Iskandar’s green agenda gets a shot in the arm following its selection as the first study area in low carbon city development by a joint Malaysia-Japan study.
As Iskandar nears its tipping point in 2012, when many of its flagship projects are completed, one area that’s starting to attract a lot of attention is the green agenda. Iskandar, being one of the fastest growing regions in Malaysia has a vision to be a sustainable metropolis by 2025.
Not that Johor has never made any greening efforts. In fact, back in the 1990’s, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government had launched the Local Agenda 21, which was promptly taken up by the Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru (MBJB) in 2004.
Many programmes were initiated, ranging from cultural/religious festival gatherings, to gotong-royong, and environmental awareness programmes. Other local Johor authorities did not have as much success, citing difficulty to get participation from local communities, private companies, and foreigners. This was on top of lack of resources and enthusiasm to undertake sustainable development agenda.
Recently, however, the green agenda in Johor received a shot in the arm when the Malaysia-Japan joint low carbon society research group chose Iskandar as the first study area in low carbon city development.
The 5-year project, from 2011 – 2015, would look at how to move Iskandar towards a low carbon city. Researchers from Malaysia and Japan will initially conduct a quantitative study of the carbon emission generated by Iskandar and explore the mitigation measures towards low carbon Iskandar Malaysia 2025.
A low carbon society scenario study by Ho et al. (2009) has estimated the present carbon emission of Iskandar to be about 12.6 million tons CO2 and the figure is expected to rise 3.6 times to 45.5 million tons CO2 in 2025. The current per capita emission is 9.3 tons CO2 which is higher than the national average of Malaysia of 5.0 tons CO2 and this is projected to rise to 15.1 tons CO2 in 2025. The study noted that urban developments are responsible for 70% of the national carbon emission.
Low CO2 lifestyle
Among the possible initiatives is the promotion of low carbon lifestyle into the communities of Iskandar. Low carbon life-style can also be referred to as sustainable living, eco-friendly lifestyle, or green living. It can vary from the very basic practice of reduce, reuse, and recycling to changes of patterns and level of consumption towards meeting basic needs rather than wants. The ultimate aim is to give minimum impact to the environment. It includes using energy-saving materials, choosing environment friendly products, and driving less.
Unlike the west, the promotion of low carbon lifestyle was quite recent in Malaysia. The mass media only mostly covered general awareness while efforts to translate that awareness into concrete action have been limited.
Hopefully, with a strong political will, more can be done such as re-looking at the planning and design of cities to providing a more compact urban environment where people can easily walk, ride bicycles and take public transport anwywhere.
The recent statement by IRDA Federal Commissioner Benjamin Hasbie that the IRDA has pledged to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in the area by 2025 gives hope that Iskandar will seriously take the green agenda several notches higher.
Hasbie said that IRDA would focus on eight action plans which include: liveable and walkable cities and towns, protection and enhancement of the natural environment, low carbon lifestyle, green economy, integrated transportation, energy efficient buildings, promoting renewable energy, and land use planning.
