Unlocking Capital for Sustainability Malaysia- Field Notes

Climate Finance is a question of speed and scale.

A powerful day of learning’s from the leaders of the sustainability ecosystem in Malaysia. The Malaysian Environment Minister is super articulate and candid.

The climate crisis is immediate, but it needs a complexity based approach and it’s about resilience. Multiple poly crisis, many tsunamis in the climate emergency paraphrasing Datin Sunita. The Climate Stack is linked to legal tender.

A magnificent day of insights and potential action, and the career of the continuous present.

Jessica and the Eco Business team have done a fabulous job.

Thinking Resilience

Yesterday’s technical error with Windows brought the connected world to our feet with the exception of China. It reminded me of the seminal work, Normal Accidents by Charles Perrow which speaks about complexity building its own fragility, as a character of the system. Where was the so called sociotechnical resilience ? After the pandemic, resilience should be the top priority, where as we listen to AI and ML all the time.

More thinking needs to go in how the normal could deteriorate into the sub normal.

Remembering Wadi Kabir

Deeply saddened by the tragic deaths in Wadi Kabir yesterday. Muscat is a sanctuary of peace and remains a key broker for stability in the region. Wadi Kabir is a place of my childhood with its industrial areas and car repair shops along with an Indian School supported by the Khimji’s.

Yes, the Pakistani community has had a deep presence in the district, and heartfelt condolences to the deceased especially the ROP officer and prayers for the injured.

Climate Conferencing Day 2 Participant Observation Notes

Day 2 APHR Climate Conferencing Notes ‘Emissions need to accompany economic development’ said the popular Thai Politician Pita and the Filipinos spoke on the legal aspects of the transition. The transnational haze panel was needed. The civil society was terrific with questions on cement emissions, couple of ones from @klimaaction were mind blowing. Environmental civil society is certainly alive and well in this region. The critical takeaway was from the Subang MP, who said why can’t the ASEAN prepare its own standards while a prominent public intellectual voice was skeptical about the scalability of carbon markets in Malaysia due to transparency issues. One of the best climate events attended, with grace and substance in equal measure.

Participant Observation Notes from APHR Climate Conference Day 1

Climate Conferencing at the Malaysian Parliament.

It seems like the oscars of the climate civil society in ASEAN, with Parliamentarians, Civil Society, Think Tanks and Academics brain storming ways to integrate climate thinking into policy participation.

Nadia from Klima Action raised a powerful point.

It was great to meet old friends from the civil society as well as Leader of the Opposition in Singapore, Mr. Pritam Singh, ex NMP Anthea Ong among others.

As a stakeholder engagement specialist, the forum itself is the message. Wicked problems are inherently Multi stakeholder, and elected politicians have more pressing elections to win at intervals. Climate matters when constituents reel under a flood or a heatstroke and agrarian patterns change and lead to job losses.

Climate financing, the topic of my PhD was raised again and again, as climate resilient infrastructure needs money and money moves things.