Rising temperatures are becoming more common across Southeast Asia, and Malaysia is experiencing the effects firsthand. Heatwaves are increasing in both frequency and intensity. What was once considered seasonal heat is now persisting longer and becoming more extreme.

As Malaysia’s climate grows hotter, the nation finds itself grappling with one of the most ignored yet severe threats of the 21st century: extreme heat. Once considered a discomfort, heat has emerged as a compound risk, exacerbating health issues, testing infrastructure and exposing deep gaps in preparedness at the community, city, state and national levels.

According to UNICEF, Malaysia now experiences an average of eight heatwaves a year, each lasting about five days, compared to just two a year, each lasting up to four days in the 1960s. In dense urban areas such as Kuala Lumpur and Melaka, heat is further intensified by the urban heat island effect, with humidity pushing temperatures even higher.

Hidden Dangers of Extreme Heat

Heat has often been overlooked because, unlike floods or storms, its effects are less visible. Extreme heat, however, is one of the deadliest climate risks. Urban settings are more at risk, as buildings, roads, and limited vegetation retain and amplify heat.

Malaysia’s heat index frequently enters danger zones during the hotter months of April and May. The index measures the combination of temperature and humidity. A combination of high humidity and high temperatures reduces the body’s ability to cool itself, increasing the risk of heat exhaustion, heatstroke and cardiovascular strain.

Our bodies cool down mainly through sweating. When sweat evaporates from the skin, it releases heat, allowing the body to cool down. But when humidity is high, the air is already full of water, so sweat evaporates less efficiently.

Extreme heat impacts are not felt equally. Children, older adults, outdoor workers, and those with pre-existing health conditions face higher risks. Construction workers, street vendors, and delivery drivers, who form a vital part of Malaysia’s urban economy, are particularly affected.

Heat also disrupts daily life. In April 2023, some public schools in Malaysia closed during a level 2 heatwave to protect students from heat-related illnesses. Beyond acute heatwaves, prolonged heat stress is a daily challenge in places like Malaysia, where high temperature and humidity persist year-round.

In communities already experiencing social vulnerabilities, extreme heat further limits outdoor activity, weakening social cohesion. Reduced worker productivity, higher cooling costs, and added pressure on energy and water systems all have long-term consequences.

Closing the Heat Data Gap

To manage extreme heat effectively, we must first understand it. Unlike sudden disasters such as floods or landslides, heat builds gradually and varies block by block. This makes it both harder to detect and easier to underestimate. National or regional forecasts often fail to reflect the lived experience of heat at the household or neighborhood level.

A recent Climate Resilience Survey by Zurich Malaysia highlights a growing sense of concern among Malaysians. The survey found that 86% of respondents are worried about the impacts of climate change. Heatwaves (74%) ranked among their top three concerns, behind floods (75%) and ahead of landslides (70%). While public awareness is high, the means to act remain uneven. More than half (54%) say they feel unprepared to handle these events. Importantly, many perceived climate impacts as a communal issue rather than an individual one.

In this context, community-level data becomes essential. Mapping exercises, such as heat vulnerability assessments and thermal imaging, can help identify local hotspots, infrastructure weaknesses and population groups at higher risk. This evidence is critical to targeting interventions where they are most needed.

But data alone is not enough. It must be paired with an understanding of how people perceive and respond to these situations. Behavioral, financial and cultural dimensions are just as important as measuring temperature.

Approaches that combine data with dialogue are already showing positive effects, reinforcing the importance of placing human experience at the center of climate adaptation. One example is the Urban Climate Resilience Program (UCRP), initiated by the Z Zurich Foundation and implemented in Malaysia by Resilient Cities Network, C40 Cities, and Zurich Malaysia. UCRP began in late 2023 in Melaka’s Kampung Morten and Pantai Peringgit, and in 2024 in Kuala Lumpur’s People’s Housing Project (PPR) Beringin and Kampung Pasir Baru. By bringing together public, private, and community actors, the program co-creates practical and locally relevant solutions that directly address the everyday realities faced by the residents. Among the collaborators, Zurich Malaysia contributes expertise and resources to help strengthen the capacity of local communities to adapt to climate risks, reflecting a shared commitment to sustainability and resilience in the face of a changing climate.

Validating Lived Experiences with Science

For the program in Melaka, the first step was listening. During community engagement sessions, residents described the daily impact of heat in vivid detail. In Kampung Morten, where many homes lack ceilings, families described how they endure direct heat throughout the day. In Rumah Pangsa Pantai Peringgit, one resident shared how his or her parent, over 65, struggled to sleep because indoor temperatures remain high well into the night. While air conditioning is an option, the cost of electricity poses a burden for families already under financial pressure. Increased use also adds to carbon emissions, making it a less sustainable long-term solution.

To better understand these lived experiences, the UCRP collaborated with Nanyang Technological University to monitor local microclimates using low-cost sensors. Early findings confirmed what community members had been reporting: they experience significantly warmer temperatures than official reports from the nearest Melaka meteorological station at the airport. For instance, at 2 am, indoor temperatures were on average 3.7 °C warmer, and outdoor readings were 0.8 °C higher than those reported officially. During peak daytime hours, the sensors recorded temperatures exceeding 35 °C in 87 days — none of which were captured by the meteorological station.

This detailed, neighborhood-level climate data remains rare in Malaysia. By combining community dialogue with detailed local data, the program ensures that interventions are rooted in both real conditions and real experiences — thereby revealing why macro-level data alone falls short for effective heat resilience.

Community-Focused Solutions

With community insights backed by data, the program can now design interventions that are technically sound and rooted in lived experience.

In Melaka, this approach is being formalized with the launch of the Community Action Plan (CAP), a locally driven roadmap that sets out community-supported solutions to address climate risk. The CAP serves as a catalog of community resilience solutions. One key initiative is the use of heat-reflective paint on residential buildings in Rumah Pangsa Pantai Peringgit, a low-cost way to reduce indoor temperatures. To build awareness and community pride, the city could pair this with climate-themed murals, turning adaptation into a shared visual story shaped by the community.

Such interventions are more likely to succeed when they are supported by local government. Municipal authorities play a key role in providing technical guidance, funding, and long-term maintenance. In Kampung Morten and Rumah Pangsa Pantai Peringgit, collaboration between residents and the Historic City Council of Melaka (MBMB) has been essential and will ensure that heat resilience efforts align with local planning priorities.

This place-based approach is also shaping efforts in Kuala Lumpur. There, the Program is being implemented through the leadership of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and C40 Cities. The “Dingin in Beringin” campaign, loosely translating to “Cool in the Banyan,” is the city’s first dedicated community-level heat action initiative. Based at PPR Beringin, one of Kuala Lumpur’s most heat-vulnerable social housing sites, the campaign will include heat mapping, a visual arts program to raise risk awareness and physical improvements like cooling appliances, greenery and shade structures. A community cooling center will also be piloted as part of the six-month effort. Together, these initiatives show how community-focused solutions can feed into broader urban strategies. They are helping to shape Kuala Lumpur’s first Heat Action Plan while advancing Malaysia’s climate resilience goals across scales.

Elevating the Heat Agenda

The community-focused approaches in Melaka and Kuala Lumpur demonstrate what’s possible when heat resilience is taken seriously. However, these initiatives remain exceptions rather than the norm. At the national level, heat is still under-prioritized in Malaysia’s climate planning. The City Climate Action Plan 2025, published by Urbanice Malaysia, addresses urban shocks such as flooding and landslides, but makes little mention of heat as a standalone risk. This is a missed opportunity, especially given the country’s aging population, which is particularly vulnerable to high temperatures.

Building on insights from the UCRP in Melaka with MBMB and Resilient Cities Network as well as in Kuala Lumpur with DBKL and C40 Cities, the following recommendations outline key steps for Malaysia to strengthen its national response to extreme heat:

1. Recognize heat as a development priority: Position extreme heat not only as a public health issue but also as a long-term development concern that affects productivity, livability and social equity, requiring responses that center community experiences.

2. Support community-led monitoring and solutions: Provide funding and technical assistance for local heat monitoring networks and community-identified interventions, building on successful models like the microclimate sensing in Melaka.

3. Scale proven community interventions: Create national programs to support locally tested solutions such as heat-reflective paint applications, community cooling centers and neighborhood greening initiatives, alongside nature-based solutions like urban tree planting and green corridors, with communities leading implementation.

4. Build institutional capacity to support community action: Establish dedicated teams within relevant agencies to facilitate community heat resilience projects, providing technical guidance and sustained funding rather than top-down mandates.

5. Embed heat considerations in planning frameworks: Mandate the inclusion of heat risk assessments and adaptation measures in local climate action plans, urban development guidelines and disaster management protocols, addressing the current gap where heat remains largely absent from Malaysia’s climate planning documents.