodology and it is used to design how the measurement of the impact will be access as well as understanding the adaptation techniques employed by the government.
The fourth section is the main paper, which presents a detailed review of the impact of climate change on Malaysian dams and assessment of the approaches adopted by the government to mitigate this impact. The overall findings are then summarized in the fifth section.
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
Following the success of the previous chapter, the focus of this chapter is to gain an understanding of the research topic by looking into the theoretical background that surrounds the research topic. On that account, the focus will be to review a number of theories based on past researches as it relates to the research topic and context of discussion.
2.1 Theoretical framework
Figure 2.1: theoretical framework for the research 
Basically, the above figure shows that the literature review will be based on understanding what dams are all about, how they are constructed and usages of dams. Following this will be discussions on how climate change has impacted on dams in Malaysian. The concluding stage of the literature review will be an assessment of the efforts made by the government towards reducing the negative impact of climate change on dams in Malaysia.
2.2 Dams: what are the benefits and costs?
Over the centuries, there is no doubting the fact that dams have played integral role in development. This is because it has yielded a number of socio-economic benefits in the form of power generation, irrigation, water supply, and improved navigation, control of floods, fisheries and recreation. On that ground, it can be seem that dams have been a source for facilitating the economic development and creation of job within any given economy in the world. Basically, these are the main reasons behind the building of dams over the years in countries across the world.
In any case, it is important to understand that dams cost a lot of capital to be completed and in most cases; the cost can be very significant in relation to the GDP of the countries that are promoting the construction of dams as a source of economic development (WWF, 2009). Once the dam has been completed, there are tendencies that the da will last for a very long time, and most of them have been found to last over hundreds of years with perfection functionalities (WWF, 2009). On that ground, it is important to understand that mistakes can very disastrous.
There are a number of evidence that exist in relation to the financial, social and environmental costs of dams that have been underestimated in many cases, with the benefits being generally exaggerated and as such risking any investment in dams (WWF, 2009). The main reason for such is because they serve a relatively smaller earlier than thought; maybe because the crops are sold lower than thought; or other factors in terms of geographical and climate instability, which is the main focus of this paper.
A recent study that was conducted through a World Bank funded hydropower project showed that on the average, the scheduled slippage of dams is at 28% (Gleick, 1993). Even when the dams have been successfully completed following desired outcomes and set guidelines, issues can also arise from the maintenance cost that can normally be higher than expected – with special reference to aging dams -, and the financial and economic analyses of dams normally seem to overlook the decommissioning costs associated with owning and running dams.
2.3 Malaysia’s vulnerabilities and attitude towards climate change
The extreme nature, variability and anomalies of the climate always seem a big threat to the base of the any country’s populace, livelihoods and its major economic system. In terms of measuring the level of vulnerabilities amongst the populace, it was made known by Robert (2011) that the most vulnerable of the populace is the poor; those that live at the threshold of poverty line, but the safety and wellbeing of the populace is something that concerns both the rich and the poor. The systems that are traditionally low in income such agriculture and fisheries, as the most vulnerable in terms of their practices and benefits that are derived from the practice, which are dedicated and sustained by the behavioural patter of the weather and climate. Changes with respect to these behavioural pattern such as increase the distribution of rain fall, without applying any adaptive measures will lead to potentially adverse effect on the populate, sector, and the country as a whole.
On that ground, the understanding in terms of the Malaysian setting will be built from the country’s first National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as well as its second communication, in which it was known in a vulnerability studies that was based on narrowed pattern from the parameters of investigation and concern, for instance a temperature variation of +0.03 - +3.4Co (MoSTE, 2000) to a focus of 1.0 – 2.0Co (NRE, 2011). In any case, this has not changed the form of climate change vulnerability that is facing the county. The main concern is the rising sea level, with particular reference to Peninsular Malaysia – the areas located around TnajungPiai and PantaiChenang. Robert (2011) noted that equating the rise in sea level with the inundation of salt water into the fresh water sources for agricultural productions, to the portable water availability amount the coast communities will result in a condition that is not favourable for such purpose in terms of the rural livelihood, water and sanitation problems that are important for maintaining an acceptable level of health and nutrition in these communities. Still on that same account, Robert (2011) also noted that equating the sea level changes to the salinity of the coastal waters; marine and aquatic life, will led to a decline in the aquaculture productivity – especially in those parts of the decline that the adaptation measures are defenceless against.
Another area that was measured is the increase in average temperature as a result of the changes in global climate that is also a major concern for Malaysia, but it has a mixed bag in terms of the impact on the national economy – that comes in the form of either detrimental or beneficial depending on activities in the section, and the a combination of the impacts from the stimuli that is accompanied with an increase in temperatures (such as the wind storms and strength of rainfalls that lead to flooding). The studies that were presented in the country’s Second National Communication express shows that there is an average temperatures, which ranges from 1Co to 2Co, and this temperature range will be good for the production of fruits and oil but not for the production of cocoa, rubber, and rice (NRE, 2011). In terms of measuring the rice production, an increase in temperature from the said range would most likely result in production losses between 4.6% to 6.1% (at +1Co) and 9.6% to 10% (at +2Co). while the production processes in agriculture and expected yield depend on a number of other factors such as the type of cultivator, location, and management competence, higher temperatures are normally accompanies by an increase in storm activity and the intensity of rainfall; which will usually result in flooding and it is not favourable for most of the agricultural productions – which includes those discussed above (Siwar, et. al., 2009).
Another issues noted by Robert (2011) is the regional differences in rainfall which sees an increase in one area and a decrease in another area as the author noted that it is a big issue to agricultural production. Good examples are swings in rainfall that results to differences in flood and drought events. The Second National Communication reported that there are fluctuations of -5% to +50% for Peninsular Malaysia; which is by far lesser than what is obtainable in Sabah and Sarawak that had -6% to +5%.(Robert, 2011). Considering the fact that the Malaysian water supply is not diversified with most of them coming from ground water, it becomes clear that fluctuations are very important on the health sector where it increases the health risk. For instance, it can lead to vector-borne and food-and-water borne diarrheal diseases (Husaini, 2007). The striking issue in this case is that most of these diseases are still endemic in the rural areas of Malaysia. While the outbreak in recent years are sporadic and have been linked to poor environmental sanitation and water supply, there is also the need to understand that an increase in floods and droughts will adversely increase the outbreak and reduce the effects of efforts made by the Malaysian government to address the outbreak. The big issue in this case, which calls for great concern is that the outbreak of vector-borne diseases, and other water-borne diseases are expected to increase as a result of the general deterioration of water supply and the expected differences that are caused either directly or indirectly by rainfall (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2009). Although the rainfall in Malaysia has been described as high, differences exist in terms of the time and space, and this affect river flows that are probe to large differences in rainfall.
There is also the need to view the vulnerabilities of Malaysia to climate change from a perspective that is less anthropocentric, that is in terms of the perspective from an ecosystem functions and endowment of biodiversity. It was previously stated that this scoping study is more of Malaysia’s understandable ability of absorbing climate change impacts as a result of its strong environmental management programmes that are designed to tackle such issues. In any case, Robert (2011) made known that there is the need to understand that the climate change variations will likely be in excess of the threshold where the habitats and ecosystem can’t seem to recover to existing equilibrium and stable conditions. Notwithstanding the lowland and upland habitats, it is expected that there will be a redistribution of species as a result of the climate change, with a worst case scenario expected to result in a significant losses in biodiversity. For instance, the reported showed that the NC2, within Peninsular Malaysia alone 13.5% of amphibians, 5.8% of birds, and 5.4% are viewed to be highly vulnerable to changes in the ecosystem that is brought about by changes in climate (NRE, 2011). As such, the ability of both plants and animals to adapt to the changes in climate pressures occurs over numerous generations and in some cases hundreds or even thousands of years. On that ground, it becomes clear that it will be very difficult to these species to create the necessary ability needed to adapt to changes in climate over a short period of time and this difference will mean an increase in their vulnerabilities because they will not be able to change within the short period of time.
In the Malaysian context, how climate change impact is viewed and acted upon is more of a pattern that follows “unknown until known.” A more of a reactive rather can proactive. The question often asked is what is it that needs to be adapted to instead of is it amongst the issues we have already created solutions for? This creates the need for a pre-planned approach that will be used to will be used to respond to changes in climate change in terms of the reducing the negative effects of such to the inhabitants. The big issue here is that climate change and adaptation doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. This can also be seen from the difference between the initial and second report presented by Malaysia to the UNFCCC, in which it can be seen that the second report clearly shows a detailed progress in the country’s attempt of understanding the need to climate change adaptations – although the focus was still mostly on understanding how it can be used to improve economic efficiency and growth. Probably, this is clear stance maintained by the country in climate change which can be exemplified in the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006 – 2010), and it was also expressed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia (NRE and LESTARI, 2010):
1.      The need to mainstream measures to address climate change through strengthening economic competitiveness, proper resource management, environmental conversation and enhancement of quality of life Is needed for sustainable development; and
2.      Integration of responses into national policies, plans, and programmes is important for strengthening the resilience of development from arising and potential impacts of climate change.
Table 2.1: an overview of Malaysia’s proposed climate change adaptation needs to address key climate induced events, losses, and threats that have been expressed in the NC2.
EVENTS
PROPOSED CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION NEEDS
Drought
1.      Efficiency of water supply will be enhanced. This will include an improvement of the storage efficiency by removing the sediments present in the reservoirs and dams and also eliminating losses from leakage and water theft;
2.      Promoting the demand for management practices as a means of reducing the per-capita consumption of portable water by industrial, commercial and resident customers. This will include reduction in wastage through behavioural changes and encouraging the harvesting of water for non-potable uses; and
3.      The promotion of demand management practices that will be used for the purpose of improving the efficiency of irrigation and other water uses that are depending on non-potable sources such as does from rainfall and groundwater.
Flood & Erosion
1.      The review of flood management plans and assessing the level of integrity of the existing structures with particular reference to times of failures that could result in losses of lives and property, as well as dams.
2.      Review of the design standards used for flood risk management in all of the infrastructures that comprises of water control structures, transportation and electrical structures, amenities for water and waste, as a means of incorporating climate change factors; and
3.      There is also the need to complement the structural approaches adopted with non-structural approaches such as the improvement of rainfall and flood forecasting, disaster warning systems and flood hazard mapping as part of the coordinated disaster management and prevention plan designed to ensure that potential dangers on the inhabitants are eliminated as much as possible.
LOSSES
Agriculture
In order to prevent agricultural losses, a number of facilities have been adopted by the Malaysian government and they include:
1.      A drainage system improvement for the purpose of regulating the water table depth and preventing floods;
2.      Establishment of sufficient irrigation facilities for regions that are stressed by water;
3.      The establishment of cultivar breeding programmes for the purpose of developing new varieties that are rich in Water Use Efficiency (WUE) traits and capable of tolerating droughts; and
4.      The enhancement of Low Intensity Tapping System (LITS) for the purpose of utilization in rubber sectors in order to regulate the temperature and make it tolerable with the main objective of increasing rubber cultivation in the country.
THREATS
Health
1.      Strengthening the surveillance programmes that are designed for the purpose of detecting water-borne and vector-borne diseases such as rual entomologists on the district level; and
2.      Involvement of communities in defence strategies such as environmental management.
Forest and biodiversity
1.      Conversation and protection corridors have been established between forests; and
2.      Ensuring that the protection of genetic resources is made possible through the establishment of gene banks, animal sanctuaries, botanic gardens, captive breeding centres and rehabilitation centres for the fauna.
Coastal and marine habitat
1.      Retreat approach – this will involve abandoning lands and structures in vulnerable areas and the resettlement of inhabitants; preventing developments in areas that are near to the coastal areas by imposing more strict laws, acquisition of lands, the use of land for restriction and prohibiting the reconstruction of areas that are damaged by storms; as well as taking the necessary measures allow wetlands to migrate to inland.
2.      Accommodation approach – continuing to occupy and use vulnerable areas
Source as adapted from: Robert (2011)
2.4 Introduction to hydropower
Ir. ZainalAbidin bin Othman (2005), the Managing Director of SMEC (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd published an article on the future of hydropower in Malaysia and the article detailed an analysis of what hydropower is all about, how it is designed and the influence of hydropower on economic development in the country. From the study, Zainal (2005) made known that hydropower is the only renewable energy technology and it is also commercially viable at a very large scale in the modern age. It has four main advantages as being renewable, producing a very negligible amount of greenhouse gasses, least costly when compared with other technologies used in storing electricity, and it can also be adjusted to meet the demanded amount of electricity. Hydropower accounts for about 17% of the global energy generation and about 20% of the energy produced each year (1).
In the USA, hydropower produces about 10% of the total electric energy in the country, with Norway making use of hydropower to produce more than 99% of its electricity and New Zealand producing about 75% of its electricity through the same means of hydropower (Whittington and Gundry, 1998). From the Malaysian view point only 11% of the electricity is produced through electricity (Barber and Ryder, 1993) and this is very significant when considering the tremendous amount of energy used per annum in the country.
Zainal (2005) also made known that hydropower energy is used throughout the world in varying sized with some of the being in small (mini-hydro) and other coming in the form of mammoth schemes that serve numerous countries or regions. From the understanding presented, it was also gathered that the industrialized countries have utilized the potential of hydro energy to a considerable extent. However, it should be understood that in some of the developing countries, with particular reference to the equatorial and tropical belts, the use of hydropower is only considered to be an option with the considerate potential for meeting the energy needs (Zainal, 2005).
Figure 2.1: 400MW Kenyir Hydropower Station in Terengganu
Source as adapted from: Zainal (2005)
In terms of understanding how hydropower is generated, it has been gained that most of the conventional hydropower will comprise of four major components are:
1.      Dam – this involves raising the water level of the river to create falling water. The dam is also used to control the flow of water and the reservoir created is used for the purpose of storing energy.
2.      Turbine – the force of the failing water created with the dam is pushed against the turbine blades and it forces the turbine to spin. The water turbine is more like a windmill, but it has the difference of energy being provided by the falling water and not the wind. The turbine is used to convert the kinetic energy from the falling water into mechanical energy.
3.      Generator – the generator is connected to the turbine by a shaft and in some cases by gears, causing the generator to spin as well with the turbine spinning. This is used to convert the mechanical energy from the turbine into electrical energy. The working of generator in the hydropower plants is the same format with that of generators in other plants.
4.      Transmission lines – this is used to conduct and transfer electricity from the hydropower plant to houses and businesses.
Good examples of hydropower plants in Malaysia are: the Kenyir Sultan Mahmud Power Station with 400MW installed capacity, the Pergau Hydroelectric Power Station with 600MW installed capacity and the Temenggor Hydroelectric Power Plant with 348MW installed capacity.
2.5 An overview of hydropower development in Malaysia
A brief overview of the hydropower development in Malaysia will start with the development of the first major dam, the Chenderoh dam, which was constructed in 1939. This construction is accompanies by a long gap before the second construction was recommended following the Second World War, which is the Sultan Abu Bakar Dam (Cameron Highlands) in 1963 (Zainal, 2005).
There is also an experienced temporal hull in the dam construction between the periods of late 60s to the early 70s as a result of the oil price that was still very competitively price at that time, offering thermal alternatives for the generation of power.
In the mid-70s, the increasing price of oil meant that a shift of attention was experienced back to hydropower in the overall development plan for energy. This shift led to an eventual construction of four additional dams between the periods of 1974 and 1984. These dams include Temengor (1974), Bersia (1980), Kenering (1980) and Kenyir (1980) (Zainal, 2005).
Two additional dams were also developed in the 90s, which are namely Sg. Piah(1993) and Pergau (1991). The Bakun hydro in Sarawak is the only hydropower dam that was constructed in the country in the 20s up till this moment.
Figure 2.2:  Kuala Yong Dam in Pergau, Kelantan
Source as adapted from: Zainal (2005)
Malaysia is a country with a land mass of 332,000 km2 with its main elevation being about 300m. On average, rainfall in the country is just about 2,600mm per annum with the total potential for hydro power being 414,000 GWh/year, of which about 85,000 GWh/year are made available in the Malaysian peninsular. Although the peninsular has about 39% of the total land area, it is only able to generate about 20% or slightly above that figure in terms of hydropower (Th’ng, Y. H., 1986).
From a geographical view, the Malaysian peninsular is relatively narrow with its main range comprising of low mountains, the Titiwangsa Range running across the interior to form the main watershed. As such, the river basin formed from the overall process is moderately small. The largest river basin in this area is the Sg. Pahang with a drainage area of 28,500 km2 (Zainal, 2005). Additionally, the rainfall and topographic features are less favourable when compared with what is obtainable in Sabah and Sarawak. These factors play the major influence on the limited hydropower resources that are obtainable in this region.
Zainal (2005) also made known that out of the the 85,000 GWh/year gross potential, the fully utilized resources are 4,900 GWh/year (6%) but another 5,000 GWh/year (6%) has been identified. In terms of measuring the power generation and utilization, the Sg. Perak river basin is the most developed as noted by the author and it produces 2,500 GWh/year, which reaches the limit of hydropower generation and development potentials.
Basically, the understanding presented in the above analysis is that hydropower is very important in the Malaysian system and this is based on the understanding that it a cheaper source of electricity than adopting other sources like fuel. This is because the increasing price of fuel will have an effect on the operation cost. However, dams in Malaysia are increasingly being stressed by the increase in climate change. This effect is very significant because of the fact that the sloppy nature of the Malaysian geographical settings doesn’t allow for dams to be easily constructed.
2.6 Impact of climate change on hydropower and energy sector: dam based review
Harrison et al. (2008) made known that climate change have the power of influencing changes in the quantity and timing of river runoff, with an increase in the evaporation of reservoir. These effects will influence the production of hydroelectric power as a result of change in the flow pattern of the reservoir. These impacts also include those experienced upon system operations, financial effects and other sectors of the energy industry. They are as discussed below.
2.6.1 System operations and development
The experienced changed in the availability of exiting hydroelectric plant and the system constraints will have effects on the ability of the electricity supply system when the demand for such is at average or peak level. As the demand continue to increase, the system planning may have to address any predicted shortfall in the hydropower output by constructing an additional generating plant (Whittington and Gundry, 1998). This also increases the likelihood of fossils fuels being used and it will increase the radioactive forces (Reibsame et al., 2005). It can also result in some of the planned project being cancelled or adapted. Basically, the understanding here is that the change in climate will influence the flow pattern of the hydroelectric dams and it will influence power generation either positively or negatively. In cases where the influence is negative, the government or companies are forced to create new dams or to adopt other sources of electricity that can harm the environment as a result of its radioactive properties.
2.6.2 Financial effects
Considering the fact that earlier discussions stated that if the influence of climate change is negative on the hydropower dams, there will be the need for new dams or other sources of energy to be created. Since that is the case, it is easily understandable that there will be some financial constructs needed to make such possible. On that ground, financial expenditure is something that is very much common in hydroelectric stations and the operations costs are normally low but the capital cost are very high (Harrison et al., 2008). On a general ground, the revenue generated from the sales of electricity is the only way of servicing the capital debt. On that ground, the reduction of the sales of electricity will have an effect on the investment returns and as such influence the viability of the plant (Reibsame et al., 2005). Thus, the loss of hydroelectric generation capabilities will also require the plant to be constructed to meet demands or to be maintained in order to increase efficiency. This will also require huge financial investment on that ground as well.
There is also the need to consider the fact most of the hydroelectric generators are constructed with the objecting of increasing the financial performance of any given economy. This is because the electricity will be used to power the plants and production systems in the economy, as such increasing production sustainability and economic growth. When there are issues with the hydropower dam, the economy will not be sustainable because the dam will not be able to meet the demands in energy supply. As such, the management of dams are also very effective ways of sustaining the economic growth of any given nation because it provides the needed electricity for powering the industries in the economy (Harrison, 2008).
2.6.3 Effects on other energy sectors
Besides the hydropower sector, climate changes also have impact on other energy sectors. The increase in air temperature tends to cause the lowering of winter heating demand and an increase in summer cooling demand. On that ground, thermal generating stations that operate with rivers for the cooling of water may suffer operational constraints as a result of reduction in the flow of river [Reibsame et al., 2005; Arnell, 1996; Gleick, 1993]. The water a river or will have on sea is, it the higher the influence on the efficiency of steam cycles, and this will result in loss of output or a subsequent increase in the consumption of fuel. A predicted rise in the sea level can also result to an extreme weather patterns which will cause an increase in the system damage cost. Change in climate can also affect other renewable technologies; wind patterns can also cause changes as a result of the changes in the temperature gradients, and changes in the cloud cover with all these changes having the potential to affect the performance of solar panels (IPCC, 1990).
From the above discussions, it can be seen that climate changes have a high influence on the power supply system of any given economy. Be it the hydropower or solar power, the changes in climate can influence the performance of the system and result in decrease in the performance of energy supply. The subsequent influence of all these will be reduction in the power generation in the country and also reduction in the production or an increase in the operation cost as companies will sources other processes to power their production process.
2.7 Definition of Sustainable Development: A New Paradigm
During the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development, participants sort for new ways to tackle the problem of misrepresentation between environment and development goals by defining sustainable development (Jonathan, 2000). The definition they formulated is that sustainable development is such which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs in anyway.
In the case of the construction industry, this implies that sustainability is such an approach whereby the activities taking places in today’s construction industry doesn’t endanger the ability of the future generation to meet their own construction needs. Thus, the construction of residential buildings in Malaysia should be done with the best of materials to minimize or eliminate the impacts of such activities on the future generation’s ability to meet their own needs. In the extensive discussion has resulted in the development of sustainability models in different sectors of the economy as discussed below.
2.7.1 Environment sustainability
An environmentally sustainable system is such which is capable of maintaining a stable resource, limiting over-usage of renewable resources in the system and depleting non-renewable resources to some extent that there are adequate investment made in producing substitutes (Jonathan, 2000). Environmental sustainability also includes the maintenance of biodiversity, stability of the atmosphere, and the functioning of other systems in the ecosystem. Basically, this is the main concern of this paper as it is designed to understand how climate change as a natural factor has influence dams in Malaysia.
2.7.2 Social sustainability
Social sustainability is the maintenance of equity in distribution of resources, provision of adequate provision of social amenities, gender equality, and accountability in political participation (Jonathan, 2000).
2.7.3 Economic sustainability
Economic sustainability is such in which the economic system is able to produces goods and services continuously in order to maintain manageable levels of government and the country’s external debts in the bid to avoid harsh imbalances in different sectors of the country which might damage the agricultural or industrial production (Jonathan, 2000).
2.8 History of Sustainable Development
Beim and Emeriti (2007) made a presentation of the historical aspect of sustainable development. It term presentation, it was noted that the word sustainable development sounds something like technocratic. However, the authors stated that sustainable development is more like the brainchild of some international commission. It is a formula used to illustrate a compromising situation in which common terms was later achieved after a long hours of negotiation. This has made some critics to conclude that it is just a term and highly impossible to be achieved in the real world sense. However, the authors believe that if we come to understand the concept of sustainable development, we will then see that it is somewhat a concept of high importance
The two authors stated that sustainable development entered the global stage as concept in the 1992 “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro. In the summit, the UN made a presentation of their strategic approach to shape and save the future of earth. The concept helps to draft the word for maintaining balance between the use and preservation of natural resources. The Brundtland Commission, which made the Rio summit possible, did define sustainable development in 1987 as “a development that is capable of meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs.
The formation of this concept dates back to 1980, when the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, together with other NGO and government agencies made a publication of their “World Conservation Strategy.” In collaboration with the United Nation, this publication was made available to 34 nations across the globe with the title: “Living resources conservation for sustainable development” (Beim and Emeriti, 2007).
Few years before the publication, the terms “sustainable” was also the focal point of another international organization’s document in 1974. At a world conference in Bucharest on ‘Science and Technology for Human Development’, the ecumenical ‘World Council of Churches’ (WCC) debated on a new paradigm for socio-ethical principles. In the debate, the organization adopted the term “husbanding” to argue that there is a great need for husbanding of resources in the future and a reduction of expectations of global economic growth. In conclusion, the organization demanded the transition into a new global society that is based on sustainability for the future generation.
The Club of Rome is accorded the appraisal for introducing the word “sustainable” into the political scene. In March 1972, this global association published a mind blowing report on the limitations to growth as which was written by the global of scientists led by Dennis and Donella Meadows of the ‘Massachusetts Institute of Technology’ (MIT) to describe the desire for creating “ a global state of equilibrium,” and the authors made use of the word “sustainable.” Thus, it can be seen that sustainable development as a concept has been there in the world for a very long period of time.
2.9 Important Of Sustainable Development
The importance of sustainable development can easily be pin-pointed from the definition. In relation to that, the definition is that sustainable development involves meet the needs of today and having enough resources to meet the needs of tomorrow. In such an economic view point, it can be seen that sustainable development tries to maintain balance between survivability of the people of today and the people of the future (Beim and Emeriti, 2007).
Thus, it can be stated that sustainable development is important because it enhances the quality of life of present generation and the generations to come. It reduces the possible effects of unavailability of resources by making sure that enough is consumed today as well as saved for the future. Sustainable development if important because it creates a balance between what is gained and loss and as such makes sure that enough is always available irrespective of the time, geographical location and the number of people available in this area. Therefore, sustainable development establishes a link for the survivability of the human race by inducing equality in all aspects of humanity and the society in which they live.
2.10 Importance of sustainability of dams
Throughout the course of the discussions as contained in this paper, a number of factors have been highlighted as playing significant influence on the sustainability of dams in both Malaysia and the world at large. However, the focus has been on understanding the climate change factors and its influence on Malaysian dams. On that ground, it has been found that dams are very important for economic growth in the country because it is the source of electricity, irrigation, water supply and other social amenities, making it important that sustainability of dams is ensured because it would have a direct influence on the sustainability of the economy.
From the discussion above, it can be seen that sustainability of dams is very important for a number of reasons:
1.      It will help to ensure constant supply of electricity that will be used to power productivity in the country and also meet demands for the country’s goods in international market.
2.      It will provide a reliable and constant supply of water for both industrial and residential uses as well as irrigation for agricultural products and other purpose for which water is used in the country.
3.      Sustainability of dams is also important because it will provide the county with needed aquatic resources and food to keep its populace well-nourished and also reduce the cost of importing these resources.
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
At this point, there is the need to stress on the understanding that this paper has so far been successful in meeting the set objectives. This is because it has followed the set guidelines carefully and delivered for all steps of which it is expected to influence in the research process. On that ground, the current point of study is now on the third aspect of the research is to design the methodology for the primary research. Conducting primary research is very important because it will help to gain an understanding as to whether what was stressed in the review of literatures is actually what is obtainable in the real world settings.
3.2 Reflection on hypotheses
From the gained understanding in the review of literature, a number of reflections can be made with respect to hypotheses that are expected to be tested in the study, and the hypotheses in this case are that:
1.      Dams are very important for the economic growth of Malaysia as a country;
2.      The management of dams is very important in order to ensure sustainability in terms of the economic growth of the country;
3.      Climate change plays a significant negative role on the sustainability of dams in terms of increase negative influence on aquatic lives, dam span and agriculture; and
4.      Climate change needs to be controlled in order to ensure that the negative influence it lays on dams and the potential for continued growth in the country are mitigated.
5.      The Malaysian government understand the potential of climate change to lay a number or negative influence on dams in the country and its economic growth and on that ground have enacted a number of polities, created new boards and agencies to seek an understanding on how these negative influence can be reduced and potentially eliminated
3.3 Research objectives
Based on the understanding shared in the introduction and reflection of hypotheses, it must be said at this point that the objectives of the primary research are very direct with the main objective of the whole research and it is to understand the influence of climate change on Malaysian dams and what the Malaysian government have done in order to reduce these negative influence.
3.4 Research philosophy
In order to ensure that the research objective is meet, it is without a doubt that a clear standards in terms of what is acceptable within the research process need to be set. Considering the sensitivity of the study in terms of the understanding that it deals with things that will affect the livelihood of people, it becomes clear that it is important to set a clear standard on what is obtainable.
The philosophy of this research is built around quality, reliability and applicability. The implication is that information will be sourced from reliable sources that have been tested over the years to retain its acclaimed level of reliability. Additionally, the findings from sources need to be applicable to the setting of the research in the sense that it must deal with things in relation to Malaysian dams.
3.5 Materials and methods
Since this is a complex research and the understanding gained from the review of literatures shows that it is very difficult to monitor changes in dams, adaptation to changes by the aquatic lives in the dam, and the influence of changes on economic development and sustainability. It becomes clear that conducting a self-regulated primary research will most certainly be difficult because it would require high time and dedication that might influence the potential of this research to be delivered on time. On that ground, the primary research will be done by comparing previous studies in the area and using these studies to gain an understanding on how climate change has influenced Malaysian dams and the measured adopted by the government to help the country in adapting to these changes.
Figure 3.1: material gathering methods
From the above figure, it can be seen that the data gathering will take the form of two approaches. The first will be to gain an understanding of the research topic from previous studies, then combine this understanding with previous observations in order to arise at the main research objective which is to assess the influence of climate change on Malaysian dams and what the Malaysian government have done in order to enhance the county’s ability of adapting to these changes.
On that ground, it is expected that this research will be purely primarily sourced from reliable websites, agencies, ministries, and the Malaysian government as well. The information gathered will then be combined in order to achieve the research objectives. However, other important discoveries that are aligned with the research topic will also be included in the analysis of finding.
3.6 Time frame
Considering the amount of information that will be gathered and the vast nature of sources for these information, it is easily understandable that a reasonable amount of time will be allocated for such purposes. The tine allocation will cover information gathering, analysis and documentation. As such, the expected time frame for this study is a period of one month. This is to allow for gathering of necessary data, analysing the data and re-gathering data in cases where the initially gathered data are deemed to be unfit for analysis.
3.7 Summary
The summary of this chapter is basically that the primary research will be based on primary sources that are gathered on their level of reliability, quality and applicability to the context of the research objectives.
CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS OF FINDING
4.1 Introduction
From the chapter 3, it was made known that the purpose of this particular chapter is to present an analysis of the discoveries made from the primary research and that is exactly what this chapter intends to do. As such, this chapter will present an analysis of how climate change has impacted on Malaysian dams and assess the level of impact that this have been on the dam in terms of the negative influence on sustainability and also assess the efforts of the Malaysian government towards ensuring that such influence is corrected.
Impact of climate change on Malaysian dams
Robert (2011) conducted a study on the influence of climate change in the Malaysian setting and also presented in the study, a review of the impact of climate change on Malaysian dams. The impact was as expressed earlier in the literature review in the sense that it was negative and influenced livelihood negatively. As a result of climate change, there were increase in the level of rainfall especially in the Western part of Malaysia, with the effect being the over flooding of the dams. The outcome of the whole process is that people were significantly displaced, crops were lost, and the total damage on humanities, crops and infrastructures ranked in billions of Ringgit. On that ground, the government had to sources for resources from other parts of the country and outside the country in order to maintain sustainability of its populace.
While some part of the country where flooding as a result of heavy rainfall, Robert (2011) also made known that other parts of the country where facing high droughts that lead to the drying of dams and water scarcity. The effect is also loss of crops such as rice as there were no water to keep them alive. The effect on humanity was very severe because the reliable sources of water supply were all closed out and the government had to source for water from other part of the country in order to alleviate the livelihood of people within the affected area.
Basically, the understanding gained is that climate change affects the dam by either increasing the level of water or leading to water dryness. As such, the situation is either too much water or less water and the most significant influence of such is being yielded on the farming sector, resulting in decreased productivity and increased starvation.  On that ground, the discussion will be narrowed somewhat down to understand how agricultural production is affected by the climate change as influenced by dams in Malaysia.
4.2 Climate change and agriculture in Malaysia: Dam as a source of irrigation
In this section, the focus is to understand the influence of climate change on agriculture in the country. The reason for narrowing down the focus to agriculture is that Malaysia is an economy that is heavily dependent on agricultural production while on the same hand is heavily influenced by climate change. Additionally, dams are used in the county as a source of irrigation to farms.
Studies have shown that agricultural practices in the country are directly related on a very mutualistic sense (IPCC, 1990). In Malaysia, there is a clear link between climate change and agricultural practices with then view being that it is very circular in nature (IPCC, 1998). Climate change yield its influence on most of the agricultural production and the influence on agricultural sector is higher than the influence on other sectors as a result of its vast distribution across the globe and strong linkage and dependence of the sector on climate and environmental factors (IPCC, 1990). On that ground, the influence of climate change on agricultural production has a direct impact on the socio-economic settings of the country on both the macro and micro-scales. The most common of such are floods and droughts which are processes as directly have an effect on the relationship established between agriculture and climate change (Mimikou and Baltas, 1997).
In terms of understanding the impact of climate change on agriculture in the country, it was been made known that the rate of CO2 emission in Malaysia is very fast, with the differences in growth coming up between 2003 and 2005 with 70% increase as compared with what was obtainable between 1994 and 1996 (IPCC, 1990). Considering such a drastic change, it becomes clear that agriculture is a sector that has a considerable amount of influence on the contribution of the overall CO2 emission in the country, amount to 4.8% of such changes (IPCC, 1990). Another different study showed the potential of Malaysia suffering variation of temperatures 0.7 to 2.6°C and variations in rainfall that can amount to changes in the region of -30% to 30% [Mimikou and Baltas, 1997]. As a result of climate change, the sea level is expected to rise in the future for a range of 15cm to 95cm over a period of 100 years (Chong, 2000). In accordance with Mad Nasir andAhmad Makmom [2009], the impact of climate change on agriculture can be classified into three different sections as:
4.2.1 Decrease in agricultural productivity – as a result of variations in rainfall, there will be variations in water availability and supply and it will influence the agricultural productivity negatively because of the fact that the crop yield will be significantly reduced.
4.2.2 Increase in food insecurity – as a result of the decrease in agricultural productivity, there will be a subsequent increase in food insecurity as the demands of consumers will not be meet by the supply because of the reduced level of supply in the agricultural sector.
4.2.3 Effect on supply chain as a result of rise in sea level – even the delivery of the available products will also be difficult because of the subsequent increase in sea level that will disrupt the delivery plan and also increase insecurity and unreliability in the delivery system.
A number of studies in Malaysia have also discussed the impact of climate change on Malaysian dams with specific linkage of the damages to Malaysian dams and these linkages are:
4.2.4 Flood – there have been documented cases of flood in the southern states of Malaysia, which includes Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor and Pahang.  With Johor being the most affected as the flood resulted in the displacement of 110,00 people, and also causing damages estimated to be in the region of RM 0.35 billon for infrastructures, and RM 2.4 billion in economic losses as a result of decrease in productivity. Additionally, it has been estimated that RM84 million worth of agricultural produce where also damaged in the process, directly affecting 7000 farmers (Baharuddin, 2007). The study also noted that almost all the landed areas in Malaysia are vulnerable to flooding, with the effect reaching 3.5 million people. However, the process of estimating the cost of such damages is very difficult to be carried out. In any case, the finding indicates that it will cost an estimated value of RM 100 million in order to conduct studies that will estimate the average flooding damage per year in the country (Baharuddin, 2007).
Basically, the finding in this case is very clear and direct in the sense that the indication is as noted earlier in the review of literatures. From the literature review, it was made known that climate change will influence the dams negatively, resulting in overflowing dams that will cause floods. The outcome of such will be a significant increase in flood related damages as the flood will affect both the aquatic lives and property and lives of people on the lack as well. The indication as shown in the above documentation is very direct with this understanding because the flood has caused a substantial amount of financial and non-financial damages with tens of thousands of people displaced in the process. Additionally, the economy was also heavily affected and it is expected that the displacement will increase poverty level in the country because the displaced people will find it difficult to reunite with their families and continue lives from where it used to be prior to the flooding effects.
4.2.5 Droughts – there are also documented cases of droughts linked to dams in the country. In 1991, Malacca caused the drying up of the Durian Tunggal 2 Dam and resulted in prolonged water rationing most of parts of the state (Baharuddin, 2007). The outcome of the drying up affected over 170,000 people that occupy an area of 2.797 km2. Still on the documentation of the effects, it was made known that another 1580 km2 were victim of wild fire, with 100 km2 of this area being agricultural lands. The total number of farmers that were affected as a result of that round up to 7,200. On the grounds of estimate, study also found that the losses in terms of financial aspects amount to RM 7 million. As a result of the issues, numerous people in different district were forced to suffer water rationing, and rice crop was totally obsolete, forcing the government and public authorities to source for food supply in other to alleviate the satiation. This was also experienced in the North Eastern part of Sarawak near the regions close to Miri (Baharuddin, 2007).
4.3 Effects of dam flooding and dryness on Malaysian crops
4.3.1 Rubber – this crop highly influenced because the water supply need to yield must be sustainable at all times, and when slight changes occur, it influences the yield. An increase in rainfall is prejudicial in the rubber plantation sector because it will suffer as a result of tapping days and washout of the crops when fully grown (Baharuddin, 2007). As such, when
4.3.2 Oil palm – this is the peak of Malaysia productivity in terms of agricultural export and any effect on this crop will definitely have huge impact on the country’s economic development and sustainability. Although oil palm will theoretically have higher growths following and increase in rainfall and dam flooding, it is also important to understand that such water supply will negatively influence crop yield when they are excessive (9). In the Southern part of Malaysia, production of oil palm reduced by 26.35 as of December 2006 due to excessive flooding (Baharuddin, 2007).
4.3.3 Rice – crops that need wet conditions such as rice will be definitely affected by decrease in rainfall. On that same note, rice grains yield will likely decline by 9-10% for any increase in 1 degree Celsius (Baharuddin, 2007).
From the above discussion, it can be seen that the negative influence on the agricultural process because of the fact that climate change will result in either an increase in water or dryness of the dam in general. As such, plants that need wet conditions will not survive as a result of the dryness, while excess water will also influence crop yield because of the high level of water that doesn’t allow the crop to mature and yield as expected. From this point, the next focus will not be to conduct an understanding of the how the country is vulnerable by measuring all aspect of how the climate change affects the dams and the subsequent influence on the economy.
4.4 An assessment of climate change and vulnerabilities
Abul et al (2011) discussed on how vulnerable Malaysia is to climate change with special reference to dams and the effects of these dams on agriculture as well as economic development. From their discussion, it was made known that as the climate is increasingly changing, it is affecting Malaysian agriculture and dams in a number of ways; its impact and the policies developed for creating awareness for the resources that will be used to implement reduction in the impact are constantly being voiced out in a number of top discussion that are based on climate change policy and development activities (Abul., 2011). In any case, the needed operational guidance on how to implement these processes are still lacking in the academic field. The right approach for contributing towards the development of appropriate policies for the managing of climate change and reducing its influence on the Malaysian dams is by adopting the right policy and framework that also have the power of enhancing networking and communication amongst the stakeholders.
Abul et al (2011) made known that establishing sustainable dam management requires a workable framework that will be used to tackle climate change and mitigate the level of vulnerabilities that the country might face in the process. In their projection, Abul et al (2011) made known that the right framework for handling climate change and associated vulnerabilities as discussed in their study is based on identifying the issues that caused the climate change and developing a global framework that will seek to understand the issues from a common view and develop the right approach of which countries across the world will have to follow as it is a global issue that must be handled together before it can be solved.
In terms of measuring how vulnerable Malaysia is to climate change with special reference to dams, the authors acknowledged earlier discussions that it will be as a result of either flooding or drought. Climate change is constantly melting the iceberg, leading to overflowing water and this is increasing the level of flood in Malaysia. On a more serious note, Malaysia is an island that is very much surrounded by water from the East to West and from the North to South. As such, any overflowing water will have a significant impact on the country’s surrounding and dams.
4.5 Institutional and organizational arrangements made by Malaysia in response to the impact of climate change
By signing the UNFCCC treaty in 1993, Malaysia became a Non-Annex 1 part to the UNFCCC. As a non-annex 1 party, Malaysia has the obligation of contributing towards the reduction of emission of Green House Gasses (GHSs) that is contained in the Kyoto Protocol. After the ratification of the Convention in 1994, Robert (2011) noted that efforts where made with the purpose of strengthening the fight to address climate change in Malaysia. On a present view, the policy adopted by Malaysia is precautionary and a no-regret approach in which decisions to adopt such specific approach are based on the understanding that they are the right solution for adapting to the current issues faced by the country with respect to climate change or eliminating the issue entirely.
The issue is climate change and other related issue in the country are address through numerous sectors such as the energy; forestry and natural resources management; land use and planning; agriculture; solid waste; drainage and irrigation (Robert, 2011). On most cases the actions taken by these sectors are based on the central understanding gained about climate change and they are being regulated by regulated by international obligations and committees in the country that come in the form of three conventions as: 1) United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)’ 2) United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); and 3) United Nations Convention for Combating Desertification (CCD). In order to meet the demands set by these conventions, the country proceed to establish the National Steering Committee on Climate Change (NSCCC) in 1994 under the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (MoSTE), and also the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) in 2004. These new establishments have a joint committee that comprises of representatives from other ministries and agencies, extending to even the private sector watchers and NGOs with the combined goal of monitoring the climate change handling efforts by the Malaysian government and laying the right background for new features that can be adopted by the Malaysian government towards enhancing these efforts and producing more effective approaches for solving the issue of climate change (Robert, 2011).
In order to formulate the right approach for implementing climate change policies, the National Committee undertakes numerous roles that also include the mitigation of GHG emissions and adaptation approaches to climate change by:
1.      Developing the right formula, policy and strategy for addressing and adopting to climate change;
2.      Developing and coordinating action plans on the national level in order to meet the committee that have been agreed upon in the UNFCCC;
3.      Serving as the national focus point when it comes to sourcing for external financial and technical assistance with respect to assisting in climate change programmer; and
4.      Presenting discussions and recommendations with respect to Malaysia’s position on issues that are related to climate change in the international scene
The Malaysian government also established the National Green Technology and Climate Change Council in 2010, which is an establishment, raved up by the Prime Minister of Malaysia with the main objective of coordinating and facilitating the implementation of National Policy on Climate Change and National Green Technology Policy. There are a number of working committee that support the council with one of them coning on adaptation. The working committee on adoption is powered by the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment, with its members coming from different agencies with the main purpose of promoting the implementation and adaptation programs at different levels in the system (Robert, 2011).
Table 4.1: View of the roles and responsibilities of state actors addressing climate change adaptation in rural Malaysia
CONTENT
IMPLEMENTATION AGENCIES
Adaptation service providers
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment:
1.      Ministry of Land and Co-operative Development;
2.      Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia;
3.      Forest Research Institute Malaysia;
4.      Department of Environment;
5.      Department of Wildlife & National Parks Peninsular
6.      Malaysia;
7.      Department of Irrigation and Drainage; and the
8.      National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia
Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication;
Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries;
Ministry of Plantation Industries & Commodities;
Ministry of Health;
Ministry of Education; and the
Malaysian Meteorological Department.
Adaptation Knowledge Generation and Management
Department of Statistics;
Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation; and the
Ministry of Higher Learning;
1.      LESTARI, University Kebangsaan Malaysia;
2.      University Malaya Climate Change Centre;
3.      University Sains Malaysia; and the
4.      University Putra Malaysia.
Adaptation Planning and Coordination
Sabah State Economic Planning Unit;
Sarawak State Planning Unit; and the
Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister Department
Multiple Purpose
Ministry of Transport;
Ministry of Housing and Local Government; and the
Ministry of International Trade and Industry.
Source as adapted from: Robert (2011)
4.6 Policies and regulations designed by the Malaysian government in response to climate change
In the Malaysian context, the management of climate change management is something that comes in a cross sectorial form, involving a number of issues besides the environmentally related issues, and also affecting the economic and human well-being (Pereira, J.J. and Subramaniam, M. (Eds.), 2007). As an example, the conservation of natural resources and biological diversity is carried out by implementing a number of laws and regulations across different sectors of the economy as the Protection of Wildlife Act (1972), Environmental Quality Act (1974),National Forestry Act (1984) and Fisheries Act (1985). Another issue that is also addressed in the 5-year plan is the conversation of biodiversity, as well as policies like the National Policy on Biological Diversity (1998), National Policy on the Environment (2002), National Wetlands Policy (2004), National Physical Plan (2005), and National Urbanization Plan (2006). It has been noted that these polices together with other laws provide the foundation from which climate change related policies and regulations can then be used to support actions in the different sectors of the economy (NRE, 2008). as illustrated in the table 4.2 below.
Table 4.2: Policies, regulations and laws used to indirectly address climate change in Malaysia
Content
Policies, laws, and regulations
National Policies
Malaysia Third Outline Perspective Plan (2001 – 2010);
Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010);
National Policy on the Environment (2001);
National Physical Plan (2005); and
National Urbanization Policy (2006).
Sectoral Policies
National Agriculture Policy (1998-2010);
National Biofuel Policy (2006); and
National Forestry Policy (1978, revised 1992).
Laws and Regulations
Environmental Quality Act, (1974) (amended in 1985 and 1995);
Environmental Quality Clean Air Regulation (1978);
Environmental Quality Prescribed Activities Regulation (EIA
Order) (1987); and
National Forestry Act (1984).
Sabah
Environment Protection Enactment (2002); and
Forest Enactment (1968).
Sarawak
Natural Resources and Environment Ordinance (1993); and
Forest Ordinance (1958).
Source as adapted from: Robert (2011)
4.7 Regional and national climate change adaptation efforts
From the gained understanding so far in this paper, it can be seen that Malaysia has perhaps taken a giant and unique approach towards the management of climate change and adaptation; and these approaches are often coined as “an adaptation through climate change mitigation,” which is more of an indication of the unavoidable need for adaptation to this phenomenon. However, Robert (2011) noted that such understanding must be delivered in the form of a co-benefit from concerted mitigation actions. In any case, the adaptation to climate change in Malaysia is more of an action packed process designed by the affected entities; which requires response from both the national, state and local government level agencies. Robert (2011) also noted that accordingly, much of the adaptive response to climate change in the country comes in the form of improved ecosystem management, the management of water resources, and secured agricultural production – each of this conducted in such a way to enhance the improvement of productivity, efficiency in the use of resources and the optimization of economy benefit for the country, as well as to the individuals.
Basically, the understanding is that Malaysia has taken a giant step towards the development of a unique approach to management of water resources in the country and this comes as an area of focusing considering the fact that the main objective of this paper is centred on the understanding of the country’s approach towards the management of dams in the country. Dams serve as one of the most reliable sources of water supply in the country and it is important to manage it with reference to the earlier discussion where it was made known that climate change has changed the flow of dams and affected its utility significantly. On that ground, it becomes very much significant to gain the understanding that the Malaysian government have moved towards ensuring that dams are protected by adopting number of protective policies and strategies.
As a result of the need to address climate change issues in the country, it was also noted by Robert (2011) that the country has given attention to autonomous climate change adaptation in practices; instead of focusing on specific places for assessment and planned strategies that will be used to achieve these objectives. There are six main areas that have been exemplified within literature and the Malaysian Second National Communication to the UNFCCC (NRE, 2011) as: 1) Knowledge development and use, 2) Environmental Sustainability, 3) Water Resources, 4) Agriculture Production, 5) Public Safety and Wellbeing, and 6) Policy and Governance. These areas are as discussed below.
4.8 Strategic knowledge development and use – how Malaysia is vulnerable and plans to avoid vulnerability
Going back to the original step, it was made clear that there are a number of agencies in Malaysia that have been enacted and involved in the compiling of GHG inventories and also studying the potential of mitigating and adopting measures for (CEMD NRE, 2005). It was deemed very necessary that Malaysia instituted a comprehensive research and systematic observation mechanism that would involve the relevant institutions in the country such as the NAHRIM and the Malaysian scientists from the: International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP); Global Change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training (START); and the Southeast Asia Regional Committee for START (SARCS) regional programs on climate change (Salmah, Z, Jamalluddin, A., and Y. Chan, 2007). These efforts have resulted in an increase on the climate change adaptation knowledge that is presently being used to simultaneously amongst industries in the economy; with each of them being supported by efforts that are related to conducting vulnerability test, understanding the impacts of climate change and assessing the areas of health, natural disasters and extreme event, waster scarcity, environmental security and sustainability, spatial planning responses; towards the understanding and assessment of the liability of such impacts on the local level. These features as mentioned in the study have been also used to as support and efforts done in the process of preparing for the NC2 such as the downscaling of climate projection in order to make sure that the spatial details are in quantitative vulnerability and the adoptions can easily be assessed.
In terms of measuring Malaysian achievements, one of its most significant achievements has been towards the development of a “Regional Hydro-Climate Model used in Peninsular Malaysia” for the purpose of generating climate and hydrological projections. Robert (2011) also made known that there is a similar project for Sabah and Sarawak that is presently on the completion stage. Malaysia has also been making used of other projection models like the “Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies (PRECIS)’, which is used for the purpose of understanding and projecting changes in terms of impact of the climate change and the needs for adaptation. The force behind the development of this model is the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, United Kingdom Meteorological Office. In terms of understanding the difference between the two morels, what is distinct is that the PRECIS model has only been able to offer important information that is within the scale of 50 km resolutions while the RegHCMPM can be used to conduct same activity at the scale of 9 km. In any case, both of these models have been able to provide Malaysia with a very detailed quantitative impact of climate change and assessing the vulnerability of the country towards the development and selection of the most appropriate adaptation options (NRE, 2011). Additionally, it was made known by Robert (2011) that there is the need to understand the importance of such because the efforts made by Malaysia towards building climate change adaptation knowledge is very much focused on learning “what it is that they are adapting to” , which is the basic conditions that govern the adaptation process, with the case of “how to adapt” has been on the second stage for most of the times.
Basically, the underlying element from the above discussion is that the country desires to gain knowledge of their adaptation process in order to ensure that they are well vast with the respective skills needed to make such process a success. Instead of broader view and a more innovative approach to creating solutions even for problems that are not yet in existence, the focus of Malaysia basically is to understands what the country is adapting to and then building a better background on what is needed to make the adaptation process a success. As such, the strategic knowledge as discussed by Robert (2011) reads meaning into the situation at hand and then develops an understanding of expected outcome and processes to make the outcome a success by focusing primarily on the situation. Om a more concise view, this is very effective because the right way to providing a solution to any given problem is best to understand what the problem is all about. Once the problem and its causes have been identified, then the right solutions can be made to handle these problems effectively and efficiently.
4.9 Strategic action for environmental sustainability
Malaysia is also very active in pursuing the adaptation needs for climate change on the national scale through its involvement with the marine environment by participating in the Coral Triangle Initiate (CTI). The main reason for such as identified by Robert (2011) is because there has been recognition that the global marine and coastal ecosystem captures and stores more than 30% of the carbon emissions caused by humans., such as those that pass through the mangrove forests, sea grass beds and salt marshes; with each of these described as being very efficient in capturing and storing carbon. The destruction and degradation of these ecosystems have also been known to degrade the adaptive capacity of local users to the changes in climate and other related impacts. The Malaysian government has also reached an agreement with the CTI on ways to 1) finalize its main objectives approaches, timelines and actions that are geared towards the development of a CTI scope on region-wide Early Action Plant for Climate Change Adaptation (REAP-CCA), and 2) collaborating on a climate change adaptation scheme that is based on shared policies and capacity building towards finding common grounds as to where the CTI can stand together on the issues related to policy with respect to regional and global forums and work together towards achieving a shared solution (USAID, 2010).
Malaysia has also adopted a number of efforts toward ensuring that sustainable development and management of coastal areas are assured with special reference to how the country will be able to cope with the impacts of climate differences and changes, which also include the rise in sea levels. The implementation of the Integrated Shoreline Management Plans (ISMP) by local authorities has also been begun in the secreted coastal areas of the country (NRE, 2011).
Another of supports have also emerged from areas outside the country like the small grants program of the Global Environment Facility (GEF SGP) which has offered a number of support to the efforts made towards creating environmental sustainability like the conservation of biodiversity, the reduction of risks of climate change, reduction of water pollution and stopping the degradation of land, coupled with other efforts that are all geared towards ensuring a more sustainable environment. By combing these efforts with its partner, GEF has been able to commit a high volume of funding on the national and NGOs, as well as Community Based Organization (CBOs); all for the purpose of supporting these organizations in their efforts to address global environmental problems by with efforts geared towards increasing the level of public awareness., building partnership and also promoting policies that are geared towards addressing dialogues, promoting sustainable development and addressing global environmental problems – all for the purpose of ensuring that conversation and strategies for sustainable development that protect the global environment are well understood and adopted by the communities and other major stakeholder such as the backbone of Malaysia’s position and action on climate change when it comes to the adaptation scheme on a global level (UNDP, 2008).
In terms of the agricultural sectors, there are measures developed by the country towards enhancing the National Seed Bank collection and these measure have been geared towards ensuring that the survival of genetic stocks are well in line. Also there have been an expansion on the protected forest areas and the forest state parks and this is expected based on the argument presented by Robert (2011) to enhance the natural adaptation processes of forest and other related industries in the country. There are also numerous achievements when it comes to measuring the success of the forest management efforts in Malaysia that are done through numerous processes designed to build a sort of local resilience to changes in climate and the impact of such processes. For instance, Deramakot Forest Reserve Project, which are implemented under the guidance of multiple functions and usages, has a strong emphasis on the productivity level of the economy in the future and the Kelawat Forest Reserve, which is aajoint forest management project in forest restoration and management also has the same goal of ensuring sustainability in the system (Robert, 2011).
Basically, the understanding gained from the above discussion is more of a reflection on the literature review. This is based on the understanding that it stated the same idea of ensuring sustainability of the system through a well-managed policy and approach to the management process.
4.10 Strategic action in the water sector
Another area that the Malaysian government has been planting more efforts with respect to management of climate change is in the water sector. Robert (2011) noted that the Malaysian efforts towards addressing climate change is perhaps more revealing within the water sector as it has incorporated a number of change and adaptation activities with high reference to increase water sustainability and this have been supported by the establishment of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) plans. The focus of this plan is also in line with the established quota made by the UNFCC, and the country has strengthened its ability to handle floods and droughts. Additionally, Malaysia as noted by Robert (2011) has also moved to strengthen its adaptive measures and infrastructurese.g. the ‘Storm Water Management and Road Tunnel’ (SMART), which has helped in addressingurban flooding in Kuala Lumpur city, and the structural upgrade of the TimahTasoh Dam in the state of Perlis, i.e. strengthening water storage capacities to alleviate water shortages during periods of low rainfall and drought (NRE, 2011). Other measure include the enlargement of the reservoir capacity for reservoirs across the country in order to create sustainable water supply in the country and reduce the potential of water shortage that can be of negative influence on peoples’ lives.
Basically, the above discussions clearly illustrate that Malaysia has been successful in enacting a number of policies geared towards reducing the negative effects of climate change on the country and these policies have been successful in addressing these issues.
4.11 Summary of findings
Figure 4.1: checklist summary of findings
Basically, the figure above, the findings have been summarized as to the fact that dams are very important in Malaysia. The importance of dams in the country can be stressed on the fact that they are used for generating power that are used to power the economy, they serve as a source of water supply for households and they are an effective source of water for agricultural related purpose. However, it was also found that dams are being negatively affected by climate change, and a more comfortable finding is that the Malaysian government has been successful in enacting a number of policies that are geared towards reducing these negative effects. The final finding statement is while Malaysian government has been successful in enacting a number of policies to solve these issues, their efforts has not be very effective and more efforts need to be added as the effects of climate change on dams is still being experienced in the country. However, this could also be linked to the fact that climate change is a global issue and even when Malaysia is putting high efforts, there efforts can still be worthless if other countries are not committed towards reducing climate change and its effects.
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Introduction
Right from the onset of this paper, it was made clear that the main purpose is to understand how climate change have influences the performance of Malaysian dams and to gain an understanding of the approaches adopted by the Malaysian government to make such influence reduced and possibly eliminate them. On that ground, it was also made known that the research process will conducted into 5 chapters. As such, the main purpose of this chapter is to analyse the finding from the whole research process. On that ground, the summary of the entire chapter will be presented below, then followed by the summary of main findings from the research process and concluded with recommendations for future researches.
5.2 Summary of chapters
In the first chapter of this research, it was made clear that the focus will be on presenting a background of the research topic and identifying the main purpose of the research, approaches to be adopted and discussing the limitations of the research process. In the background study, it was shown that climate change is the process in which the topographical setting of a given geographical area changes from its natural setting into a new form that seems to be a difficult frame for the survival of existing inhabitants in this place. When measuring the effects of climate changes, it was associated with decline in economy as the country struggles to maintain sustainability, as well as increase in operation costs due to the associated costs that must be incurred in order to make the struggle for sustainability a success. The purpose of the research was once again highlighted and it was deemed right to undertake the research process by answering a number of questions as to: what is climate change? What are the causes of climate change? How does a change in climate influence Malaysian dams negatively? How can these influences be mitigated or reduced? What are the measures adopted by the Malaysian government to address these effects.
The second chapter is the review of literatures and the focus of this chapter is to gain an understanding of the theories that surround or relate to the research topic. In this chapter, the causes of climate change were deemed to be GHG which has heated up the atmosphere and resulting in melting of ice bergs. The effects is however different. In some areas, climate change are melting the ice bergs and as such causing flooding; whilst in other areas, the effect is increased dryness and droughts. No matter how you look at it, the negative effects are things that need to be addressed in order to ensure the sustainability of the human race. If these issues are not addressed, the increase in flood will lead to displacement while increase in drought will bring about famine.
In any case, the research focuses on dams and as it was right to also understand what dams are all about. The gained understanding is that dams are human made constructions that converges free flowing waters together specific purposes. In terms of understanding the purpose for converging waters together, it can be either for agricultural related purposes or for the generation of hydroelectricity. For agricultural purposes, the waters are not actually allowed to flow out; they are compacted together like a lake. This will ensure that when used for fishery purposes, the fishes will not flow out of the location and it will make harvesting easier and more efficient. For irrigation purposes, water from the dam are passed to the farm through automatic irrigation systems that keeps the dry land wet and perfect for the survival of crops. The difference comes when it is used for the generation of hydropower. This is because, dams constructed for the purpose of generating hydropower are actually allowed to flow over. The water are brought together and compressed so that the flowing speeding and strength will be increased. The flowing water wills then spine the turbine which converts kinetic energy into mechanical energy. The installed generator will then make use of the mechanical energy to generate electricity and distribute it to all the connected areas. This is basically the process of how electric energy is generated. In essence the speed of the ocean is very important for the generation of electricity and the higher the flow of water, the better the generation power as it would be able to turn the turbine even more fasters. However, the influence of the global warming now means that some areas are getting dryer such as some part of Miri in Sarawak and confirmed in the study. This dryness means that enough water will not be available for the spinning of the turbine and the potential of these areas to generate electricity is significantly reduced (if not eliminated). Still on understanding the influence of the dryness of a dam, it was also made known that dams serve as the most common sources of water in Malaysian households. Most of the waters are sources from numerous rivers and dams, and then sent to the reservoir for the purification processes before being finally distributed to Malaysian households. If this is the case, then it can easily be seen that the negative influence of the climate change on dams is very significant and also have a direct influence on the sustainability of the human race. This is because the overall livelihood of the human race depend heavily on the dams are sources of water for agricultural purposes, usages in households and generation of power.
This same section of the paper also measured the effects of the negative influence that climate change wields on dams. In the process, it was found that climate change will influences the economy negatively as a result of the negative influence it has on dams. Since flooding and drought are part of climate change, crop yields will be affected negatively. Additionally, the potential of the economic to remain sustainable is also reduced because of the reduction in power generation due to increased dryness of the dams. Even when the effects on human race are measured, the dryness of dams will means an increase in water-borne diseases because the sharing of water as experienced in the past in Johor Bahru will result to people seeking other sources of water and reverting to making use of water that might be dangerous to their livelihoods and health. Basically, the effect of climate change cannot be overemphasized when it is measured in terms of dams being affected in the Malaysian settings.
On that account, the focus was shifted towards understanding how sustainability can be ensured in the Malaysian dams in order to ensure that they don’t lose out on their true values and their overall impact on economic development is not negatively affected. Sustainability is defined in this chapter as the ability of the present generation to meet their own need without limiting the potentials of the future generations to meet their own needs as well. In terms of aligning it to dams, it means that the dams should be able to serve the needs of the present generation, without limiting the potentials of the future generation to meet their own needs. Therefore, the dams must be cable of providing the needed electricity to power the production industry presently and also be able to do the same function in the future. However, the potential of dams to be sustainable has been limited by climate change which now means that some of the dams are over flowing and reading to unregulated power generation; while other are getting dryer, resulting in decrease power generation and as such decline in productivity as well as increase in operation costs as both the government and companies now have to source for other means of generating power. Additionally, it was noted that some of the other means can result in the release of toxic wastes in the environment, which is very disastrous to both human and other living things in the ecosystem.
The third chapter as noted earlier in the introduction is the methodology and it is in this chapter that the approaches to be adopted for primary research were discussed. The basic understanding is that the primary research will be based on primary sourcing instead of experimental study. This is because experimental study is very hard to be conducted, takes lots of time that can extend down to thousands of years in the process of measuring the impact of climate change, requires huge capital and is in most cases very difficult for a single individual to handle. The process of choosing the primary sources is based on the understanding that it must be reliable and trusted. Thus, all the information uses for this research where gathered from studies either conducted by the related agencies when it comes to managing climate change in Malaysian or conducted by foreign agencies for the same purpose in Malaysia or in other countries across the world.
The fourth chapter is the analysis of finding. It is in this chapter that the main findings were analysed. Based on the understanding presented in this chapter, it was made known that climate change is impacting on Malaysian dams in a number of negative ways. The overall impact is a decline in economic growth. The effects are increased flooding and drought. In some parts of the country, the level of flood is increasing and this is causing a number of issues for concern. For instance, the flooding in Johor Bahru has been the main reason for displacement of hundreds of Malaysia. Still in the same place, there have also been documented cases of drought that have resulted in rationing of water within these areas (Robert, 2011). Thus, it can be seen that this is a very significant issue as it is affecting the whole Malaysian people and its economic development. In terms of measuring the impact on economic growth, it was noted that there is an increase in flooding which is causing destruction of agricultural products. Even for plants that need wet soils in order to mature such as the rice and oil palm, excess of water supply will also impact the maturity of these plants and their overall productivity level. Reverse the case to places where there issues are droughts, then it can be seen that the issue becomes even significant because all the plant and aquatic lives need these dams in order to survive.
Basically, Robert (2011) made known in a research conducted form the Malaysian Ministry of Environment that climate change has been affected the country since the earlier 2000s. The influence has resulted in some parts of Miri in Sarawak getting really dried up and no longer able to sustain plants and other lives. Malaysia as a country also depends on hydropower for about 13% of its total energy consumption with climate change limiting the potentials for such success as a number of dams in the country have been affected by the changes in weather and other topographical setting.
Thus, considering these negative influences, what are the approaches adopted by the Malaysian government in order to handle these negative effects? The answer as also found from the discoveries in the chapter four is that Malaysian has adopted more of a proactive approach to the situation by being high in uncertainties avoidance. The question asked by the government with respect to climate change “what are we changing for”. The understanding is that they want to be very sure of the reason to change and how they can change. In the view of that, Malaysia has recognized the importance of the change process and have effectively adopted a number of approaches that also include partnership with a number of foreign agencies and organizations for the purpose of understanding how these issues can be handled. The outcome of the overall partnership has been a witnessed increase in the level of adaptation and an increase awareness of these issues.
Effectively, the Malaysian government have under the guidelines set by these foreign agencies established a number of ministries dedicated for the sole purpose of handling climate change. Since the country came to realise the importance of handling the issue of climate change, it had been investing on numerous researches designed to understand how the issue can be handled as well as joining a number of global bodies that are tackling the issue of climate change from different views.
This chapter also measured the level of success achieved by the Malaysian government since its inception of the idea and it was made known that the success has been huge because  the government has been able to create huge awareness which have also influenced adoption down to the local government and community levels. Also, the success can be reflected from the heavy acceptance of the idea in the Malaysian society. A number of laws have also been enacted by the government for the purpose of addressing the issue and it has also been a key factor in increasing the success level.
The fifth chapter is the chapter in which the researcher is presently writing about. This chapter presents a summary of all the findings form the research as well as recommendations for future related researches. Additionally, the researcher also wrote down a reflection on the whole research process in order to highlight the issues that were faced during the research and how the researcher handled them – as such providing the right background for ensuring that such issues doesn’t occur in future related researches.
5.3 Summary of finding
A number of findings were made in this research and some of the most significant of such findings include:
5.3.1 Malaysia heavily depends on dams – dam is an important asset in ensuring sustainability of livelihood and economy of Malaysia. This is because the countries depend on it for agricultural purposes, household uses and hydro power. In the case of hydropower, the country is very reliant on dams because 13% of the total energy used in the country per annum is generated from hydropower. Malaysia is also the highest producer of oil palm and this crop needs high water supply in order to maintain its yield. It is the dams that make this possible as well. Even when the case is moved to down to the importance of dams to the households, it was easily understood from the research that it is very important. The residents of Malaysia need the dams to be fully functional in order to ensure that needed water are supplied to the various households across the country. Water is very important for almost activities at homes and as such its shortage will be detrimental as experienced in JuhorBahru where the increase in river and dam dryness resulted in water being rationed across certain parts of the state and household not being provided with enough water to go about their e activities.
5.3.2 The change in climate is impacting on dams negatively – while dams are very important to both economic sustainability and the sustainability of livelihoods in the country, another understanding gained is that the increase in climate change is causing a number of issues in the country. Definitely, it should be expected that these issues will be negative in nature and the finding from the paper is not different with such expectations. Climate change is resulting in increase in water level in certain parts of the country, while dryness is experienced in order parts. No matter the case, the effect is still a disadvantage. The increase in ocean levels will lead to flooding with an effect of displacement to the human race, destruction of crops and houses, and the aquatic lives that will be flushed out from their original ecosystem. Basically, the effects will have a combined influence on reduced economic growth for the country. When the case is dryness, the effect is even worse because the all lives need water to survive. As such, the two most common case of the effects of climate change in the Malaysian setting is similar with what is obtainable in the world – which are droughts and floods – and they both have negative influence on economic development and growth.
Another finding that was noted is that Malaysia depends heavily on hydropower as 11% of the generated energy in the country is produced through this means. On a similar note, when the level of dams decreases, it will result to a decrease in the level of power generated and the effect will be a subsequent decrease in the level of productivity because there will not be enough energy supply to make such a success.
Considering the negative effects that this will have on the economic growth of the country, it becomes important to ensure that Malaysia has a well-planned approach for handling the negative effects of climate change. The finding also showed that the Malaysian government understands the need for such and have enacted a number of policies as well as established numerous ministries to make such management process active.
5.3.3 Malaysian government is working hard toward the management of these negative influence in order to ensure both economic and ecosystem sustainability – as a response measure to the negative effects of climate change on dams, the Malaysian government have taken a proactive approach to the management of these effects by establishing numerous units and agencies as well as partnering with a number of foreign bodies in order to tackle the issue effectively. Malaysia addresses the issue in a low uncertainty measure approach by asking the question of: “what is the problem and how can it be solved?” Such question is very effective because it offer the agencies the needed insight on the problem facing the country and the agency can then build an effective solution to the problem by first understanding it, how it came about and how it can be solved.
Malaysian has also joined a number of foreign organizations such as the United Nation Climate Change Commission (UNCCC), with the commitment to abide by the referendum signed in joining the organization. The referendum highlights a number of approaches that Malaysia must tackle as a country toward meeting global objectives of reduced level of climate change in the world. The main issue that this organization seeks to address is the reduction in Co2 emission and GHG levels across the world. These gasses have been linked as the main causes of climate change in the world with an effective increase in melting of the iceberg – which is the main cause of flooding across the word as ocean levels rise.
In term of measuring the success of Malaysian efforts, it was also made known in the discussion that Malaysia has been successful with these approaches as it has experienced an increase in the level of awareness for the issue of climate change. The adoption rate has also been inspiration with adoption extending down to community and local level as well as on individual grounds. Malaysia has re-shaped its construction industry with the main focus being on understanding ways to improve the sustainability in the country by reducing the negative effects of climate change on both dams and other resources in the country. On that ground, it can be stated that the county has been successful in a number of ways with respect to handling the issue being discussed about.
5.4 Recommendations
From the above discussions, it have been gathered that Malaysia has been successful in implementing a number of solutions that are geared towards increasing the country’s level of understanding on how climate change is impacting its economy and also adopting necessary features in order to ensure that the impact is significantly reduced. While their efforts have yielded success in the years being reviewed, it must still be reiterated that a number of changes are still necessary in order to ensure that this positive results are sustainable and permanent and lasting solution will be provided for the situation at hand.
The first recommendation is that the Malaysian government should be more stringent with companies with respect to enacting the necessary rules and regulations those companies must abide with the process of constructing or maintaining the dams. The first of such rule should be that dams should be constructed in areas that have reliable water supply system and tested to be able of withstanding any form of shortage in water supply. Considering the fact that change in climate have been linked to a number of effects on dams in Malaysia with reference to the Tajung Dam in which it resulted in shortage of power generating ability as a result of decline in the water level, it can easily be viewed that the, main focus of any new approach designed to enhance the sustainability of dams should be focused mainly on ensuring that the water supply to dams is very sustainable. Therefore, the new acts should be designed in such a way that companies are forced to conduct a proper topographical review and analysis to understand to first determine that there is a sustainable means of water supply in the areas the dams are meant to be constructed before undertaking any project designed to serve dam related purposes in the country. The expected outcome is that there will be an increase in the sustainability of the water supply systems in dams and this will effectively increase the overall sustainable usage of the dams.
Another recommendation is that the Malaysian government should adopt more monitoring programs that are designed with the purpose of continuously monitoring dams in the country. There is a common saying that failing to plan is planning to fail. If the water levels on dams are not properly and closely monitored, the effects could be more dangerous. For instance, if the dams are used primarily for household supply and purposes, they need to be monitored closely in order to make sure that the government is more aware of the changes in water level and such understanding will mean a positive news because they will have higher time to search for alternatives or handle the issue before it becomes more problematic. As such, the process of monitoring the changes in water level if an effective approach for solving the problems of reduced water levels in dam as caused by climate change.
5.5 Conclusion
Overall, this research can be described as a success. This is because it has been successful in achieving set objectives of understanding the influence of climate change on Malaysian dams and assessing the approaches adopted by the government towards handling this issue. Effectively, the research has been able to highlight that the main effects are increased flood and drought – which reduces the economic performance of the country as it directly influences productivity negatively.  However, the Malaysian government has been successful in enacting a number of laws and policies as well as establishing numerous ministries with the sole purpose of solving the issue of climate change and reducing its influence in the country. In any case, it was also made known that a number of other approaches still need to be undertaken by the government as it is the only way in which sustainability can be ensured both on dams and the economic performance of Malaysia.
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