From Petaling Jaya to the World: Malaysian Engineering Boleh!
Where Have the Science Students Gone?
Professor Dr Zulkifli Yusop FASc is a professor of environmental hydrology at UTM. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental science from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (now Universiti Putra) and his PhD in environmental hydrology from the University of Manchester, UK. Professor Dr Zulkifli has held major editorial, academic, national, and international roles in water and environmental management. He has conducted extensive research on forest and plantation hydrology, nonpoint source pollution, flood management and modelling, and climate change adaptation. He specialises in integrated river basin management and sustainable water management.
“Impact of Future Floods: The Cost of Not Doing Anything” emphasises the urgency of allocating sufficient resources to climate change adaptation, particularly flood mitigation, now rather than later. Climate change is increasing rainfall intensity, sea-level rise, and the frequency of extreme weather events, exerting more pressure on already fragile urban and rural catchments. Future floods will be catastrophic, especially given the rapid development that has diminished the ecosystem’s ability to regulate hydrological processes.
Without proactive investment, countries face escalating economic losses from damaged infrastructure, disrupted transport, destroyed homes, and lost livelihoods—as seen in recent Malaysian floods that caused billions in damages. The social consequences are equally severe. Inaction ultimately shifts the burden to disaster response rather than prevention, locking governments into a costly cycle of recovery, while the long-term cost of non-investment far exceeds the upfront cost of strengthening flood defences, upgrading drainage, restoring rivers, and improving early warning systems. While the threats are real, the public remains confused about several key issues, such as the misconception that 100-year floods occur once in a 100 years, the belief that we are safe because the area has never flooded before, the assumption that we are safe for the next few years after experiencing a big flood, the lackadaisical attitude towards flood warnings—“it is safe, just like before”—and many others.