ENVIRONMENTAL WARNING Evidence
Tourism is a critical financial website for Malaysia, contributing about 15 per cent of the country ’s gross domestic product. It is also Malaysia’s biggest firm, hiring about 4 million people or about 20 per cent of the workers power.
But focusing too much on tourist numbers may stress regional system, damage fragile ecosystems and direct to long-term economic damage. This method is foolish, especially in the face of escalating international climate and environmental degradation.
Malaysia’s communities are already under enormous stress from weather change and human activity. Floods, forest, tidal removal and wildlife hunting are just some of the problems plaguing the country.
For example, Malaysia has lost 50 per cent of its tidal support over the past century due to illegal logging, fisheries and pollution. Mangroves are not only important carbon falls but moreover natural barriers against flood and tsunamis. Their death has left coastal areas prone to rising sea levels and extreme weather events, which are becoming increasingly repeated due to global warming.
In 2024, extreme storms displaced about 140,000 in Malaysia, highlighting the land ’s growing vulnerability to climate change. Next month, over 10,000 people were evacuated in Johor due to severe storms.
Forestry is another pressing problem. Malaysia has one of the highest levels of forest lost in the world, driven by firewood and palm oil crops, logging and industrial development. Between 2000 and 2023, the state lost 31 per share of its trees support, according to Global Forest Watch.
This has had disastrous consequences for wildlife, including the near-extinction of classic varieties like the Malayan cat, whose inhabitants has plummeted from 3,000 in the 1950s to fewer than 150 now. Hunting and wildlife damage continue to threaten other animals, such as orangutans and dwarf elephants, more eroding Malaysia’s natural heritage.