KUCHING, April 24: Social activist Datuk Seri Ang Lai Soon urged all nations, particularly those primarily responsible for global pollution, who were represented at the Paris Agreement during the recent Climate Change Conference, to honour their pledges and promises and work together to make Earth a greener, healthier, and more sustainable world.
In a statement today, Ang noted that over the last few years, people throughout the world have bitter experiences of extraordinary extreme weather due to climate change, including torrential rains, massive floods and mudslides, wildfires, heatwaves, severe droughts and famine, typhoons, and hurricanes.
Ang also noted that some small Pacific nations are sinking and may totally disappear.
“The notoriously polluted and densely populated Bangkok and Jakarta are sinking.
“The life threatening earthquakes in China, Indonesia, Japan, and New Zealand, the list goes on,” he added.
Ang opined that the people who suffer are mostly from lower income groups and live in the least desirable areas of any country, such as the Philippines.
“Ostensibly those who are considered economically not that vulnerable can always relocate or they have other options,” he added.
Ang also pointed out that all these mostly man-made problems, over a period of a few centuries, especially from the Industrial Revolution, have resulted in heavy losses of lives, property and making life even more difficult for those who are already struggling to survive due to the present notorious pandemic.
Ang stated that while humans beings do not have the power to transform their societies as individuals, but as a group they can if they have the will and determination.
“We do care, and we expect immediate action.
“And, as individuals, we must always act with empathy toward our environment, ensuring that our waste does not become litter or a pollutant, and avoiding any action that is environmentally destructive,” he remarked.
He added that there is a need for a new world that is more bearable and pleasant to live in for both men and animals.
“No agreements on earth should ever be negotiated or signed nor good laws ever be enacted in any parliament if there are no fair and genuine binding commitments and no effective enforcement mechanisms.
“In most countries, particularly the newly emergent nations, there have been serious problems with enforcement,” Ang said.
Meanwhile, Ang asserted that to live in a much cleaner and healthier world, people must go for renewable energy such as wind, solar and water, and that the government must give tax incentives and abolish all import duties so everyone, especially the lower income groups can afford to install and enjoy them.
“We must not fail the next generation, as they will never forgive us for thinking only of material progress, resulting in the massive climate-change problems we now face.
“If there is no planet to go to, we must now learn to live in harmony with nature.
“We have no choice but to succeed in our mission if humanity and the ecosystem are to survive,” he added.
Ang asserted that today, in the midst of a notorious pandemic and serious climate change, many innocent people in troubled parts of the world, including children, pregnant women, and senior citizens, face the additional problem of being killed in unconscionable, indefensible, and unjustified wars, invasions, and conflicts.
“I ask that you all pray for these people in war-torn parts of the world, that they be spared the sufferings, horrors, and atrocities, that peace be restored in their respective countries, and that separated families be reunited,” he concluded. — DayakDaily
