1. General information
2. Objectives of the intervention
Goals of the intervention
The intervention has several goals focusing on many levels ranging from aspects that specifically address the community's needs to larger challenges pertaining to the cities involvement as well as the country of Malaysia:
1. To reduce flooding and the urban heat island effect (UHI) and overall temperatures (surface temperatures) by employing a variety of nature-based solutions (urban greening, urban agriculture, and green rooftops).
2. To strengthen the capacity of local communities to respond to extreme weather events by raising awareness and capacity development training, focusing on women, youth, and other vulnerable communities.
3. To promote urban agriculture and food security at different levels, including training.
4. To strengthen institutional capacity and coordination between different stakeholders in climate-related issues, improving response to extreme weather events.
5. To develop the first municipal climate change adaptation programme, providing reference and methodology (as well as specific tools), for other cities in Malaysia to adopt, via a knowledge transfer platform.
6. To develop a list of climate-resilient trees for Malaysia.
7. To develop a public health programme that will include a pilot project to monitor heat-related illness in selected hospitals in Penang providing reference and methodology (as well as specific tools), for other cities in Malaysia to adopt. (Ref 3)
1. To reduce flooding and the urban heat island effect (UHI) and overall temperatures (surface temperatures) by employing a variety of nature-based solutions (urban greening, urban agriculture, and green rooftops).
2. To strengthen the capacity of local communities to respond to extreme weather events by raising awareness and capacity development training, focusing on women, youth, and other vulnerable communities.
3. To promote urban agriculture and food security at different levels, including training.
4. To strengthen institutional capacity and coordination between different stakeholders in climate-related issues, improving response to extreme weather events.
5. To develop the first municipal climate change adaptation programme, providing reference and methodology (as well as specific tools), for other cities in Malaysia to adopt, via a knowledge transfer platform.
6. To develop a list of climate-resilient trees for Malaysia.
7. To develop a public health programme that will include a pilot project to monitor heat-related illness in selected hospitals in Penang providing reference and methodology (as well as specific tools), for other cities in Malaysia to adopt. (Ref 3)
Quantitative targets
1. 31,000 trees to be planted, within three years (2022-2025) (Ref 4).
2. To reduce overall urban atmosphere temperatures by 1°C within 5-7 years after project completion (Ref 3).
3. To implement 240 training sessions on urban agriculture gardening (Ref 3).
4. To plant an area of 10,555 sqm of vacant spaces and convert it into pocket parks (Ref 3).
5. To construct green parking with 2975 trees to be planted in car parks (Ref 3).
6. To install green facades in a vertical area of 1100 sqm (Ref 3).
7. To install green rooftops on an area of 3750 sqm (Ref 3).
8. To green four waterways (14 km in total) and 32 streets and road corridors (42 km in total) (Ref 3).
9. To green 17,220 sqm of the Penang River (Ref 3).
10. To build 1,880 m2 of swales (Ref 3)
10. To develop 12,080 sqm of upstream retention areas (Ref 3).
11. To develop 2545 sqm of infiltration wells at downstream areas (Ref 3).
12. To benefit 343,739 beneficiaries (32479 direct and 311,257 indirect) of which the elderly population of 21% (41,000) is located in a flood-prone area (Ref 3).
13. To strengthen social resilience by targeting 10,000 secondary school students (by creating game and technology-based learning), as well as 16,000 women and girls (through the diverse engagement of different topics from extreme heat to urban agriculture) (Ref 3)
14. To create a knowledge transfer platform that will help the monitoring of the flood impacts and temperatures reduction, among others (Ref 3)
2. To reduce overall urban atmosphere temperatures by 1°C within 5-7 years after project completion (Ref 3).
3. To implement 240 training sessions on urban agriculture gardening (Ref 3).
4. To plant an area of 10,555 sqm of vacant spaces and convert it into pocket parks (Ref 3).
5. To construct green parking with 2975 trees to be planted in car parks (Ref 3).
6. To install green facades in a vertical area of 1100 sqm (Ref 3).
7. To install green rooftops on an area of 3750 sqm (Ref 3).
8. To green four waterways (14 km in total) and 32 streets and road corridors (42 km in total) (Ref 3).
9. To green 17,220 sqm of the Penang River (Ref 3).
10. To build 1,880 m2 of swales (Ref 3)
10. To develop 12,080 sqm of upstream retention areas (Ref 3).
11. To develop 2545 sqm of infiltration wells at downstream areas (Ref 3).
12. To benefit 343,739 beneficiaries (32479 direct and 311,257 indirect) of which the elderly population of 21% (41,000) is located in a flood-prone area (Ref 3).
13. To strengthen social resilience by targeting 10,000 secondary school students (by creating game and technology-based learning), as well as 16,000 women and girls (through the diverse engagement of different topics from extreme heat to urban agriculture) (Ref 3)
14. To create a knowledge transfer platform that will help the monitoring of the flood impacts and temperatures reduction, among others (Ref 3)
Monitoring indicators defined
1. Number of trees planted
2. Number of people benefiting from the intervention
3. Degrees reduced in the urban atmosphere temperature
4. Number of training sessions implemented in the urban agriculture programme
5. Size of the area available as pocket parks, green facades, rooftops, swales, wells
2. Types of climate-resilient tree species planted (based on Atlas of Climate Resilient Trees (ACResT)), part of the knowledge platform (Ref 2, 3)
2. Number of people benefiting from the intervention
3. Degrees reduced in the urban atmosphere temperature
4. Number of training sessions implemented in the urban agriculture programme
5. Size of the area available as pocket parks, green facades, rooftops, swales, wells
2. Types of climate-resilient tree species planted (based on Atlas of Climate Resilient Trees (ACResT)), part of the knowledge platform (Ref 2, 3)
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Climate change adaptation: What were the goals of the NBS?
Climate change adaptation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Climate change mitigation: What were the goals of the NBS?
Climate change mitigation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Implementation activities
The planning stage of the project started in 2019 in partnership with UN-Habitat, Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA), Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang (MBPP), Jabatan Pengairan Dan Saliran (JPS), and Think City (a consultancy and project delivery partner). During the development of the programme, a multipronged community and stakeholder consultation methodology was undertaken that included a series of one-on-one meetings, two workshops, six focus group discussions (FGD) and a survey. The FGDs were held in communities vulnerable to climate change impacts, a) UNESCO World Heritage Site (vulnerable to floods, heat stress and extreme weather events), b) Sungai Pinang community (the most flood-prone area of the city), c) Air Itam (low-income communities). The workshops were attended by 77 local people, the focus groups by 53 and the survey were answered by 324 people. An additional workshop on climate adaptation was held by the Penang State Government in November 2019 as part of its Penang 2030 initiative and was attended by 35 participants from multiple organisations. It was also mentioned that remote sensing will be involved with scenario and impact modelling (to be developed by the National Hydrological Institute Malaysia (NAHRIM) and local university Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) experts will also assist in developing the detailed plans (Ref 1, 2, 3). In 2022 an opening session for the whole project was organized with the participation of the stakeholders. The session contributed to the issuing of an inception report that discusses plans pertaining to the greening stages of the intervention. Discussions revolved around deciding what types of trees, resistant to climate change, should be introduced, how they can be monitored, and what can be measured to prove their benefits (Ref 6). It is expected that the project will plant around 31,000 trees. (Ref 4)
Type of NBS project
3. NBS domains, ES and scale
4. Governance and financing
5. Innovation
Type of innovation
Please specify technological innovation
The programme will pioneer the use of NBS solutions in Malaysia. It is designed to be demonstrative / proof of concept with a strong knowledge codification component so that it can be scaled in Malaysia and elsewhere in the region. (Ref 3)
Novelty level of the innovation
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
There is no indication that nature based solutions have previoulsy been implemented in Malaysia under the form they took in the current project.
Replicability/Transferability
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
The programme will pioneer the use of NBS solutions in Malaysia. It is designed to be demonstrative / proof of concept with a strong knowledge codification component so that it can be scaled in Malaysia and elsewhere in the region. (Ref 3)
