Articles Category: Environment

Over the period 2015-2020, Southeast Asia faced its most severe droughts in decades, with devastating impacts. No country in our region has been spared. If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, our news headlines would have been dominated by drought impacts a

ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), established in 1973 and currently one of ASEAN’s oldest entities, plays a key role in the ASEAN Community building process.  AIPA’s objectives are to build closer cooperation among the 10 national legislatures

In yet another first, the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) and Related Meetings were convened virtually from 9-12 September 2020. In view of the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic, major power rivalry and looming economic recession, the 53rd AMM pr

In a special virtual online meeting held on 19 August 2020, the ministers overseeing ASEAN’s cooperation on rural development and poverty eradication gathered to discuss initiatives that are being undertaken at the national level to protect the poor fr

On 11 October 2024, Ekkaphab Phanthavong officially completes his tenure as the Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. Before assuming his role at the ASEAN Secretariat, he was the Ambassador/Permanent Representative

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

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