KUALA LUMPUR (April 28): The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) invites youths to join its River Flooding Adaptation & Resilience (RIFAR) Challenge, which was launched on Tuesday.

The RIFAR Challenge empowers youths to generate solutions that can address the escalating threat of river flooding in Malaysia through two categories: the sprint and the marathon.

The sprint is an awareness track focused on creative communication to drive public awareness and community action about Malaysia’s river health. The marathon, meanwhile, is an interdisciplinary innovation track where teams develop a flood mitigation intervention for Taman Sri Muda. The solutions combine engineering concepts with capital market financing plans and measurable climate co-benefits, such as renewable energy.

“Rivers are the circulatory system of this nation, supplying 80% of the country’s raw water supply and [running] through our most economically vital corridors,” said SC chairman Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi at the RIFAR Challenge Launch webinar.

“The capital market values ideas that are both technically sound and financially viable. Following the success of the Coastal Flooding Adaptation & Resilience (COFAR) Challenge, we are confident that Malaysia's university students can contribute to the integrated solutions needed for our river basins.”

RIFAR is part of the SC’s Transition, Resilience & Adaptation in Capital Markets initiative and is in line with the regulator’s broader objectives to strengthen the role of capital markets in mobilising finance for climate transition, adaptation and resilience. 

It is also the SC’s second climate adaptation and resilience challenge, the first being the COFAR Challenge held in 2025 that involved 220 students from 29 universities, who developed adaptation solutions for Carey Island, Selangor.

The RIFAR Challenge is done in collaboration with partners such as ICAEW Malaysia, Lembaga Urus Air Selangor, Landasan Lumayan Sdn Bhd, which is the master developer of the Selangor Maritime Gateway project, and the Jeffrey Sachs Centre on Sustainable Development.

Winners of the marathon category stand to win a cash prize of RM50,000, while winners of the sprint category can win RM7,000. The challenge is open to students from all public and private universities in Malaysia and Malaysians studying at universities abroad. Registrations can be done on the SC’s website and will close on May 12, 2026.