In nature every species plays its role, from providing food to decomposing organic matter or capturing and storing energy – all with the ultimate aim of regulating the climate. Humanity has its own vital role to play. This role is complex, because our roles change – as individuals, families, members of a local community, being a boss or employee, citizen of a country, but ultimately as people living on this planet. We are all embedded in nature and must recognise that we all have a role to play in protecting our planetary boundaries. As members of this global community business needs to publicly commit to embedding protection of biodiversity and climate change risk management into strategy and governance. To be brutally honest this means changing business models, assessing risk not only as it impacts economic performance but as it impacts nature, and working with rather than against planetary health advocates at the policy level for better regulation to protect and nurture good business practices not just today but in the future.

We need to think and act now as climate change risk becomes climate crisis reality. Looking at Climate Central’s global risk mapping of land predicted to be below sea level by 2030, many of our key cities will be severely affected – Alor Setar, Teluk Intan, and major parts of the Klang Valley. So we need to act now on how to use our financial resources for development that minimises climate change risk in general and prepares communities in high risk areas by providing financing to protect themselves before it’s too late. This is not some distant future; we are seeing the impacts of the climate crisis everyday now with its unpredictable and extreme weather – it is in the international news every day and our experiences here in Malaysia are increasingly alarming when it comes to increased rainfall and flooding.

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