584
S. Y. Teh and H. L. Koh
drought years. This uncertainty in water availability forces farmers to reduce irrigated area, forgo potential production, reduce profits and take on increased risks.
Assessing the potential benefits of policy changes is essential in optimizing reductions in groundwater pumping rates and in minimizing imbalance in irrigated water
supply and demand due to future fluctuations. Achieving the aspirations of SDG 6:
clean water and sanitation cannot be taken for granted. This 4th World Symposium
on Sustainable Development for Universities serves as a good platform to discuss,
formulate and implement SDGs activities within campuses that could be scaled up
to higher dimensions.
6 Conclusion
This paper serves as a demonstration of how modelling and simulation analysis can
help address in-campus air and water environmental issues and how these STEM
tools can be adapted to support implementation of SDGs within and beyond university. A potential air quality issue in USM was addressed via modelling analysis that
had prevented the transfer of an air pollution problem to a water pollution and water
consumption problem. A hydrological model was used to evaluate the effectiveness
of the in-campus lake Tasik Harapan to serve as a flood retention pond. A hydraulic
model was used to evaluate how flood retention ponds can reduce flooding in the Sg
Pinang in Penang, subject to CC. These modelling tools provide invaluable insights
and potential solutions to decision makers to sustainably conserve and manage the air
and water environments within campus and beyond. Groundwater plays an important
role in complementing the future sustainability of freshwater supply. But the availability of groundwater for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes is threatened
by the salinity intrusion induced by SLR. Therefore, the research initiatives in SMS
involving surface waters have been expanded to sub-surface waters to address the
consequences of global climate change on coastal water resources and vegetation. It
is hoped that the research and outreach experiences presented in this paper can be
adapted elsewhere as a model to be adopted to advocate and implement SDGs and
sustainable development in teaching and research activities within universities and
beyond.
Acknowledgements Financial support provided by Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (KPM)
FRGS grant FRGS/1/2016/STG06/USM/02/1 (203/PMATHS/6711569) and the L’Oreal-UNESCO
Women in Science Fellowship 2017 is gratefully acknowledged. TSY acknowledges the support
provided by USM’s School of Mathematical Sciences to present this paper at WSSD-U-2018.
S. Y. Teh and H. L. Koh
drought years. This uncertainty in water availability forces farmers to reduce irrigated area, forgo potential production, reduce profits and take on increased risks.
Assessing the potential benefits of policy changes is essential in optimizing reductions in groundwater pumping rates and in minimizing imbalance in irrigated water
supply and demand due to future fluctuations. Achieving the aspirations of SDG 6:
clean water and sanitation cannot be taken for granted. This 4th World Symposium
on Sustainable Development for Universities serves as a good platform to discuss,
formulate and implement SDGs activities within campuses that could be scaled up
to higher dimensions.
6 Conclusion
This paper serves as a demonstration of how modelling and simulation analysis can
help address in-campus air and water environmental issues and how these STEM
tools can be adapted to support implementation of SDGs within and beyond university. A potential air quality issue in USM was addressed via modelling analysis that
had prevented the transfer of an air pollution problem to a water pollution and water
consumption problem. A hydrological model was used to evaluate the effectiveness
of the in-campus lake Tasik Harapan to serve as a flood retention pond. A hydraulic
model was used to evaluate how flood retention ponds can reduce flooding in the Sg
Pinang in Penang, subject to CC. These modelling tools provide invaluable insights
and potential solutions to decision makers to sustainably conserve and manage the air
and water environments within campus and beyond. Groundwater plays an important
role in complementing the future sustainability of freshwater supply. But the availability of groundwater for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes is threatened
by the salinity intrusion induced by SLR. Therefore, the research initiatives in SMS
involving surface waters have been expanded to sub-surface waters to address the
consequences of global climate change on coastal water resources and vegetation. It
is hoped that the research and outreach experiences presented in this paper can be
adapted elsewhere as a model to be adopted to advocate and implement SDGs and
sustainable development in teaching and research activities within universities and
beyond.
Acknowledgements Financial support provided by Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (KPM)
FRGS grant FRGS/1/2016/STG06/USM/02/1 (203/PMATHS/6711569) and the L’Oreal-UNESCO
Women in Science Fellowship 2017 is gratefully acknowledged. TSY acknowledges the support
provided by USM’s School of Mathematical Sciences to present this paper at WSSD-U-2018.