Pairin : Global warming makes need for dams crucial

There is no one magic solution to the problem of global warming

 

Global warming is when the earth heats up, the temperature risers. It happens when greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide and methane) trap heat and light from the sun in the earth's atmosphere, which increases the temperature. This hurts many people, animals and plants. Many cannot take the change, so they die.

 Sabah need water supply in the future

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said global climate change will affect water resources and inevitably water supply in Sabah in the future.

To prove his point, he said the El Nino extreme weather conditions between 1997 and 1998 caused a severe drought in the State.

Hence, when the State Government suggested building dams, it was thinking about the future to ensure there is sufficient infrastructure to store water that can sustain for a long period of time.

"In fact, the country has been talking about rain harvesting and storage and also building more reservoirs," he told a press conference after officiating the State-level World Water Day Conference and Exhibition 2012 at Pacific Sutera Hotel.

Even the Prime Minister, he said, is vigorous about the issue in that Malaysia has to reduce its carbon emission so that the nation's air quality would be reverted to the level it was in the 1970s.

Having said that, he said climate change is a very serious aspect of the entire scenario to the extent that people have been urged not to purchase products that could release harmful gases into the environment. The scenario is also serious for both the government and ordinary people to realise it because there is a Water Resources Management Enactment and council, which was brought into existence to make people realise that we all have our respective responsibility where water is concerned.

"Even farmers and the young and old (are responsible)Éso, the more we realise the importance of our respective role, we will be able to activate our management activities to ensure that we don't waste water as well as to manage and maximise water uses," he said.

Overall, he said it is part of the efforts to minimise the impact of global warming. While global warming is generally the duty of experts including scientists to overcome and address, Pairin said it is possible that the El Nino phenomenon would occur again.

The abnormal occurrences across the globe such as extreme weather, he said, keep indicating to humans that it can happen again. He said it is envisaged that 10 years from now, global temperatures will rise by two or three degrees.

"And when this happens, ice in the North and South Poles and the Himalayas will melt and this will cause a rise in sea levels," he said.

In this respect, everyone should strive to play their respective roles.

"Together, we shall and will strive to provide clean water for drinking and for the food industry, dispose of wastes, generate electricity, irrigate crops, and reduce the risks of floods and droughts," he said.

The phenomenon of global warming should be taken seriously by all parties to ensure the physical and human environment is not affected too greatly, he said.

Source: Daily Express