The Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, (FPA) Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia in collaboration with UiTM Cawangan Selangor Kampus Puncak Alam organized and hosted the Kuala Lumpur Launch event of the Lancet Countdown 2019 Report on 12th December 2019. The event was participated by more than 800 people including university students, researchers and scholars as well as members of the press.
The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change is a multidisciplinary, international collaboration of 35 academic and United Nations’ (UN) institutions around the world. Each year, the Lancet Countdown publishes its annual report in the most influential medical journal; The Lancet (IF: 59.102), providing updates to indicators of the present-day health effects of climate change, and the world’s response.
The 2019 report of the Lancet Countdown presents 41 indicators, spanning five domains of health and climate change. The data presented by these indicators forms a narrative, summarised by two possible futures for a child born today; “business-as-usual”, where a child born today will experience a world that is four degrees warmer than the pre-industrial average, or limits the global average temperature rise to “well below 2°C”- is possible and would transform the health of a child born today for the better, right the way through their life.
Dr. Nick Watts, the Executive Director of The Lancet Countdown also joined the event remotely and delivered a welcome speech. Two co-authors of the 2019 Report, Assoc. Professor Maxwell Boykoff, from University Colorado Boulder, USA and Dr. Meisam Tabatabaei from FPA, UiTM were present to address the questions posed by the audience.
The KL Launch event was officiated by the Vice Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi MARA, Prof. Emeritus Datuk Ir. Dr. Mohd Azraai Kassim. Emphasizing on the challenges faced concerning the growing impact of climate change on public health, he pointed out that “UiTM is also currently giving thoughtful attention towards global warming and climate change issues”.
“Reconnect Your World with Human Capital Development”
Prepared By : Dr. Meisam Tabatabaei & Dr Shamsiah Abdullah, Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, UiTM
Edited by : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Geetha Subramaniam, Fellow, InQKA, UiTM