Learning through Malaysia’s Integrated Flood Management

The frequency of large-scale natural disasters has increased in recent years, as is evident from the rise in the number of disaster events, and the severity and scale of their impact. Immediate action is required to counteract the growing disaster-related losses. With the direct effect of climate change on disasters, linking disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation becomes a necessity. To forge a more resilient and inclusive future, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), through the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) Working Group of Prevention and Mitigation, with support from the Government of Japan, through the ASEAN-Japan Integration Fund, is partnering with the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), and CTI Engineering (CTII), to implement the project “Disaster Risk Reduction by Integrating Climate Change Projection into Risk Assessment”. This is in support of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response Work Programme 2016-2020, aimed towards “building resilient ASEAN Community to reduce disaster losses and collectively respond to disasters.”

The project is a capacity building initiative directed mainly towards: 1) enhanced ASEAN Member States’ (AMSs) development plans, frameworks, and policies, where Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) are mainstreamed, and 2) strengthened capacities of targeted AMS government officials and institutions on flood and landslide risk assessment and risk mapping, with incorporation of climate projection. 
 

Summary

Although Malaysia is located outside the Ring of Fire and south of major typhoon paths, its population is often exposed to natural disasters such as floods, droughts, landslides, haze and rare cases of droughts and tsunamis. Its annual floods account for frequent and significant property and crop damage, disruption of business and livelihoods, and other losses – the country faced its worse monsoonal/coastal flood, resulting in extensive damage affecting over half a million people across several states in December 2014. With the growing number of climate change concerns, the country has invested in adaptation and mitigation efforts in addition to improving the disaster risk management structure. Taking a step further, Malaysia has incorporated several strategies and implemented a framework to mitigate these threats with planned economic and civil progress set out in the Eleventh Malaysia Plan 2016-2020, which also identifies disaster management resilience against climate change and natural disaster strategies; established Permanent Flood Control Commission; established flood disaster relief machinery; carried out river basin studies and preparation of drainage master plans; implemented structural and non-structural measures; and set up a nation-wide network of hydrological and flood data collection stations, and a data-sharing portal. Learning from Malaysia’s experience and its good practices, the case visit served as an integral part of the capacity building component of this project intended for:

• On-site learning about Malaysia’s integrated flood management, data-management for disaster risk reduction, and other flood mitigation measures for ASEAN countries;
• Exchange and discussions about challenges and opportunities to enhance organizations’ role in implementing/contributing to better flood risk reduction (both mitigation/prevention and preparedness).

As with previous case visits, the event brought together key stakeholders from governments and technical institutions from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam together over the course of 5 days. Active discussions and exchange highlighted good practices and measures set in place including visits to the National Flood Forecasting and Warning Program (PRAB) under the Department of Irrigation and Drainage; Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) – Kuala Lumpur’s underground water retention infrastructure; Timah Tasoh Dam - largest flood mitigation dam; Batu Dam – flood storage/Kuala Lumpur flood mitigation plan; Muda River – important water resources for agriculture and water supply for Kedah and Penang; Muda Flood Mitigation Project – river catchment, and more.

Related Publications

Book

November 2017

November 2017

One Against Disasters and Climate Risks: A Repository of Good Practices for Strengthening DRR and CCA Integration in ASEAN

Author:

Toshizo MAEDA

Prabhakar Ventaka Rama Krishna SIVAPURAM

Binaya Raj SHIVAKOTI

Furukawa

Takashi

Hirokazu

Sakai

Takehiko

Ogawa

Both the full report and summary documents are attached. Recognising the need to integrate DRR and CCA into policies and institutions in The ASEAN Member States, JICA has supported implementation of a project on ‘Strengthening Institutional and Policy Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Integration’. The...

Keywords:

Good practices

climate change adaptation

Disaster Risk Reduction