Practical Contribution 18

As for practical contribution of the study, the climate change adaptation strategy will significantly benefit several parties such as the policy makers and tourism planners and the communities. For the policy makers and tourism planners, the adaptation strategy will assist in managing sustainable tourism development. Having an adaptation strategy for climate change significantly fulfil the social innovation objective highlighted by Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC), particularly towards sustainable communities.

MESTECC further emphasizes the practice of social creativity by creating and

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applying innovative solutions to address social needs and establishing a social partnership to increase human well-being. Additionally, the environment and climate change are one of the areas documented by MESTECC in the National Priority Areas of policy foundations, hence the adaptation strategies will incorporate environment considerations in tourism regulations, development and management plans to sustain the tourism development in Malaysia. Further, the developed adaptation strategy will contribute to the Malaysia’s National Policy on Climate Change (NPCC) in terms of setting up long-term policy for tourism in Malaysia. It will assist policymakers by creating guidelines of measurement and knowledge on climate change impacts of the adaptive measures.

Further, the development of climate change adaptation strategy in Malaysia will also provide impact on the tourism communities sustainability including the regional tourism drivers namely destination attractiveness, product content, business revenue, infrastructure preparation and investment. The strategy gives an effect on the tourism communities such as the local, the individual tourist destinations and businesses to plan for better travel pattern in the future by taking into account the unpredictable changes in the climate, such as rising temperature and erratic rainfall. The communities will be able to curb overcoming issues on climate change, have a better understanding on the matter and may take necessary measure as to retain the tourism industry.

20 1.7.2 Academic Contribution

As for the academic contribution, the climate change adaptation strategy will provide the academician better comprehend regarding the issues on climate change in the tourism industry. It will become a standard framework for the academician to refer for future studies and contribute for new knowledge within the context of tourism industry in Malaysia. Moreover, this will also act as an addition to the current education system in Malaysia specifically on environmental education for tourism operators, community and public. The environmental education is vital because it will produce environment activist, promoting sustainability, adapting new technology in order to overcome the climate change, encourage the involvement of more institutions as to spread the awareness and lastly, future proof planning. This will lead to obtain a new perspective on problem-solving approaches when ones work on real-world issues in this subject of study. They will also look into the future and take preventative actions to protect the environment in the present, so they can be future-proof.

Students and educators alike should be aware of NEPA as a source of inspiration from around the globe. Some of the most important methods made to improve environmental education will be explained here. In 1970, the United States established the National Environment Policy Act (NEPA), a statute that promotes environmental protection and was signed into law on January 1, 1970. It has since grown to include more than 100 countries, all of which have adopted environmental laws similar to those established by the United Nations (NEPA). As a result of these initiatives, federal agencies are now leading the way in creating national highway routes that are as short

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as possible. When all executive federal agencies were asked to prepare environmental assessments and environmental impact statements reports, NEPA produced the most useful environmental results. As a result of their efforts, several federal agencies were able to demonstrate the full impact of their activities. People like Marjory Stoneman Douglas (a journalist and environmental activist) and Leonardo DiCaprio (an actor and environmental activist) and Thom Yorke (a musician and environmental activist) have all made significant contributions to raising awareness about the importance of environmental education around the globe (Fahad, 2020).

One of the initiatives made by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), they delegated the tasks to Parties on climate change education and public awareness campaigns, as well as ensuring public participation in programmes and easy access to information. By drawing on children's thoughts and imaginations worldwide, UNICEF has captured a snapshot of what it's like for young people today as climate change continues to accelerate. UNESCO's Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development programme aims to "assist people comprehend the impact of global warming today and enhance climate literacy among young people." It was presented and discussed at 22^nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) alongside other cutting-edge educational projects including as the Global Action Program (GAP), Action for Climate Empowerment, and the ZOOM campaign. World Metrological Organization (WMO) works closely with weathercasters who are committed to climate change education and outreach through the Climate without Borders network, which has a daily reach of approximately 375,000,000 people, and aims to "educate, motivate and

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activate" weathercasters to reach out to their audiences with useful information. For its part, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) collaborated with Climate Central to produce an educational video series, Summer In The Cities, to show how climate change will affect the weather in cities all across the globe this coming summer. Following the "Weather in 2050" video series, in which TV weather presenters provided a typical 2050 weather forecast based on scientific possibilities, this follows (IISD’s SDG Knowledge Hub, 2016).

1.8 Operationalization of Terms

There are few major terms in the study which needs further explanation regarding the definitions and concept for instance climate change, impacts of climate change, adaptation strategy, tourism, extreme weather events and perspectives of community.

Table 1.2 depicts the operationalized of the terms used for the study.

Table 1.2

Operationalization of terms used for the study

TERMS OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

Climate change A global climate system that includes the hydrosphere (the liquid water contained on and under the Earth's surface), the lithosphere (soil and sediment on the surface), and the biosphere (plant and animal life on and human), are all altered by the amount of solar radiation the Earth receives (World Meteorological Organization,

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2021). For this study, climate change will be investigated extreme weather events that affected nature-based tourism in Malaysia.

Impacts of climate change

There are impacts from climate change on all facets of the physical world, from ecosystems to our economies, and humans. The issue also involves the various economic and social developments that occur as a result of the rise in the global temperature. Climate change imposed by mankind is one of the perils facing sustainability (IPCC, 2007). This research would also discuss the direct impacts of climate change that specifically involve impacts of extreme weather conditions on the implementation of tourism activities. This type of impacts commonly has implications on the profitability of tourism enterprises which requires emergency preparedness and higher operating expenses. Further, this study will also investigate the indirect impacts which refer to the effect on the attractiveness of the landscape and the environments where tourist activities take place particularly at the local and regional destination level.

Adaptation strategy The IPCC (2001) describes adaptation as the process by which natural or human processes respond to real or anticipated climatic stimuli or their consequences in order to mitigate damage or capitalise on beneficial opportunities. This study will investigate the climate change adaptation strategy as to overcome the impacts

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of extreme weather events to the nature-based tourism in Malaysia.

Tourism A tourist travels for less than one year to a principal destination other than the employees of a resident body in a country or a visited location outside its normal setting (Christopher &

Humphreys, 2020). For this study, tourism in Malaysia will focus on the nature-based development and products which includes ecotourism, adventure tourism, wildlife and natural park and cultural heritage tourism.

Extreme weather events

A severe weather situation is a condition of the weather that deviates from typical weather conditions which impact people and the atmosphere in a variety of ways based on sensitivity to extreme conditions and their resilience to stress recovery. (Radovic &

Iglesias, 2018). This study will focus on significant extreme weather events in Malaysia such as high temperature, SLR, flood, drought, wildfire and infectious disease.

Perspectives of community

Communities that are geographically close and have similar demographic, economic, and social characteristics can frequently have vastly different physical and socioeconomic characteristics.

In order to comprehend adaptation, public need to understand social and economic vulnerability in certain socio-geographical situations. A deeper understanding of particular communities'

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adaptation requirements and responses is required (Scott, Gossling

& Hall, 2012).

1.9 Structure of Thesis

The proposal includes three primary chapters. A general background on the study's view of climate change and its impact on tourism is presented in the first chapter. It summarises the study's overall research questions and objectives. The operationalization of terms used in the study are described in depth to further understanding regarding the topic of the study. Chapter two of the proposal reviews the literature involved in the study. It focuses on two aspects related to the study, firstly is on the climate change and tourism, and secondly, it presents tourism in Malaysia and also the roles of MESTECC in relation to climate change. Finally, chapter three discusses the methodology of the study including the research design, data collection, the interview process and participants, and also the data analysis.