The world now has a unique opportunity – an opportunity to galvanise a deeper appreciation and understanding of the issues that affect us all – globally and simultaneously. Policymakers tackling the health crisis have been encouraged to pursue policies that can alleviate the economic shocks caused by the pandemic and in the same instant help address climate issues and challenges. We can leverage the opportunity presented by the current crisis to put the world on a new trajectory with a lower risk of future climate calamities. 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  Collective responsibility This brings me to my second C that is “collective responsibility”. The former Managing Director of IMF, Madam Lagarde once remarked that “Tackling climate change is a collective endeavour, it means collective accountability and it’s not too late”. Malaysia, together with its ASEAN counterparts, has been responding to climate change by developing national sustainable roadmaps, principles and guidelines. Such actions are even more relevant now. Despite a more pressing public health crisis at the moment, the World Health Organization has warned that “climate change is a gradually increasing stress that may be the defining public health threat of the 21st century”. Now why is this? That’s because temperature and weather extremes, floods, and pollutants can impact human health, directly and indirectly. The pandemic thus stresses the need to progressively continue collective global climate change actions to reduce risk of future epidemics. Commitment This brings me to my third C, which is “commitment”.
Fraziali Ismail: COVID-19 and climate responsibility, commitment, and collaboration  change,  collective  Closing remarks by Mr Fraziali Ismail, Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at Malaysia Showcase during Climate Week NYC 2020, New York City, 17 September 2020. * * * From time to time, we chance upon heart-warming stories of how seemingly small and random acts of kindness, result in something miraculous. I am talking about stories like Jadav Payeng, an environmental activist and forest worker from India, who planted a tree almost every single day for 40 years. Jadav was only 16 when he started working with the district’s social forestry division in a tree plantation drive. Upon completion of the 5-year project, Jadav chose to stay and continued on his quest to save his island. This led him to single-handedly create a real man-made forest, the Molai Forest, which houses several species of animals and thousands of trees that is now almost as big as New York’s Central Park. We also marvel at Afroz Shaz, who began picking up trash on Versova Beach in Mumbai, and inspired thousands of volunteers to join the cause. Versova’s dramatic transformation from filthy to fabulous went viral in India, with praises to Afroz and the volunteers for helping to restore the beach that was previously polluted by 15 years of piled up rubbish.