OCT 31 — Climate change is a global issue that is seeing no signs of backing down.

Each year, millions of people are affected by disasters caused by extreme weather and climate change.

Notably, with rapid urbanisation expected to drive almost two-thirds of the global population to live in cities by 2050, cities are inevitably on the front lines of climate change’s growing risks and challenges.

Recognising this, this year’s World Cities Day reflects on its theme of Adapting Cities for Climate Resilience.

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As urbanisation in Malaysia continues to pick up pace, its cities are beginning to feel the effects of climate change.

Beyond the flash floods that have plagued Malaysian cities increasingly during the monsoon season, the frequency and intensity of heat waves have also been on the rise.

Some cities have recorded temperature rises of up to 6.7 degrees Celsius over the past two decades. Experts have attributed this to the urban heat island effect — a phenomenon of urban structures trapping heat in the day and releasing it at night.

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It is tough to consciously consider our cities’ current defences against climate change as a priority, especially given the ongoing challenges with Covid-19, which has seen our resources redirected to pandemic efforts.

However, climate action cannot afford to be at a standstill, and our cities need to continue adapting to prepare for existing and future climate impacts. What we can drive at this point is to identify the biggest risks for our cities and start from there.

Each city faces its own unique climate risks and vulnerabilities. With Malaysia sitting right in the heart of South-east Asia, there are three core areas that call for our focused action in order for us to achieve climate resilience – urban water management, sustainable cooling, and ensuring water smart homes.As urbanisation in Malaysia continues to pick up pace, its cities are beginning to feel the effects of climate change. — Bernama file pic
As urbanisation in Malaysia continues to pick up pace, its cities are beginning to feel the effects of climate change. — Bernama file pic

An interconnected water system

Water as a resource faces tremendous pressure from climate change, amid growing demand.

While Malaysia has made significant progress over the years in improving water access, local water authorities in recent years have expressed concern over the issue of sustainable water management, due to high records of non-revenue water (NRW) rates – or water loss within the system – as a result of ageing infrastructure.

Technology can actually play a bigger role in how we can both manage our water resources more efficiently while mitigating extreme weather events, by establishing interconnectivity across a city’s water management systems.

Through the Internet of Things, advanced real-time data collection and sensors, a city’s water networks can access information that allows them to operate in a more predictive manner, spotting trends, patterns, and making predictions ranging from weather alerts, to adapting water pressure based on reported water usage data.

Water networks that have achieved this level of interconnectivity also present the potential of transitioning a city towards a circular economy and promote greater water reuse, both from a municipal and industrial level.

The wealth of information available means a city can continuously improve the efficiency of available infrastructures inside cities towards collecting, managing, and treating wastewater for further use.

Cooling our cities sustainably

Cooling is an incredibly crucial part of cities in this part of the world. Hot and humid all year round, climate change is further exacerbating the situation and has enormous economic implications as well.

Between US$ 2.8 trillion (RM11.6 trillion) and US$ 4.7 trillion of GDP in Asia on average will be at risk annually from a loss of effective outdoor working hours, because of hotter temperatures and a more humid environment by 2050.

However, the process of keeping cities in Malaysia cool – most notably in our buildings – is notoriously energy- and water-intensive. Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems alone account for up to 40% total energy use.

Such high energy consumption ultimately contributes to greater carbon emissions, driving climate change.

With the onset of climate change and our natural resources dwindling, it has become imperative for us to examine how we can reduce the impact of our built environment, especially in the face of rapid urbanisation, while still ensuring overall liveability and comfort.

Through leveraging automation technology, remote monitoring, and Internet of Things, we can look to ensure HVAC systems operate in optimised conditions at any time, by intuitively regulating the interactions between the various parts within the system.

This minimises unnecessary energy use, and in turn helps customers reduce their environmental impact.

The case for water-smart homes

Lastly, as more people live in cities, climate action can exist even at a household level. Homeowners can be resistant to adopting sustainable practices because of certain misconceptions that it may impact their quality of life.

However, smart home solutions today mean anyone can enjoy a sustainable home that is both energy and water efficient, without sacrificing convenience or comfort.

Solutions today allow homeowners to control their home water systems right from their smartphones, ensuring water on demand and even real-time monitoring.

Such connectivity can also help inculcate a culture of water conservation by increasing an individual’s awareness of their own water usage – effectively empowering them with “water-wise” behaviour.

Most importantly, by matching smart cities with smart homes, the results of integrated smart living can be profound. Increasing the digital link between individual smart homes and the surrounding smart urban network presents the potential for a city to better monitor and meet citizen needs, while allowing citizens to better access city services from their homes.

Additionally, when citizens are empowered to reduce their own consumption, municipalities are better able to focus on improving and upgrading water management without the pressure of rising demand.

Driving change beyond the city

However, to truly reinvent our cities, focusing our efforts on architecture alone is not enough. In order for us to achieve real change, collaboration is key to knowledge-sharing and understanding learnings and best practices.

For instance, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group – in which Kuala Lumpur is a member of – supports cities to collaborate effectively, share knowledge and drive meaningful, measurable, and sustainable action on climate change.

The C40 project on Water Secure Cities for the future is already delivering remarkable results that will pave the way for mayors to deal with their climate related water risk in the future.

We also need to reflect on how Nature can play a supporting role in us reimagining our cities. Nature can be a powerful tool in terms of supporting a city’s climate resilience.

Restoration of our existing natural resources such as lakes and rivers can help improve a city’s water quality and access, as well as play a crucial role in flood management and mitigate coastal erosion.

Malaysia is seen stepping up in this regard, having recently announced greater efforts towards forest restoration, rehabilitation and enrichment, through multi-stakeholder collaboration.

Amid the pandemic and our focus on recovery, in order to truly emerge stronger, we need to continue our focus on climate action.

With numerous humanitarian crises continuing to compete for our attention, it can seem like our urban resources are limited.

But by strategically identifying the most effective and feasible actions, cities have the power to enact real change for its communities, and in turn stand strong in the face of our climate reality.

* Poul Due Jensen is CEO of Grundfos.

 ** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.