Malaysia floods are Asia’s latest sign to act on climate change

Asia is projected to be hit particularly hard as the effects of climate change take hold, with trillions in economic activity at risk
The Dutch experience is one all countries can learn from as they rush to deal with rising waters and flooding

Chee Yik-wai

Published: 9:15am, 4 Jan 2022

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The late Bruce Lee famously told people to “be water”. That is something desperately needed in Malaysia after at least 48 people died in the government’s latest abysmal performance in flood management.

That is 48 lives too many for what is widely seen as predictable, long-term extreme weather. The severity of the flooding has appalled many Malaysians who have never experienced such extreme weather.

Flooding claimed more than 300 lives in Henan province last year, while nearly 200 people died in flooding in Germany. More severe flooding is likely in the future given the effects of climate change and – given the passive approach of most world governments – more lives will unfortunately be lost.

Floods do not discriminate by country or region. However, it is almost certain they will affect developing countries more than developed ones given their lack of long-term investment in fighting climate change and increasingly severe flooding.

Asia, which is projected to provide half of global GDP by 2040, stands to lose the most. Riverine flood risk is expected to affect areas with US$17 trillion of economic output, according to Nikkei Asia analysis, with Asia making up about half of that figure. Asia’s economic powerhouses, including China and India, are among the most vulnerable in the world to catastrophic flooding.

For the countries that have learned the lessons – especially my native Malaysia – there should be more aggressive investment in resilient flood management infrastructure, especially when our existing ones have proven to insufficiently deliver amid surprising levels of waters. It is simply inexcusable that a flood defence system does not work efficiently in sending out appropriate warnings.

Hong Kong’s flood management is a stand-out performer in the Asia-Pacific. On a global scale, though, no country is as prepared as the Netherlands in expecting the worst and hoping for the best from waters and floods. The same disastrous flooding that took hundreds of lives in Germany and Belgium resulted in no casualties in the Netherlands, despite a third of the country lying at or below sea level.

The Rhine river floods its banks in Cologne, Germany, on July 15. Photo: Xinhua

After the North Sea flood of 1953 took almost 2,000 lives, the Netherlands passed the Delta Act. The new law led to improved flood barriers with three locks, six dams and five storm surge barriers which were completed in 1997. The award-winning Delta Works engineering project both saved lives and rejuvenated local economies.

The Dutch approach further evolved after flooding in the 1990s forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate. It led to a concept called “room for the river”, pivoting from fighting the waters by confining rivers with dykes to living with them by creating catchment areas that often mimic the natural flood plains.

The Netherlands invested €2.3 billion (US$2.6 billion) to increase the depth of rivers, relocate dykes, construct high water channels, lowering floodplains and removing polders. This enabled the restoration of landscapes along the rivers that act as natural sponges during floods.

The Dutch devised lakes, parks, plazas and other amenities that improve the social fabric and strengthen local economies while multitasking as enormous reservoirs for when the seas and rivers are about to flood.

A view is seen in November 2018 of the Houtribdijk, near Enkhuizen, northern Netherlands, a major dyke being shored up by more than 666,000 truckloads of sand to protect the low-lying country against rising water levels, in this photo made available by the Rijkswaterstaat (part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment). Photo: Rijkswaterstaat via AFP

Education also plays an important role since engineering projects can be a limited tool to save lives from flooding. Schoolchildren in the Netherlands are taught survival swimming skills in anticipation of unexpected flooding.

As sea levels rise and flooding gets worse across the world, people with expertise in keeping the water at bay are highly valued. Thousands of people around the world die from floods and rising water levels every year, and the world is collectively failing to deal with the crisis on both the economic and human casualty levels.

From China to Europe, ignoring flood alerts will leave us soaked in regret

The Dutch have taken the effects of climate change as both a crisis and an opportunity. They have taken global leadership by using their own experiences and best practices around flooding to create new economic opportunities and diplomatic gains.

Dutch consultants have advised Chinese and Bangladeshi authorities about emergency shelters and evacuation routes, helping reduce economic damage and human casualties. This is another example of the US$4.2 trillion that could be saved by investing in more resilient infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Bank.

Dutch success in water management has its roots in a long-standing tradition that includes dedicated organisations, taxes and an inclusive, multilevel stakeholder process able to consistently respond to climate change challenges quicker than any other country. The country’s geography, engineering and educational legacies have helped convince most of the Dutch population that fighting climate change collectively is a necessity.

There have been climate change protests in the Netherlands over the government’s failure to act decisively enough, but not the reverse. That is in stark contrast to the recent protests in the country against vaccinations, lockdowns and other pandemic measures.

In the Netherlands, climate change is beyond ideology and an everyday reality for the people. Centuries of trial and error – coupled with a nationwide acknowledgement that climate change is an existing and future risk – have put the Dutch ahead of the game in flood mitigation strategies.

To better manage the challenges of flooding and rising waters, perhaps Asian countries need to “be water” and quickly learn how to adapt the Dutch model to their own circumstances before suffering even more casualties.

Chee Yik-wai is a Malaysia-based intercultural specialist and the co-founder of Crowdsukan focusing on sport diplomacy for peace and development