Articles Category: Environment

The ASEAN Member States joined the global call for “urgent and integrated action” to protect biodiversity at the first part of the 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 15) held on 11–15 October 2021 in Kunming,

ASEAN has emerged as an important economic bloc with a concrete policy agenda for inclusive and sustainable development, but it is confronted with major challenges that its Member States must individually and collectively address to enable people in th

The COVID-19 pandemic may have restricted mobility for most of us who live in ASEAN’s bustling cities, but the reality is we still have to travel within our city’s confines using private or public transport. We sleep and wake up to inescapable sounds o

The last few decades saw the dramatic expansion of megacities in Southeast Asia. The region has one of the fastest growing rates of urbanisation, with more than half of its residents living in urban areas.

The year 2020 was supposed to be the environment’s “super year,” as named by the UN Environment Programme (United Nations Environment Programme 2020: A Crunch Year for the Biodiversity and Climate Emergencies, 2019). This milestone was set way before t

The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Pollution (AATHP), signed by the ASEAN Member States in 2002, is a global model and the first regional arrangement in the world. The AATHP has played a crucial role as a primary driver of ASEAN to tackle the haze ch

Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, first woman Prime Minister of Norway, pioneered the concept of sustainable development and shaped its early agenda. She is a founding member of The Elders, the group of independent global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela in

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reflects on his 10-year tenure as chief diplomat and development advocate, and the role that mutlilateralism plays in addressing ongoing and emerging global challenges.

Hugh Lim, Executive Director of Centre for Liveable Cities, weighs in on what it takes to build pandemic-proof and resilient cities based on the practices that worked and deficiencies that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. He discusses the benefits

ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi talks to The ASEAN on the qualities and benefits of smart cities, as well as the ongoing initiatives to support the region’s 26 major cities in developing, updating, and implementing their smart city action pla

Josefa is a member of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) Steering Committee, representing indigenous and local youth. GYBN is the official youth constituency to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). She was named a National Geograp

On 1 January 2021, Brunei Darussalam assumed the ASEAN Chairmanship for 2021. Minister Aminuddin talks to The ASEAN about how Brunei Darussalam will work to accelerate efforts to recover from the pandemic and reach the goal of ASEAN solidarity.

No other country in the Asia- Pacific region has more volcanoes than Indonesia. The country is home to at least 127 active volcanoes; thus, volcanic eruptions are a major threat to the archipelago.

Nestled along the Philippines’ typhoon-prone corridor, Naga City faces heightened vulnerability to torrential rains, landslides, and heavy flooding. Just this past April, the city felt the impact of Tropical Depression Amang. Though a relatively weak s

On Instagram @earthtodorcas, Dorcas Tang Wen Yu creates stories and advocates for a better world through her illustrations and poems. Her activism brought her to Egypt to attend the United Nations Conference of Youth (COY) 17, which was held on the sid

UNICEF says approximately one billion children are at an “extremely high risk” of the impacts of the climate change crisis. Research has shown that children born now will face much more extreme weather and other climate disasters than their grandparent

Long before experts sounded the alarm bells on depleting mangrove forests, Roberto Ballon, fondly called “Ka Dodoy,” and his fledgling group of fishermen were already knee-deep planting mangrove trees in their coastal community of Concepcion in the Mun