EU and ASEAN: Advancing partnership for sustainability

February 16, 2016

By Francisco Fontan

https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50578204/eu-and-asean-advancing-partnership-for-sustainability/

 

The EU–ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Brussels on 21 January. Cooperation, solidarity and prosperity have long been the hallmark of the EU–ASEAN relationship.

As global stakeholders, the EU and ASEAN have the responsibility to advance the international rules-based order and preserve their ‘global commons’, writes Francisco Fontan.

In January I joined Federica Mogherini ( pic above), the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in Brussels as she co-chaired the 22nd EU-ASEAN Ministerial Meeting. It was an impressive occasion, and the best attended such gathering anyone could remember, with almost all the ten ASEANan and twenty-eight EU member states represented by their Foreign Ministers. Brussels was preparing for its first big snowfall of the winter, but the reception we gave our ASEAN partners was a truly warm one.

The debate inside the room reflected the depth and breadth of our relations, from conflict in the Middle East, to the importance of the South China Sea and the Rohingya crisis, to promoting trade, investment, or higher education. Much was said but there was also a unity of purpose – a common desire to strengthen EU–ASEAN cooperation including in new areas such as combating unregulated fishing, or launching a new high level dialogue on environment and climate change, and an agreement in principle to upgrade our relations to a strategic partnership.

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As Ms Mogherini said after the meeting, this was “a recognition of the strategic nature of the partnership we already have in many fields. It was an important signal showing that the two most advanced and most successful integration processes in the world stand firmly behind multilateralism and a rules-based global order.”

Or as her fellow co-chair Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore and ASEAN coordinator for EU relations put it “we take our partnership to a greater height, we will continue to explore new areas in which we can cooperate and learn from each other, such as cybersecurity, maritime security, connectivity and climate change.” A close and deep partnership between the EU and ASEAN is thus of strategic importance for both regional blocs.

We are certainly pivotal economic partners already. Our private sector is, by far, the first investor in ASEAN, holding a quarter of total stock in the region, and we are ASEAN’s second largest trading partner. The EU has concluded or is negotiating free trade and investment agreements with a number of Asean members, building blocks for an ambitious region-to-region trade and investment framework.

We are working hard to increase transport links and our overall connectivity. If – as I hope – we soon agree the first ever region-to-region Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement, millions of our citizens will benefit and the travel and tourism industry in particular stands to make great gains. We can build on this and establish a comprehensive EU–Asean Connectivity Partnership. While some question globalisation and are retreating into economic nationalism, it is important that ASEAN and the EU together seek to bolster global links, make them work for all and show their true value to our shared prosperity.

And as ASEAN says, we can leave no one behind.

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The EU remains the largest donor to ASEAN, helping the organisation and your governments to reduce poverty and spread opportunity, with over 200 million euros ($225 million) in support of ASEAN regional integration and connectivity, on top of over 2 billion euros of bilateral assistance to ASEAN member states, and the direct efforts of our 28 EU member states. We will also continue to stand by you after each major natural disaster, from tsunamis to cyclones, putting victims’ needs above any other consideration.

Cooperation, solidarity and prosperity have long been the hallmarks of our relations. And while they remain so, the rapidly evolving international scene is leading us to focus more on key strategic issues. Our shared ambitions can only realise their full potential in a rules-based, peaceful and stable environment. This is what makes ASEAN so important for the EU in Asia – not just as a community of ten, but being also the core of the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum, or the ADMM+ process. And this is where ASEAN and the EU are already rightly expanding their security cooperation – from trafficking in persons to cyber-crime, from maritime security to transnational crime and counter-terrorism.

No one can achieve these goals alone. And thankfully that is something else we agree on – the Foreign Ministers spent more time talking about the environment, climate change and sustainable development than anything else. We agreed to deliver together on our United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including on the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

As global stakeholders, the EU and ASEAN have the responsibility to advance the international rules-based order and preserve our “global commons.” I have been immensely privileged, as the EU’s First Ambassador to ASEAN, to have seen our strategic relationship go from strength to strength. I am confident that it has even further to run and that, together, we will play a leading role in developing the global responses needed for the challenges of tomorrow.

Francisco Fontan is European Union Ambassador to ASEAN.

Could a Green New Deal help Malaysia invest in clean energy?–Getting our Priorities Right.

January 20, 2019

Opinion  |  Kenneth Cheng, Penang Institute

http://www.malaysiakini.com

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres, did not mince words when he proclaimed in March last year that climate change is “the most systemic threat to humankind”.

  

United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres

COMMENT | The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, António Guterres, did not mince words when he proclaimed in March last year that climate change is “the most systemic threat to humankind”.

The report subsequently issued in October 2018 by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was equally damning when it stated that the Earth is projected to reach a 1.5 degree Celsius increase in average global surface temperatures compared to pre-industrial levels between 2030 and 2052.

Once that happens, sea levels will rise and this translates to increasing instances of floods and heatwaves. Some parts of the world would experience either intense droughts or rainfall.Malaysia will not be absolved of the sobering reality the world is currently grappling with. It is saddening that the devastating impact wrought upon Malaysia through floods, droughts and extreme wildfires are becoming an accepted truth to most Malaysians. According to the findings of the International Disaster Database, major floods are the most frequent natural disaster in Malaysia, while their impacts are also getting more severe. Floods, especially in the east coast region, in 2014 and 2017 were arguably the worst climate disasters in Malaysian history.

Ironically, the attitude of Malaysians towards our planet’s greatest threat remains lukewarm at best.

Pertinent environmental issues are not usually on the minds of most Malaysians.

The survey by Merdeka Centre in December 2016 found that under a third of Malaysians showed great concern about climate change.

However, 42.5 percent of Malaysians do concede that they have been not contributing enough in terms of protecting the environment, and more than half of Malaysians, in the same survey, also admitted the average temperature has been higher in the last three years.

Malaysians are generally perceived to be indifferent to the environmental challenges the world is facing now, but at the same time, they do acknowledge that the responsibility of protecting the environment lies with each individual and that the climate is indeed changing abruptly.

Existing measures

Thus, the onus remains on the government to take an active role in educating the public about the importance of preserving the environment.

Initiatives such as introducing environmental subjects, as was mooted by the previous government, should be debated once again within the cabinet. Early exposure to various environmental issues during adolescence would inculcate within young Malaysians the sense of civic responsibility that is much needed in preserving the environment.The government – having rightly recognised the threats posed by climate change – has tried to focus on ensuring continued economic growth through environmental sustainability, while building Malaysia’s resilience against natural disasters.

For example, the government has a Government Green Procurement (GGP) policy, whereby the procurement of products or services by any ministry or government agency is required to meet strict environmental criteria and standards set by the government.

According to the government, the implementation of GGP resulted in a reduction of 100.431 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2016 alone. The government also believes that the implementation of GGP would encourage the growth of a more environmental-friendly market.

Malaysia should also be applauded for introducing alternative green financing schemes such as green sukuk (bonds) and the Green Technology Financing Scheme (GTFS), to finance and stimulate sustainable projects. Both of these schemes are touted to be instrumental in growing Malaysia’s clean technology industry.

Green technology is loosely defined as technological processes which would keep environmental damage to the minimum.

Green sukuk is hailed as an innovative manner through which to raise funds to support environmentally sustainable infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, the GTFS was introduced with the aim of inducing the private sector into supporting the development of the green technology industry.

Areas for improvement

While the government’s numerous policies to combat climate change are commendable, they do not go far enough in terms of climate change mitigation.

Firstly, Malaysia’s research and development (R&D) in the fields of the environment and climate change is still lacking.

While the aforementioned financing schemes may bring inventive new technologies to the mainstream, its effects are limited as long as Malaysia’s green technology industry is stagnated as a whole.

This would further disincentivise the private sector from dipping their hands into the green economy, since the availability of green technology in Malaysia is limited and would result in a high capital cost should the private sector utilise such technology.

Moreover, government-backed financing schemes are limited in terms of being able to provide fundamental R&D for green technology. For instance, R&D projects are not included in GTFS, as it can only finance projects which are ready for commercialisation.Arguably, the biggest barrier towards successfully tackling climate change in Malaysia, and changing the preconception of climate change in Malaysia, is the dichotomy between economic development and environmental protection.

As a nascent developing nation, Malaysia – perhaps being desperate to rise through the economic ranks internationally – is more likely to forego environmental sustainability in pursuit of present-day development.

Malaysia’s climate change dilemma is also exacerbated by how its economy is predicated upon coal, natural gas or palm oil – natural resources which bring about enormous and irreversible impacts on the environment.

Green New Deal

Having said that, what if there was a way to propel the economy forward and yet, at the same time, preserve our environment?

Lately, the United States has been contemplating a ‘Green New Deal’ in an attempt to kick start the country’s slowing economy, while ensuring reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.The essence of a green new deal is simple enough: a government economic stimulus aimed specifically at clean technology designed to modernise the American economy while achieving the effect of mitigating climate change.A green new deal aims to energize the economy through huge public investment with the focus of constructing a more extensive renewable energy infrastructure.

The spillover effects of these public green investments would also lead to the creation of a swathe of green jobs and, crucially, expand the job market in renewable energy technology.

The Malaysian context

I believe it is worth contemplating the possibility of replicating a stimulus policy akin to the green new deal in America within the context of Malaysia. As I mentioned earlier, there is currently a dearth of investment in green technology in Malaysia, since the private sector is reluctant to invest in green technology as of now. Therefore, we are left with only the government as our only viable source to kickstart investment in green technology.

Significant but wisely targeted investments in clean, low-carbon technology would have the multiplier effect of boosting our economy and leading to the creation of modern and sustainable green energy jobs.The merits of such a move cannot be overstated enough. Aside from protecting the environment, the introduction of green energy jobs in Malaysia would also have the knock-on effect of transitioning Malaysia’s economy from one relying on non-renewable resources to a strong but self-sufficient economy powered mostly through renewable energy.

Green energy jobs also have the advantage of being mostly high-skilled jobs. The creation of such jobs would give the employment markets in Malaysia a much-needed lift, since we are currently suffering a mismatch of having too many low-skilled jobs but a large quantity of skilled labour.

It is no surprise that China, despite being the world’s largest coal consumer, is equally committed toward investing in green energy because of the economic potential it entails. By investing heavily in green energy, China is actually outpacing the US in terms of creating clean energy jobs.

Major public green investment does not appear to be popular enough, since it usually suffers from the time-lag effect and requires consistent funding.However, this wouldn’t be the case if the Malaysian public was aware of the huge monetary costs of natural disasters in Malaysia, and the projected future costs of climate change.

The floods in Kelantan between 2014 and 2015 caused an estimated RM200 million in losses, with buildings and government infrastructure most affected.

Additionally, the Penang state government has allocated a total of RM22.7 million for rebuilding infrastructure damaged by floods in 2017.

Heavier investment in clean energy will likely give us the opportunity to avoid such economic damage moving forward.Nevertheless, it would be difficult to obtain the approval of Malaysians to increase public investment in green technology at this current juncture, let alone have it debated in Parliament. But I argue that this is the only possible way to steer our country towards a modernised economy that truly puts the term ‘sustainable development’ into actual practice.Most importantly, it also ensures that our children possess the same privileges as us to take pleasure in what this planet offers us. Therefore, it is about time Malaysians started talking and acting strongly on the issue of climate change.

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KENNETH CHENG is an analyst at Penang Institute. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and graduate diploma in politics. Hailing from the Silver State (Perak), he believes the challenge of a researcher is to temper his/her ‘pessimism of the intelligence’ with ‘optimism of the will’.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

Book Review: The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy and Society

 

January 12, 2018

 

 

By: Cyril Pereira

Can planet Earth survive Asia’s economic drive?

 

The Sustainable State is Hong Kong-based environmentalist and author Chandran Nair’s second book, following Consumptionomics, published in 2011. Both call for urgent recognition of the looming ecological disaster for humanity. The book launch in Hong Kong’s trendy Lan Kwai Fong district on Nov. 13 was billed as a conversation between Nair, and Zoher Abdool Karim, the recently retired TIME Asia editor. Nair’s manifesto dominated. A bemused Zoher was the smiling prop. The audience could have gained more from meaningful interlocution.

Chandran Nair has been the town crier on environmental disaster for 20 years. He faults industrialization, capitalism, free enterprise and liberal economics, for destroying the ecosystems of rivers, forests, air and water on so vast a scale, that life itself is the price paid by the poorest across the developing world. Malnutrition, starvation, and lack of access to potable water, plagues many societies at subsistence level.

Resource curse

The developed world prospered from early industrialization to capture vast resources via conquest and colonization of Asia, Africa and Latin America, he writes. The poorest societies hold the richest deposits of minerals, fossil fuels and land for plantations of rubber, palm oil, tea and coffee. Pesticides and insecticides from Monsanto and others destroy their soils and ruin their water systems. They have also been too frequently run by kleptocrats.

What he calls the “externalities” of capitalist trade – environmental degradation, pollution, social dislocation, disease and malnutrition, impact the poorest disproportionately. Therein lies the supreme irony. Nair wants these externalities of economic activity priced and charged directly to corporations. He also wants individual accountability for wasteful consumption computed for carbon footprints and taxed to discourage waste.

Responsible development and consumer habits need to be enforced, if we are to survive our collective un-wisdom. How the corporations and individuals would agree to these principles, and the respective methods to calculate the amounts to pay, are undefined. Nair does not expect the culprits to volunteer. By the legal trick of defining corporations as ‘persons,’ companies can argue rights protecting individual citizens, under national Constitutions.

Migration to cities in Europe progressed over an extended period, without too much social disruption. Rural migration to cities in the developing economies is too rapid, within a compressed time-frame. Slum populations struggle without sanitation, proper housing, access to fresh water, electricity, or schooling for children, in too many cities across the developing world. This hollowing-out of rural populations is wasteful.

Rethink development

A whole new raft of public policies needs to evolve for ecological balance. Development plans to retain rural manpower and incentivize agricultural food security, are absent. Urban dwellers have to pay higher prices for natural produce, instead of buying packaged food in supermarkets. Efficient public transport systems have to be built to prevent city traffic gridlock. Electric vehicles have to replace fossil fuel engines.

Nair’s nightmare is the adoption by developing countries of the Western model for economic growth. India and China will constitute 30 percent of the global 10 billion by 2050. Add Africa, Latin America, and the rest of developing Asia to that, and the consequences of feckless industrialization, along with wasteful urban consumption, are too obvious. Nair advocates a radical overhaul of the development mindset.

Prescriptions from the developed world peddled by the World Bank and the IMF, in Nair’s mind, exceed Planet Earth’s healing capacity. Natural resource depletion and poisoning of the earth, water and air, must be stopped now. Hurricanes and typhoons destroying habitats and flooding societies, are increasing in frequency and ferocity. The consequences are all too real for climate change deniers.

Plastic Pollution in the World’s Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea

The weight of floating plastic in the oceans will soon exceed that of the global fish stock. This poison has entered our food chain, killing us slowly while choking sea life. Human overpopulation, food cultivation and de-forestation, wipes out wildlife at the rate of 30,000 species per year, according to Harvard biologist E. O Wilson. Now our collective irresponsibility will kill the oceans too.

Prioritize social equity

If replicating the Western growth model is madness, what are the alternatives? Nair moves into contentious territory on this. He calls for strong government and a revised development agenda. Rather than Hollywood-movie lifestyles, he suggests inclusive policies for all citizens to ensure clean water, electricity, sanitation, universal education and gainful employment as minimal benchmarks. Modest prosperity benefits all.

Social equity, well-being and protection of nature cannot be achieved without political legitimacy and effective rulership. Governance has been hijacked by Big Biz and sponsor politicians. Lobby groups target lawmakers. PR companies spin fakery for corporations and politicians. The mass media is co-opted through advertising and ownership. All at the expense of gullible citizens, led to believe they have some say every five years.

Strong state works

Nair contrasts the dysfunctions of India with the success of China. He skates on thin ice where individual rights and freedoms can be ignored, for the collective good. He says only a “strong” state has the mass mobilization capacity to marshal people, resources and investment, for sustainable development. To Nair, Hong Kong is a weak state unable to address basic public housing. He jests that a boss imposed by Beijing can fix that.

The European Union is a strong authority able to mandate socially responsible policy across its constituent members. Britain and the US are weak states floundering for effective governance, polarized by divisive populist politics. Nair is less interested in ideologies of the Left or Right, than in the State as effective authority for the common good. He wants the institutions of good governance strengthened at every level.

Oddly, Nair dismisses world governance as the solution. The United Nations, overly compromised by funding dependency and too timid to upset powerful voting blocs, is not his answer. Where then will the needed global course-correction come from? The issues Nair raises are urgent. Are we doomed to self-destruct by default anyway? If he has an answer, Nair has not articulated it in his books, or his public campaigns. Perhaps there might be a third book for that.

Book Review: The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy and Society

December 3, 2018

By: Cyril Pereira

2018 in Environmental Review for Southeast Asia

November 10, 2018

Burning rainforests on Borneo and Sumatra to make space for palm oil plantations

By: Gregory McCann

ttps://www.asiasentinel.com/society/2018-environmental-review-southeast-asia/

As 2018 comes to a close it is worth taking a look at the environmental trends throughout the year, with a special emphasis on those within the last six months or so, in order to gain an understanding of what has been happening to this region’s natural heritage and so that we might know what to look for in 2019—and how to address the upcoming challenges.

A lloincloth-clad tribesmen blockading blockading logging roads in Malaysian Borneo.

While we can say that a lot has been happening everywhere, and this is especially true for Malaysia. The country produces durian that Chinese consumers covet. This means rain forests that are currently home to tigers are being converted into plantations so that more and more of the spiky, pungent fruit can be sold to China. That means bad environmental news, with China the driver. Furthermore, clearing forests will drastically reduce the number of pollinators such as bats and other wild animals, which will in turn lower the durian’s quality.

Another fruit—palm oil—is almost always the whipping boy for conservation problems in Malaysia (and beyond), however, the country is making headway in its own sustainable certification program, which attempts to incorporate Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) into development blueprints across Malaysian Borneo. Nonetheless, huge development projects in Peninsular Malaysia are pushing the environment to the breaking point, with gargantuan Chinese-funded residential projects such as Forest City across the strait from Singapore serving as a striking case in point.

However, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad recently shut down several Chinese Belt and Road projects.  Malaysia also wants to ban importing plastic waste, as well as single-use plastic straws. Nonetheless, serious problems remain. Even without the durians-to-China issue, tiger numbers are tumbling fast, scenic Langkawi island is coming under so much stress that it may lose its Unesco status, while in Sarawak the forest-dwelling Penan indigenous group continue to block bulldozers and fight for their traditional lands.

Tabin Wildlife Reserve is located in the eastern part of Sabah, Malaysia

However, a rehabilitated Bornean orangutan was successfully rewilded in Sabah’s Tabin Wildlife Sanctuary, the first orangutan to fully return to the forest after such a long spell in captivity and rehabilitation, and a clouded leopard was sighted within the vicinity of a local hospital.

Across the Strait in Indonesia ecological issues are festering as well. While a new species of songbird has been identified on Rote Island, five other bird species have lost their protected status. The endemic Sumatran laughing thrush is fast disappearing, while the Helmeted Hornbill is relentlessly persecuted in Indonesia. The caged bird trade is bringing many species to the brink of extinction in the archipelago, and biologists say many forests where they work are becoming increasingly “quiet.”

Forest fires raged in South Sumatra and Riau provinces in 2018, and Chinese developers are stubbornly pushing ahead with a hydroelectric dam in the , home to the rarest species of orangutan in the world. The Critically Endangered Sumatra rhinoceros is still in big trouble but there is a movement on to save it, while a pregnant Sumatran tigress was caught and died in a pig trap in Riau.

Like Malaysia, Indonesia has a major palm oil problem, but the country’s anti-graft department says it’s ready to take action against transgressors who are felling natural forest and breaking other laws. Sadly, the Bali government wants to build an elevated highway right on top of some of its last undeveloped sandy beaches. The small volcanic island of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra has spewed lava and ash this year.   Widespread deforestation, poaching, overfishing, and plastic pollution has been taking over this island nation. Indonesian Presidential contender Prabowo has said that if he is elected to office he will review China’s Belt and Road plans, which could include a cancellation of the , and a court in Aceh recently threw down its stiffest penalty to date for two men caught trying to sell a tiger pelt.

Asia Sentinel recently reported on the surprising number of wildlife to be found in Singapore today. Thailand also received high environmental marks in a recent Asia Sentinel critique, however, Thai-language media recently uncovered a story about a Vietnamese national caught with tiger bones in the kingdom— particularly worrying report as Vietnamese poachers are among the most tenacious in Asia.

Making matters worse, a new and improved road through Kaeng Krachan National Park will likely lead to greater disturbance to the forest’s wildlife, while a few provinces to the north a Burmese national gunned down a binturong. There is rising sentiment to build a Kra Isthmus Canal in Thailand. A large crocodile was caught off the Krabi coast, a whale shark was recently spotted of Koh Racha, and local conservationists have thus far succeeded in fending off a new marina development project in Phuket. However, the deluge of Chinese tourists into the kingdom is pushing Thailand to its breaking point, and it was largely Chinese tourists who are responsible for the closing of Maya Bay in Koh Phi Phi, which remains closed indefinitely so that it can recover.

In Laos, the Nam Theun 2 Dam has been such a disaster that its main financer, the World Bank, has thrown in the towel and walked away.  In Dead in the Water: Global Lessons from the World Bank’s Hydropower Project in Laos contributing author Glenn Hunt remarks: “For one of the pillars that was supposed to be the primary source of income, it’s been an unmitigated disaster.” With about 140 dams either under construction or on the drawing board in its quest to be the “battery of Asia,” Laos faces the potential for most disasters and large-scale environmental and social degradation in a country that has already lost its wild tigers, leopards and many other species.

Despite the tragedy that unfolded in Attapeu province when a large dam collapsed, Laos remains bullish about constructing more dams. And the dam-building frenzy is harming the environment and wildlife all around the country. And while a recent Guardian write-up describing the fantastic-look Nam Et-Phou Luey ecotourism program up in the north of the country describes a healthy tiger population in this region, perhaps the author was given old data.

Wild elephants are reportedly being skinned alive in Myanmar to satisfy a new Chinese demand—for “blood beads,” which are blood-filled chunks of elephant fat. The previous link provides a window into some twisted tastes: “The online trader wants his customers to know the elephant was skinned quickly, with blood still fresh in its veins.” Chinese demand for elephant skin used in bags in jewelry was already shocking, but things can always get worse when it comes to wildlife.

But in more uplifting news from the country, Irrawaddy dolphins are being given greater protection, and the government is also cracking down on illegal wildlife trade in the city of Yangon.

Taking note of how poorly elephants working in tourism are treated across Asia, Vietnam has launched the region’s first “ethical elephant experience.” The country has also taken an interest in seeing that its shrimp farming industry become more sustainable, while the government also recently signed a deal with the EU that promises a reduction in illegal logging (though some in neighboring Cambodia have serious doubts about this). We reported earlier this year that Vietnam’s wildlife is in rough shape, and things haven’t taken much of a turn for the better since.

Virachey National Park—A major tourist attraction in Cambodia

And finally, Cambodia.  A recent camera-trap check in Virachey National Park so delighted the Ministry of Environment that he shared some of the photos on their Facebook page; even the Thai media took notice of the results. Asia Sentinel reported earlier this year that Cambodia is probably the last hope for Indochina’s wildlife, and this still holds true, despite the fact that nearly 110,000 snares were found in a single national park. A man was recently killed by a wild boar near the Cardamom Mountains, while Kratie province is cracking down on illegal mining, and at the same time the central government is demanding that villagers who grabbed national park land return it.

In other news from the region, the Maubere tribe of Timor-Leste is bringing back ancient customary laws to help protect its forests, seas, and coastline. Chinese demand for logs is wiping out the forests of the Solomon Islands. India is losing tigers and elephants, while two elephants were struck by a train and killed in Sri Lanka.

As always, China casts a menacing shadow over Southeast Asia, and nowhere is this more clear than on the Mekong River and in the South China Sea. The region, with the help of the US and Japan, must find a way to manage Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and beyond, and the some of the numerous dams that it has planned for the region have to be cancelled or scaled down.

Beyond that, Chinese citizens have to be educated about wildlife product consumption, including shark fins, tiger parts, bear gallbladder, elephant skin and blood, and much more, which have no known scientific value. And in a shocking and disturbing announcement,  China has said that it will lift its decades-old ban on the trading of tiger parts and rhino horn, a move that will almost certainly put these species in greater danger.  Or else one of the most biologically rich regions of the world loses everything that made it so special.

Gregory McCann is the Project Coordinator of Habitat ID, and the author of Called Away by a Mountain Spirit: Journeys to the Green Corridor. You can support his conservation projects in Cambodia and Sumatra here.

Climate Change and Governance

November 2, 2018

Lecture: Climate Change and Governance