PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia is on the right track towards achieving its target of reducing the intensity of carbon dioxide release from 45 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product in 2030, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
He said the dissatisfaction over the government’s efforts to resolve the problem of climate change, as shown in a Merdeka Center survey, was due to a misperception.
He said the government had taken various proactive measures, including in the Green Technology Master Plan which focused on six key areas, namely energy, manufacturing, transportation, building, waste management and water management.
“Malaysia contributes very minimal emission when compared to other nations like America and China. That is why Malaysia is considered one of the successful nations,” he said at a press conference held after a meeting of the Green Technology and Climate Change Council chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at the Perdana Putra Building here yesterday.
In forest preservation, Wan Junaidi said Malaysia had preserved 54.5 per cent of forest areas, exceeding the set target of 50 percent.
“Although there are those who say these figures are not true, they made their assessment based on observation while we use technology such as remote sensing and we know the facts,” he said.
On marine area preservation, he said the ministry was confident Malaysia would achieve its target of gazetting at least 10 per cent of marine areas as marine parks by 2020.
On Wednesday, a local newspaper reported the findings of a Merdeka Center survey which showed that 81 per cent of Malaysians expressed worry about climate change after 2016 recorded the hottest year ever.
The survey which was conducted in December 2016 also showed that almost 50 per cent of the respondents were dissatisfied with the government’s handling of climate change issues. — Bernama