Human beings are as susceptible as any other species

pic by RAZAK GHAZALI

SINCE the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, leaders at the United Nations, World Health Organisation and WWF International plus a myriad of research by prominent scientists have been indicating that pandemics such as this coronavirus is the result of humanity’s destruction of nature.

Covid-19 is not just a global pandemic and public health crisis; it has also brutally disturbed the global financial markets and economy.

A rise in unemployment, significant reductions in income and disruptions in the manufacturing industries and transportation service are among the penalties or repercussions of the pandemic’s mitigation measures that have been implemented in many countries, including Malaysia.

The lockdowns due to the global health emergency pose serious risk to human welfare all over the world. As articulated by Wangari Muta Maathai, a renowned Kenyan social, environmental and political activist, and the first African woman to win the Nobel Prize: “The environment and economy are really both two sides of the same coin. If we cannot sustain the environment, we cannot sustain ourselves.”

The Covid-19 pandemic is estimated to push an additional 88 million to 115 million people into extreme poverty this year, with the total rising to as many as 150 million by 2021, depending on the severity of the economic contraction.

According to the World Bank biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report, extreme poverty is defined as living on less than US$1.90 (RM7.89) a day and is likely to affect between 9.1% and 9.4% of the world’s population in 2020.

The report found many of the new poor will be in countries that already have high poverty rates.

In Malaysia, we have been presented with a myriad of news of destitution and suffering caused by the pandemic.

The news of a mother in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, who put aside her dignity and pride by taking instant noodles on credit just to feed her three hungry children, is an example; as was the report of a set of parents in Kampung Melayu Majidee, Johor, who were forced by destitution and desperation to ask for rice and cooking materials from neighbours in order to feed their four children and a grandchild.

The case of a pair of young siblings, who were leaning against the wall of a fast food restaurant in Sabah, hungry, until a kind-hearted samaritan, sensing the hardship the young siblings were going through, bought food for them.

Plus, I can never forget the heart-breaking incident when a mother with four young children approached me and my husband as we were leaving a sundry shop, asking if we could get a small packet of rice and some eggs for them as they had nothing at home.

Such news and incidents are telling every Malaysian the vulnerable populations of the country are being severely impacted by the pandemic.

It is urgently important to make the invisible, visible in Malaysia at times like this.

The Covid-19 “nightmarish” economic crisis calls for the need for urgent action to sequester the pandemic’s health and economic repercussions, protect vulnerable populations and set the stage for a perpetual recovery.

For developing countries, many of which face frightening vulnerabilities, including Malaysia, it is pivotal to intensify public health systems, respond to the challenges posed by informality, and carry out reforms that will promote strong and sustainable growth once the health crisis subsides.

As articulated by the author of “The Age of Sustainable Development, General Ban — Ki Moon”: “Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all. It offers a framework to generate economic growth, achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship and strengthen governance”.

However, it is very sad and disappointing to read the news on the development of unnecessary new urban projects, such as the recently revealed mega project which is set to kick-off construction in 2021 on a 20-acre (8.09ha) land in the administrative capital of Putrajaya. The mega project is estimated to cost RM150 million and is expected to complete in 2025, despite the myriad research by prominent scientists that we urgently need to reconfigure our dysfunctional relationship with nature in order to avert future pandemics and further environmental degradation.

The clearing of a 20-acre land is not a small matter. The threat to the environment lies with the irreversible clearance and can destroy an entire ecosystem causing environmental threats.

We need to understand that climate change due to uncontrolled exhaustion of the environment may aggravate erosion, decline in organic matter, salinisation, soil biodiversity loss, landslides, desertification and flooding.

The effect of climate change on soil carbon storage can be related to changing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, increased temperatures and changing precipitation patterns.

With environmental change, globalisation and urbanisation, infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics have become formidable threats socially, economically and politically.

When we damage the Earth, we damage our own welfare. Human beings are as susceptible as any other species. Our welfare and survivability depend on a healthy planet.

Ergo, I would like to end this letter with a famous quote by Jim Shubert, a stand-up comedian from Philadelphia: “If the earth was an apartment, we wouldn’t be getting our security deposit back”.

Suzianah Nhazzla J,
Shah Alam

The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the stand of the newspaper’s owners and editorial board.