CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON POVERTY IN MALAYSIA

Climate change would have a profound impact on the poor and on those who are categorized as low income earners by virtue of their unfixed economies which are barely enough to sustain their day to day expenses. Many of these poor people and those belonging to the low income group are involved with economic activities that are highly dependent on environmental conditions where climate is a major determinant. Climate change would aff ect environmental conditions and the sustainability of resource development associated with agriculture, fi shing and informal sectors such as low income urban commerce. Regional climate change which is governed by the behavioural patt erns of the Monsoons. El Nino-la Nina, Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and those associated with the Low Pressure Oceanic Cells (LPOC’s) of the South China Seas and the Bay of Bengal would have significant eff ect on the behavioural patt ern of Malaysia’s climate and would thus infl uence environmental conditions in Malaysia and the economic activities practiced by the poor and the low income groups. Climate change would make the poor poorer and that low income group which are hovering just above the poverty threshold value to fall below the poverty line. An understanding of the changing behavioural patt erns of the atmospheric-oceanic systems and land meteorological – hydrological processes and vulnerability indicators of the populations at risks is needed so as to devise adaptation strategies in the short and long terms under impending threat of climate change.