Southeast Asia

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been established in Southeast Asia for over 40 years. Each ASEAN Member State, with the exception of Singapore, has a formal and legally binding system of environmental impact assessment for major project that may have a significant environmental or social impact.

Most plants rely on animal pollinators for reproduction, especially in the tropics where an estimated 94% of flowering plant species require pollinators. However, pollinator populations have been declining worldwide, and two of the main factors driving pollinator declines include habitat loss and pesticide use. The good news is that anyone and everyone can help these important animals simply by making their yard landscaping more pollinator-friendly.

On 24 February, Mahathir Mohamad, the 7th prime minister of Malaysia resigned unexpectedly followed by a week-long political fiasco in the form of ‘betrayal’ with lawmakers jumping ship to one another. On 25 February, the prime minister of Timor-Leste, Taur Matan Ruak sent a letter of resignation dated 24 February to the president, Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres

“While nuclear power may not be an option under the Duterte administration, it is still a viable power source for the country’s baseload requirements moving forward,” Philippine Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said during the recent Alliance Global Group Sustainability Conference in the Philippines.  The energy department head have yet again thrown his support in pushing for a nuclear program for the country.

A virus riding on another virus. That is how the ‘infodemic’ is raging in online spaces around the outbreak of the novel coronavirus called COVID-19, which has been on just about everyone’s radar since late January 2020. As grave as the quest to manage the respiratory disease and cure those ill with it is not only the challenge of using facts versus fear - but how to create and keep avenues of information that withstand the unrelenting drip of skewed, confused, partially true to totally false information, to racist and prejudiced views, or a cocktail of these.

This article offers the choices for local communities in the Kendeng Mountain range in Central Java Indonesia to expand their campaign to regain their environmental rights based on experiences from other communities in the world.

The disappearance of the honey bee is widely publicized, especially in Europe and North America, with colony collapse disorder observed in apiaries of the western honey bee, Apis mellifera. Much less interest, however, has been paid to Southeast Asian native honey bees whose fate also deserves attention. This article explores the conservation challenges of the eight native honey bee species of Southeast Asia.

China is waging an unprecedented information campaign in Thailand through traditional and new media platforms, thanks to a sluice of partnerships with Thai media throughout 2019. Similar pattern is seen in the Southeast Asian region, where China is fast expanding its political, economic, and strategic stakes.

Perhaps, the meaning of ‘development’ would only be reimagined and broadened when there is a tangible evidence showing that land creation doesn’t necessarily lead to the economic growth as promised. And that a less-orderly, poorer neighbourhood is not necessarily a place devoid of socioeconomic potential. It is commonly assumed that a society and its economic capacity will eventually fall into decay if it does not possess new land for capital to grow. Perhaps it is the lack of foresight and wisdom in the managing the existing land that has been the core problem.

Vietnam’s ASEAN chairmanship in 2020 is particularly important in the transition year focusing on strengthening ASEAN's sustainable cohesion, both in political and security issues and in economic and social matters. To guide the year of the chairmanship, Vietnam has studied and proposed long-term initiatives and Hanoi also hopes that even after the chairmanship of Vietnam has ended, its proposed initiatives will be continuously promoted and implemented in the upcoming year.