COMMENT | Budget 2024: Address worsening climate impact

COMMENT | Nature is essential for our people, economy, and our future - it provides the food we eat, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and holds within it the foundation for life. But nature is in crisis.

Globally, we have seen an alarming increase in emergencies, with no immediate recourse.

In September, within the span of just 12 days, the world saw massive floods hit Hong Kong, Taiwan and parts of China due to the converging of Typhoon Saola and Typhoon Haikui, from Storm Daniel rampaging through Greece, Turkiye, Bulgaria, Spain and most severely, Libya, where entire buildings were washed away.

Parts of Brazil and the United States were also affected due to unusually heavy rain.

In Malaysia, from the end of 2021 to the beginning of 2022 alone, floods affected over 125,000 people, causing at least 54 reported deaths and leaving many in a state of loss and grief.

In addition to the devastating human costs, the Statistics Department estimated that the floods cost...