KUALA LUMPUR: With the city enveloped in a cloak of haze, the urgency of tackling the climate crisis could hardly have been clearer as the four-day Global Tipping Points Conference 2026 drew to a close at Malaysia`s Sunway University on Thursday.

At the conference, speakers stressed the need for humanity to remain within planetary boundaries, or the `safe operating space`.

Crossing these boundaries could have catastrophic consequences, warned Professor Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.Some of the bulwarks have already been breached, manifesting themselves in theform of collapsed ice sheets, bleached corals, shrinking wildlife habitats and the slow death ofrainforests.

All of this threatens food security, causes displacement, and damages human health; but there is another side to the tipping-point story.

Professor Timothy Lenton, chair for Climate Change and Earth System Science at the University of Exeter, spoke about `positive tipping points`, arguing these could help societies move towards more sustainable futures. Citing Pakistan`s solar boom, he pointed to transformative shifts that can happen within a relatively short period.

But protecting ecosystems is as important as technologies, said Acehnese forest conservator Farwiza Farhan, while making a compelling case for the protection of the Leuser Ecosystem a tropical rainforest reserve in Sumatra and one of the last places on Earth where tigers, elephants, rhinos and orangutans coexist in the wild.

`But where`s the money?` many asked, urging encouragement for supportive policies and `bankable projects` that protectnature. One such approach came fromDr Ralph Chami, founder of Blue Green Future, who outlined his concept of `regenerative GDP`, i.e. recognising the value of `living nature` and accounting for it on the balance sheet.

`Why kill the goose that lays the [golden] egg?` he asked, contrasting a living coral reef in the Maldives which provides a habitat for fish and plays a role in the marine carbon cycle with a bleached one that can threaten both tourism and fisheries.

But money and markets are only part of the equation. Dr Jemilah Mahmood, executive director of the Centre for Planetary Health at Sunway University, insisted on channeling youth energy. `Give them space at policy [discussions], send them to COPs not as tokenism, but let them negotiate. It`s their future,` she said.

The highlight of the conference was definitely the success stories from around the world that offered the most tangible hope.

For example, Chinese urban planner Dong Wang, who specialises in sponge cities, shared a low-cost, replicable project in the heart of Bangkok the 102-acreBenjakitti Forest Park.

Eva Gladek of Metabolic showed how 17 old houseboats in Amsterdam were transformed into energy-efficient offices and workspaces.

Mumbai-based Sheela Patel, director of the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centres, highlighted another kind of urban resilience. Through the `Roof Over Our Heads` campaign, women supported by young professionals are helping make homes more resilient to rain, strong winds and extreme heat.

And these efforts are not simply one-off experiments. Patel said the work has been documented and shared, with more than 100 labs established across 20 countries to help communities test and replicate solutions.

The thought-provoking conference ended on aratherphilosophicaland spiritualnote, with British singer-songwriter Yusuf `Cat Stevens` Islam urging people to become the change rather than expecting the world to change.

A detailed version of this article can be accessed on Dawn.com