By Ahmad Farhan, Kieran Li Nair, and Zayana Zaikariah
Abstract
Transformational adaptation refers to climate change adaptation efforts that aim to achieve long-term systemic improvements across sectors, as compared to incremental changes. Malaysia, as a developing nation in Southeast Asia, is set to face increased vulnerabilities unique to the region in the coming future, and it must move beyond mitigation efforts to invest in adaptation strategies. Its ongoing efforts, primarily through the Malaysia National Adaptation Plan, aims to map out a more holistic approach toward the country’s climate action strategies, conceptually moving toward transformational adaptation. The plan identifies infrastructure and cities as a national priority sector with unique vulnerabilities, given the rapid urbanization rates that are expected to reach up to 90% by 2050, as well as increased concentration of climate impacts such as heat waves and flash floods. It also aims to be informed by equity through measures such as inclusion of gendered perspectives. Despite this approach, efforts are still sidelined by an overemphasis on climate mitigation, on top of existing fundamental gaps such as lack of climate risk assessments, reliance on band-aid measures and weak cross-sectoral coordination. Marginalized communities such as urban poor, women, children, and youth also face these vulnerabilities, but many times over. Hence, this commentary aims to explore the readiness of urban Klang Valley in adopting transformational adaptation measures, with emphasis on adaptive capacity and climate justice principles. It will stock-take existing policy measures on adaptation and assess understanding of structural change across stakeholders. It will also provide recommendations toward adaptation measures that embody more whole-of-society approaches aimed at achieving long-term societal change.
Introduction
Climate adaptation is no longer an option but an imperative among countries in a world that continues to breach tipping points and obscure the view toward a 1.5°C future. This statement is particularly true for developing nations, who are far more likely to face climate impacts and far less likely to have the ability to cope with its escalating effects. Adaptation pertains to one of three key pillars of climate action outlined under the Paris Agreement (United Nations, 2015). In particular, it sets out to achieve a global goal on adaptation for “enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change,” acknowledging that adaptation action must involve a country-driven, inclusive approach that takes into account all stakeholders and lived environments.
As the world’s understanding of adaptation continues to develop, the concept of transformational adaptation has increasingly entered the lexicon of international climate governance. In its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2022) refers to transformational adaptation as “adaptation that changes the fundamental attributes of a social-ecological system in response to climate change and its effects.” In other words, it signals the need to move beyond incremental efforts of conventional adaptation methods and opt for long-term systemic improvements across all spatial scales and sectors alongside sustainable development frameworks (UNFCCC, 2024).
The IPCC AR6 recognizes that while progress in adaptation planning and implementation has increased across all sectors and regions, most of these measures prioritize immediate and near-term climate risk reduction, hence reducing the opportunity to implement transformational adaptation measures (IPCC, 2023). At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) level, during the 29th Conference of Parties (COP29), negotiations on adaptation recognized the role of transformational adaptation as an enabler of global adaptation efforts (Chandrasekhar et al., 2024).
Malaysia, as a nation located in one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world, is set to face increased vulnerability toward climate impacts, including extreme weather conditions and sea-level rise (Hicks, 2021). Indeed, in recent years, the country has been hit with heavy rainfalls and heat waves, notably the “once-in-a-century” rainfall-induced flood in 2021, leading to at least 50 deaths and 400,000 displacements across Peninsular Malaysia (Rahman, 2022), the effects of which are still felt today. Beyond that event, frequencies of heat waves across Southeast Asia have not spared Malaysia, with 2024 reporting 45 cases of heat-related illnesses, including two fatalities from heatstroke (Paramasivan & Ismail, 2025).
Currently, Malaysia largely employs a band-aid, reactive approach toward addressing these issues, taking on a mitigation-centric approach in tackling the climate crisis. However, the country has begun to develop a more holistic understanding and approach toward climate action. At the national level, the Malaysian government is on a journey toward strengthening its policy framework. For example, Malaysia recently updated its National Climate Change Policy in 2024, and it is now working on the National Climate Change Bill (RUUPIN) and Malaysia’s National Adaptation Plan (MyNAP), both long-awaited policies.
Tangential to these efforts, Malaysia is currently undergoing a rapid process of urbanization, with 77% of Malaysia’s total population living in cities in 2024 (United Nations, 2025); this figure is expected to reach 85–90% by 2050 (UN-DESA, 2018). Along with this urbanization, Malaysia is an emerging economy that is expected to achieve developed nation status by 2028 (World Bank, 2021).
The central hub of urbanization in Malaysia is “Klang Valley.” Klang Valley is actually an unofficial term largely used to describe the urban agglomeration spanning the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, as well as several districts within the state of Selangor, according to the Economic Transformation Programme. Klang Valley is the most economically productive conurbation within Malaysia, resulting in major migratory shifts on a national scale spanning decades. As such, approximately 26% of all Malaysians currently reside in Klang Valley, amounting to 9 million Malaysians. As no specific definition is prescribed for usage by the Malaysian government, this paper includes all of Selangor within Klang Valley’s boundaries.
Note: Klang Valley is the densest region in Malaysia
Figure 1: Population density of Malaysia by parliamentary boundaries per km2
Note: Nominal GDP per capita in Malaysia is the highest in the Klang Valley
Figure 2: Malaysian states and Federal Territories by nominal GDP per capita (USD) in 2020.
According to Malaysia’s first Biennial Transparency Report (2024), sector-specific vulnerabilities are identified for urban infrastructure, primarily the increased frequency of floods and urban heat island effect impacting transport, housing, and economic activities (NRES, 2024). These factors are only set to increase as the years pass, on top of the cascading impacts for vulnerable communities. UNICEF (2021) highlighted the unique impacts of climate change faced by children in Malaysia, particularly the increased risk of illness. These issues are also crosscutting, wherein their impacts are more acutely felt by additionally vulnerable communities, such as low-income communities and girls, due to barriers in accessibility of vital care services and existing societal barriers, respectively. With these issues, there is a great need for targeted, strategic measures to integrate equity and justice-oriented policymaking to ensure nobody gets left behind.
Note: Only a handful of Malaysian districts exhibit both a high median income and a high concentration of public health care facilities
Figure 3: Bivariate map displaying the relationship between median income to number of health care facilities per capita by district.
Malaysia has been giving urban areas and infrastructure its due attention when it comes to resilience-building measures; however, many gaps still remain at the implementation level. Given this issue, there is a crucial need to explore the readiness of Malaysian urban areas, particularly Klang Valley, in adopting transformational adaptation measures. This commentary sets out to do so, with emphasis on current adaptive capacity as well as climate justice principles employed in this process. It stock-takes existing urban and climate adaptation measures, and it also assesses the embodiment of structural, systemic change across sectors and stakeholders. Through this assessment, the commentary delves into gaps, offers a case study, and subsequently provides recommendations toward adaptation measures that embody a whole-of-society approach aimed at achieving the long-term societal changes needed for Malaysia to achieve resilience against escalating climate impacts in urban areas.
Current situation
As an economic heartland, the intense urban expansion in Klang Valley has magnified climate risks. Floods, for example, are not just a result of natural disasters but also consequences of poor planning and land-use change (Rahman, 2022). Over the past two decades, authorities have built highways, shopping malls, and high-density housing without restoring upstream wetlands or upgrading drainage accordingly.
As a result, flash floods have escalated in severity. In addition, monsoon downpours and intense convective storms routinely overwhelm drainage networks. Impervious concrete now covers much of the watershed, sharply increasing stormwater runoff into rivers and canals (Afandi, 2022). For this reason, each new flood inundates this hardscape before it can drain away. In one recent record-breaking event, the state of Selangor saw continuous rains exceed 380 mm in a single day—more than double the volume of historical records (Rosmadi et al., 2023).
In December 2021, this event coalesced into a catastrophe: anomalous rainfall triggered massive floods across Malaysia, forcing many residents into evacuation centres and causing official losses of about USD 1.5 billion (Rahman, 2022). The state of Selangor bore the brunt of these losses, with USD 97 million representing losses of homes and businesses in the districts of Klang, Petaling, and Hulu Langat. These patterns evidently proved that new building developments that result in hardened surfaces, blocked waterways, and fringing levees have been outpaced by climate change–driven rainfall surges (Rahman, 2022). Each new flood drives home that Malaysian infrastructure and masterplans currently lag behind real-time trends.
Beyond urban floodings in Klang Valley, climate stress also comes in the form of heat waves and transboundary haze. Rising global temperatures have made extreme heat spells more common even in typically mild climates like those found in Malaysia. By the country’s standards, Klang Valley has experienced significant heat waves in 2019 and again in 2020, where it saw more than three days of consecutive heat waves of 37°C and above (Muhamad et al., 2024). These urban heat episodes are magnified by the dense concrete cityscape, also known as the urban heat island effect, which drives local temperatures to dangerous levels. As such, it is shown that Peninsular Malaysia’s extreme-heat area is growing rapidly—on the order of more than 9 km² per decade since 1950—which means that more people will face prolonged heat stress as time progresses (Muhamad et al., 2024).
Meanwhile, recurrent dry-season haze has become a calendar risk. For example, government analyses of past haze episodes note that stagnant weather and local sources, including but not limited to vehicle exhausts and factory fumes, compound aggravated air quality during events such as the 1997 crisis (DOE, 2021). Added stress onto health care systems are also common with an uptick of health impacts, with increased frequencies of hospital visits for treatments related to respiratory function and even mortalities, particularly with children and the elderly (Latif et al., 2018).
Malaysians are also known for their heavy reliance on private vehicles, and this factor is noted as a major driver of local smog. As the city continues to develop into a metropolis, ownership and use of cars in Kuala Lumpur itself is recorded as one of the highest in Asia, with nearly 900 vehicles per 1000 people (Asian Transport Observatory, 2024). The result of this rise in the number of motor vehicles is a steady rise in exhaust emissions; recent records show a 4–5% jump in registered cars and motorcycles in 2022 alone (Awani International, 2024), and higher urban ozone and carbon monoxide levels trace growth in the number of motor vehicles.
Note: Klang Valley has the worst levels of air quality within Malaysia
Figure 4: Air pollution index map for Malaysia using interpolated WAQI data
Worsening this issue are the frequent transboundary haze occurrences that plague the Klang Valley, stemming from dry-season peat fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan blowing smoke across the straits.
As haze exacerbates, other urban climate stresses are also compounded. These smoke episodes typically occur during the same hot and dry periods that also drive urban heat waves, water shortages, and drought‐related health problems (Sahani et al., 2022). When heavy rainfall strikes, flood risk surges; hence, cities face a double burden of burning summers and flooding monsoons. Climate research in Malaysia warns that air pollution hazards will amplify heat stress, and low-income communities bear the brunt of these exacerbated conditions (Sahani et al., 2022). In effect, haze acts as a cascading climate risk: it overlaps with extreme heat and flood events, which eventually heighten health impacts especially for the poor and marginalized.
Inequalities in governance hinge on geographical contexts
By constitutional design, key resources lie with the states. For example, land, water, and forests are under state jurisdiction. This arrangement is where it gets complicated for the districts in Klang Valley that are separated by geographical lines. In practice, Klang Valley spans multiple jurisdictions: Kuala Lumpur’s City Hall (DBKL) is under federal authority, while surrounding towns and municipalities (e.g., Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Klang) fall under Selangor’s state government. These layered boundaries mean different agencies share responsibility for land use, infrastructure, and environment. Local governments in Selangor, for instance, answer to the state government, whereas DBKL reports to the federal Ministry of Housing and Local Government. This split system can complicate unified planning, since each body has its own rules and priorities.
Figure 5: Land-use cover and change of built-up lands in Klang Valley from 2000 to 2020
The fragmented governance in Klang Valley makes coordination across agencies essential but deeply challenging. Evidently, centralized coordination among stakeholders is critical for flood management, and that to enhance resilience, there needs to be collaboration between government agencies, local authorities, and communities (Rahman, 2022). However, the reality is that Malaysia’s local system is highly decentralized, and this situation creates challenges in the implementation of green infrastructure and adaptation measures. These issues undercut the Malaysian policy ideal of a “whole-of-society” adaptation effort.
This decentralized coordination stems from the lack of local accountability, borne from the indefinite suspension of local government elections beginning in the 1960s. As a result, key resources remain at the behest of the state, while the authority to approve funding for local projects rests with the federal government. This disconnect compels state authorities to rely on state-owned resources as primary sources of revenue generation. Consequently, representatives appointed by the state are not directly accountable to the communities they serve, but to the state government itself. Therefore, appropriate resource allocation to manage state authorities is often constrained by political dependencies and misaligned priorities across federal, state, and local levels.
Without a unified framework and mechanisms to empower states or cities, adaptation measures may be designed from the top and poorly implemented on the ground. For example, drainage improvements in one municipality may not account for upstream or downstream impacts in the next. The area’s multilevel bureaucracy requires formal mechanisms to bring together city planners, state departments, and federal ministries; however, adaptation policies that lack this coordination risk being piecemeal efforts (Nizarudin & Zakariya, 2025).
Additionally, local governments also face hurdles with regards to deficient budget allocation. Inequitable budget allocation risks jeopardizing the effective operationalization of coordinated efforts between local governments, as some receive more funding than others due to prioritization by federal and state authorities. The aforementioned funding presents itself in the form of financial grants, which allow local governments to carry out infrastructure development projects and restructuring initiatives (Harding, 2022). However, certain grant sizes are reliant on factors such as expected revenue accruement and population size, putting several local governments at an inherent disadvantage. As it stands, Klang Valley houses four city councils, while municipal councils and district councils stand at seven and one respectively.
Compounding this issue are the tax revenue collection capacities of local governments, which are heavily reliant on property taxes of annual rental property value assessments within a locality—known as an assessment tax (Talib et al., 2017). In this regard, the urban–rural divide is prominent, as assessment tax collection amounts in rural areas are unable to compete with urban localities, causing local governments of rural areas to fall behind financially. The asymmetrical nature of funding allocation therefore entrenches long-standing disparities present within Malaysia’s governmental structure, thus exacerbating the impacts of climate change as underfunded localities struggle to recover over extended periods of exposure to climate extremes.
Human security, equity, and climate justice: A case study of Taman Sri Muda
The IPCC’s assessment of impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability in the Working Group II contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report (WGII AR5) recognizes human security as a crucial component to address in the climate crisis (IPCC, 2014, Chapter 12). As a high-level framework, it sheds light onto the disproportionate impacts faced by vulnerable communities; in this commentary’s context, that means the urban poor, women and children, the elderly, people with disabilities, and informal workers who are exposed to urban impacts of climate change. These vulnerabilities are often systemic and intersectional in nature, and it is therefore through these disparities that the need for equitable and justice-oriented approaches to climate solutions, including drivers for transformational adaptation, emerges.
The floods experienced by the Taman Sri Muda, a township located in the Klang district, act as a case study that highlights these disparities, particularly the 2021 incident, wherein the area faced disastrous impacts as a result of the “once-in-a-hundred-years” rainfall. While urban Malaysia faced widespread impacts that year—up to USD 1.5 billion of losses, particularly concentrated in the states of Selangor, Pahang, and Melaka (Bedi, 2022)—the experience in Taman Sri Muda was notoriously bad due to a series of systemic failures that resulted in preventable losses and damage faced by its residents. These failures included inadequate drainage systems, overdevelopment, and inefficient response measures from relevant warning systems, emergency response systems, and governing bodies. Such negligence has even caused a USD 970,000 lawsuit from at least 50 Taman Sri Muda residents seeking compensation over the damages faced, including intangible losses such as emotional distress and trauma faced as a result (Lim, 2022). However, there are several other issues worth highlighting.
First, Taman Sri Muda represents an inadequacy of geographical planning. Taman Sri Muda was developed on low-lying terrain adjacent to Klang River, making it a natural floodplain. It is also inherently prone to inundation, as the site’s ground elevation is only about 1–1.5 m above sea level. In fact, early planning documents had designated the area as not for housing but as a flood retention basin (Rahman, 2022). This geographic reality was apparent from the township’s vulnerability to flooding even before the first house was built, effectively sending vulnerable residents to live in a high-risk zone.
Given these conditions, proper land-filling and drainage infrastructure would have been critical toward Taman Sri Muda’s development. However, the site was largely developed at only 1–3 m above sea level (Mokhtar, 2022). This elevation is below historic flood high-water marks and would guarantee that any extreme rainfall or river overflow would pose a flood risk to the new township. These measures provided years of relief, but such ponds have a finite capacity, as they do not prevent flooding if rain exceeds the design limits and only delay the inevitable. Ultimately, this example shows that mitigation infrastructures alone cannot stop extreme events unless they are well maintained and complemented by wider watershed management.
Second, Taman Sri Muda signals a systemic failure in governance. Prior to the 2021 disaster, government agencies had knowledge of the flood risks, but subsequent responses were sluggish. In fact, a pumping station and tidal gate are installed in Taman Sri Muda precisely because it depends on artificial drainage; however, local officials also revealed that one major water pump was out of commission and a crucial sluice gate malfunctioned during floods, greatly slowing water release (Mokhtar, 2022). Hence, when the storm hit, these neglected systems became inadequate as nearby developments had already diverted their stormwater into Sri Muda’s drains, roughly tripling the volume the system was built to hold (Lim, 2022). Community leaders had even warned about these issues months before—in October 2021, the area’s assemblyman warned the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) about failing to replace a faulty pump, noting that funds of USD 2.5 billion had been approved, but the project never started due to bureaucratic delays (Mokhtar, 2022).
While the flooding risks in Taman Sri Muda were known from the outset, authorities also focused primarily on mitigation efforts, rather than pursuing systemic adaptation, to prevent and reduce vulnerabilities. For example, a retention pond of about 3 hectares was constructed near the township, and a pump station was installed to help divert water into the Klang River. These actions were undertaken after the first flood struck in 1995. River embankments were also raised and new drainage canals were dug as part of post-1995 flood mitigation efforts (Mokhtar, 2022). However, while these measures provided temporary relief (as no floods were recorded for many years after), there were still occasional flash floods due to local drainage clogs (Mokhtar, 2022).
Taman Sri Muda then began to face annual flooding as more areas in its surroundings became developed in the early 2000s. In this way, the township’s drainage network was gradually being co-opted to serve new upstream developments. Moreover, large projects such as Taman Kemuning Utama were built adjacent to Sri Muda without initially constructing adequate outflows of their own (Idris, 2022).
Third, this series of planning flaws ultimately came to a head in December 2021, when the unprecedented rainfall caused flooding across Selangor. As a result of being surrounded by the Klang River, Taman Sri Muda was one of the worst-hit areas. The upstream dam and a king tide at Port Klang created a surge that funnelled into the Klang River just as torrential rain fell. Despite the implemented mitigation efforts, Taman Sri Muda’s tidal gate and pumps were overwhelmed, as they unable to discharge water fast enough. The limited retention pond filled and overflowed, and the drainage canals backflowed into the streets (Rahman, 2022).
It is here that the most vulnerable residents of Taman Sri Muda were victimized by the series of structural and systemic failures highlighted. For one, dissemination of flood information during the critical period of evacuation not only came too late, but also most of these communications took place over online portals such as X, which did not reflect the lived reality needs of Taman Sri Muda residents—many of whom were elderly and therefore lacked online access to information (Zaikariah & Nair, 2025).
In general, such flood incidences also disproportionately jeopardize the well-being of women, children, and disabled people. For one, women are more impacted by the effects of flooding due to taking on additional unpaid care work on top of other livelihood insecurities and increased household burdens (NRES, 2024). Meanwhile, children’s well-being and education are compromised due to schools’ extended usage as flood shelters (UNICEF, 2021), which was very much the case in the 2021 Taman Sri Muda flooding. For instance, a victim details how the 2021 incident greatly compromised her family’s safety, including elderly family members, and how the woman’s disabled husband had to be “placed in a wheelchair and sunk to the waist” (Yusry, 2024). Needless to say, these conditions should not exist, nor should they have been experienced by the most vulnerable communities to the point of emotional turmoil and trauma.
Finally, with no adaptation policies in place, the residents of Taman Sri Muda were left overburdened by the post-flood damages since there were no proper compensation plans in place. To begin with, many were ill-informed or unaware of their rights to seek compensatory measures, reflecting an additional layer of injustice. Furthermore, testimonies from Taman Sri Muda residents state that despite pledges from the city council, proper flood mitigation measures beyond flood emergency sirens were still not improved upon, while measures such as improved sewerage, drainage, and flood retention infrastructure are far more vital and effective to address the issues at hand (Yusry, 2024). As a result, residents have had to rely on legal mechanisms such as the above-mentioned USD 950,000 lawsuit to seek compensatory action. Up until the time of writing, residents are still demanding for more substantive measures from governing bodies to address these issues, with dissatisfaction being raised over the state government’s overreliance on mitigation actions and lack of adequate compensatory measures to prevent the yearly recurrence of such climate disasters (Tsen, 2025).
Overall, Taman Sri Muda’s floods, particularly the 2021 incidence, represent a series of failures and inadequacies not only in urban planning, but also in adapting to the amplified impacts of climate change and safeguarding the most vulnerable among Malaysian communities.
While there are no specific adaptation policies in place as of writing, current adaptation efforts are scattered across many different policies, with responsibilities separated across agencies and projects, thus signalling the lack of a unified strategy.
The recent National Climate Change Policy 2.0, published in 2024, acts as a renewal of the original 2008 framework; it lists five key strategic thrusts as an overarching approach toward climate action, including the need “to emphasise adaptation and climate resilience measures that benefits socio-economic and development goals” (NRES, 2024). This framework spearheads Malaysia’s National Adaptation Plan (MyNAP), which, pursuant to a holistic, whole-of-nation approach toward climate adaptation, shortlists five key sectors to address resilience in the country, one of them being infrastructure and cities (NRES, 2025). This document also recognizes the role of the third sector; gender-responsive measures; community- and ecosystem-based approaches; short-, medium-, and long-term goals; and the rural–urban divide as crucial dimensions toward systemic adaptation. As of writing, the document aims for a 2026 publication (The Star, 2025).
The upcoming RUUPIN, expected to be tabled in parliament by 2025, will include a section specifically addressing climate adaptation, including the incorporation of a climate risk assessment and climate targets to be eventually aligned with the outcomes of the Global Goal on Adaptation negotiations at the UNFCCC level.
The Twelfth Malaysia Plan, 2021–2025 (EPU, 2021), which is part of Malaysia’s 5-year development plans, lists the launch of a nationwide disaster risk management policy as a target to coordinate adaptation measures. Aptly, the National Disaster Risk Reduction Policy 2030 was released by the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) in October 2024, outlining a cross-sectoral and stakeholder approach in “mak[ing] Malaysia a safer and disaster-resilient country by mainstreaming comprehensive and inclusive disaster risk reduction towards the well-being of the people and sustainable development,” per the deputy prime minister (NADMA, 2024).
In monetary terms, Malaysia’s 2025 national budget earmarked substantial funds for disaster resilience for the first time, where USD 77 million was allocated for twelve flood mitigation projects, USD 1.5 million for NADMA to boost flood preparedness, and USD 65 million to stabilize landslide-prone slopes. However, adaptation tends to be on the losing end when it comes to the budget, as it has yet to receive a specific allocation; instead, it is being indirectly attributed across sectors, such as disaster risk management, agriculture, and conservation. This approach also does not entirely align with policy commitments toward increased adaptation measures—progress in this regard remains very gradual in comparison to the escalating urgency of climate impacts (Cheng et al., 2024).
In Klang Valley and other cities, adaptation is increasingly part of urban planning. Goal 4 of Kuala Lumpur’s new 2040 Structure Plan explicitly embraces the “climate smart and low-carbon” vision to empower KL as a low-carbon city that is resilient to climate change (DBKL, 2023). In addition to this plan, DBKL has developed a Climate Action Plan 2050, in which it extended its 2030 emissions targets and embedded resilience goals into its city planning. This policy charts strategies for carbon neutrality and climate resilience by the middle of the century by including a strategy on a “green adaptive city,” with the aim of reducing urban climate risks. It calls for retrofitting infrastructure, such as flood drainage and waterworks, and green infrastructure, such as urban wetlands, to cope with weather extremes, as well as building the systems that keep transport and utilities running during shocks (DBKL, 2023).
In Selangor, city councils have also begun implementing more detailed measures. For example, Petaling Jaya City Council has adopted a long-term climate action plan that aims to cut a third of citywide emissions by 2030 while at the same time enhancing resilience and quality of life of residents. MBPJ has also begun acting on policies such as enforcing green building codes, retrofitting public facilities, expanding cycling and public transit, and even planting green roofs, vertical gardens, and reflective cooling pavements to temper urban heat. These measures, although considered mitigation by nature, yield co-benefits for adaptation. For example, increased green spaces and surfaces reduce flooding and heat islands, while denser transit and lower energy waste lessen climate pressure impacts on infrastructure. Other local authorities, such as Shah Alam City Council, have piloted similar low-carbon and resilience initiatives into their local planning frameworks. In practice, however, local adaptation still hinges on traditional fixes such as expanding drainage, conserving rivers and wetlands, enforcing building standards, and educating the public on disaster preparedness.
However, plans alone are not enough. It has been identified that the top solution for inadequate drainage during rapid urbanization is for urban planning to be more comprehensive, mainly through the expansion of drainage infrastructure (Mohamed et al., 2024). There is also a great need for more centralized coordination—managing floods effectively requires integrating mitigation, preparedness, and response phases across agencies and communities. Similarly, cities must retrofit ageing infrastructure and invest in nature-based sponge-cities solutions, while empowering local governments and communities with the resources to act on the ground (Nair, 2023). That said, implementing planned road maps, facilities, and social capacity is the next critical task.
Malaysia has significantly expanded its climate adaptation architecture at both national and city levels through the policies plans that are in place. However, significant challenges remain as the severe floods of recent years and projections of hotter, dryer dry seasons mean that the country’s resilience will be tested anew.
Conclusion
While Malaysia has made steps toward incorporating systemic changes into its urban adaptation strategies, more needs to be done to ensure that the transformational adaptation measures toward the evolving status of climate change are sufficient. The developmental trends of Klang Valley, as well as cases such as the 2021 Taman Sri Muda floods, expose challenges including but not limited to existing structural flaws, the need for strong political will/enforcement, and a lack of participatory inclusion for vulnerable and marginalized communities, all of which remain prominent in Klang Valley’s implementation of adaptation actions.
Nevertheless, as Malaysia’s understanding toward climate change, urbanization, and adaptation continues to grow, a holistic directional framework for moving forward can be developed, as well as existing measures improved, so that transformational adaptation measures can not only be implemented, but also that current incremental adaptation measures can inhabit transformational changes in the long term.
First, it is crucial to emphasize a bottom-up approach in which local authorities, such as city, municipal, and councils, coordinate their disaster risk response plans with one another as well as with federal authorities. The effects of this approach are double: (a) local authorities can secure federal buy-in, thus increasing the possibility of obtaining larger grant sizes for the purpose of adaptive infrastructure development, while (b) decreasing an overreliance on federal initiatives to coordinate disaster risk responses. In this vein, funding and capacity building is effectively sourced for governing authorities, service providers, and local communities to ensure that the accessibility and capacity of adaptation measures can withstand the increasing severity and frequency of climate impacts.
From an environmental standpoint, given that current climate action in Malaysia leans toward mitigating measures, integrating outcomes that would lead to adaptation co-benefits would also streamline the process toward achieving transformational adaptation in Klang Valley. Structural mitigation measures, such as the incorporation and retrofitting of green and blue spaces into urban areas, as well as nature-based solutions per concepts such as sponge cities, provide a framework to integrate mitigation and adaptation measures together. Such solutions should also be co-created with local communities to cater toward local contexts and avoid maladaptation, particularly for at-risk localities.
Climate risk assessments and climate budget-tagging would also enable Malaysia to take on a more targeted approach toward urban vulnerabilities. At the current rate, urban areas concentrate not only populations but also economic assets, making them hotspots of climate exposure and socio-economic vulnerability. If localized and science-based diagnostics of the existing and eventual risks are delayed, adaptation investments risk being misaligned. A robust climate risk assessment at the city and district level would allow governments to map the exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of each area, thus allowing communities and businesses to reduce losses and shift development trajectories toward long-term resilience.
When hotspots are identified through risk assessments, climate budget-tagging will complement and institutionalize the flow of public funds toward adaptation projects. This course of action will ensure budget allocations are directed not just toward general adaptation but also toward the most critical urban structures and at-risk groups.
Next, the 2021 Taman Sri Muda case, on top of everything else, represented a lack of equity and justice-oriented avenues to seek compensation for the damages induced by negligence. For this reason, there must be more emphasis toward rights-based frameworks to ensure that nobody gets left behind and that all quadrants of resilience-building are addressed. This perspective should also aim to facilitate a participatory approach toward adaptation formulation across not only sectors and stakeholders but also grassroots and local communities. Doing so will ensure that all vulnerabilities are accounted for, and more targeted, long-term approaches can be facilitated.
Finally, at the federal and international level, Malaysia should seek to integrate transformational adaptation frameworks into its national-level policies and international climate commitments, including further emphasis and integration into MyNAP, nationally determined contributions, and other national reporting to the UNFCCC. This course of action would also assist in forming a cohesive, regional adaptation approach that ensures global adaptation targets account for the unique vulnerabilities and cultural makeup of ASEAN urban areas.
This article first published in University of Toronto Press, 14 May 2026
