Environment and natural resources
Climate change
ASEAN peatlands: Critical in mitigating the climate crisis
Peatlands are one of the most important ecosystems on Earth for capturing and storing carbon. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is playing a key role in efforts to ensure their protection, delegates attending an event on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow ...
ROBERT FINLAYSON
COP26 deforestation-ending commitment must hold leaders accountable (commentary)
It is a commendable goal to end and reverse deforestation within a decade, one which if met would protect both people and the planet, but this is a crisis now. The Amazon is hurtling towards a “tipping point” beyond which it may be lost. In ...
Steve Trent
Vietnam targeting carbon emission neutrality by 2050, minister says
Vietnam is targeting carbon emission neutrality by 2050, the country’s industry and trade minister said on Monday, joining scores of countries that have pledged to halt emissions by mid-century or thereabouts in order to stop global warming. Nguyen Hong Dien, speaking at a roundtable on the ...
Editing by Martin Petty and Sanjeev Miglani
PM to present net-zero goal at COP26
Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha will attend the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in the United Kingdom next week where he will formally announce Thailand’s new pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2065. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said Thailand’s delegates to the ...
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
How Asia’s Rice Producers Can Help Limit Global Warming
The United States and European Union want countries from around the world to join them in slashing methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. The recent EU-U.S. pledge recognizes that rapid reductions in methane emissions are critical to limiting global temperature rise to within 1.5 ...
Oliver Frith, Reiner Wassmann, and Bjoern Ole Sander
Carbon pricing insights from Vietnam
A relatively low but increasing carbon price could play an important role in helping Vietnam meet its emission reduction targets, Thang Nam Do and Paul Burke write. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a matter of national interest for Vietnam, one of the most vulnerable countries to ...
THANG NAM DO, PAUL BURKE
Laos Has Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 34% Over Ten Years
Laos has announced it has successfully reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent over the last ten years. Prime Minister of Laos, Dr. Phankham Viphavanh, spoke via remote communication at the UN General Assembly in New York last month, saying that Laos had been able to ...
Phayboune Thanabouasy
The Angkor and Mayan civilizations can ‘teach us about climate resilience’
The civilization of Angkor in what is now Cambodia thrived for centuries before it went into relatively sudden decline and collapsed. Across the world the Mayan civilization experienced a similar trajectory in Mesoamerica round about the same time. Yet even as these iconic civilizations collapsed between ...
Daniel T Cross
All hands on deck to preserve ecosystems in Vietnam's Mekong Delta
The local authorities and environmental organisations in the Mekong Delta region are stepping up efforts to preserve and develop ecosystems vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Located in southern Vietnam, the Mekong Delta has a diverse and unique ecosystem that includes marine life, islands, estuaries, ...
Bringing Clean Air to 4 Billion People in Asia
As the lives lost to COVID-19 edge closer to 5 million globally, policymakers have demonstrated sharply growing interest in how protecting biodiversity, mitigating climate change, and addressing other planetary crises can improve public health. One planetary crisis that benefited temporarily from COVID-19 lockdowns but requires ...
Kaoru Akahoshi and Eric Zusman