INGENIEUR
PRESIDENT ’ S MESSAGE
On World Environment Day 2021 on June 5 , 2021 , the United Nations ’ Secretary-General presented a foreword message with the heading ‘ Making Peace with Nature : A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate , biodiversity and pollution emergencies ’. He reiterated that making peace with nature is the defining task of the coming decades . This year , several major international conferences , including climate change , biodiversity and desertification , provide opportunities to increase action on recovering from climate disruption . The central objective is to build a global coalition for carbon neutrality . If adopted by every country , city , financial institution and company around the world , the drive to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 can still avert the worst impacts of climate change .
An environment analyst mentioned that for too long , humans have been exploiting and destroying the planet ’ s ecosystems . Every three seconds , the world loses enough forest to cover a football pitch , and over the last century we have destroyed half of the world ’ s wetlands . As much as 50 % of the world ’ s coral reefs have already been lost and up to 90 % of coral reefs could be lost by 2050 , even if global warming is limited to an increase of 1.5 ° C .
According to UN-Water , the impacts of climate change are felt first and foremost through water . Increasing global temperature causes drought , flooding and other extreme weather events - all of which pose a direct threat to businesses and the communities they operate in . Water scarcity in particular is a major financial concern for businesses . Today 3.6 billion people worldwide live in water-stressed areas . Without further action based on projected demand , the world will face
Environment
a 56 % shortfall in freshwater supply relative to demand by 2030 .
With Malaysia ’ s dependence on international trade , staying aligned to global trends is important . Malaysian exporters have taken steps to adopt the United Nations-supported Sustainable Development Goals ( SDGs ) through implementing environmental , social and governance ( ESG ) standards that meet the requirements on ethical impact and sustainability .
The publication of this issue with the theme ‘ Environment ’ is most timely in view of the global concern and attention given to environmental impact on the global community . The Malaysian Government in the 2021 National Budget has provided allocations under its fourth strategy of ‘ Ensuring Resource Sustainability ’, aimed at positively influencing environmental decisions in line with SDGs .
Plastic had been named as one of the worst pollutants affecting our environment . Blaming plastics alone is not the solution but rather focusing more on human behaviour , management and technologies . The article with critical review on ‘ Plastics : Chemically Engineered to Pollute ’ and another on ‘ Plastic Waste Management : Transition to a Circular Economy ’ points to the way forward to address this issue .
With the theme of ‘ Ecosystem Restoration ’ for World Environment Day 2021 , I wish to thank contributors of articles in this issue and I am sure they will bring greater awareness to professionals and the public in general .
Dato ’ Ir . Haji Mohamad Zulkefly bin Sulaiman President , BEM
4 VOL 87 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2021