Climate change
A climate changed – Best of The Interpreter 2021
With Australia spared the urgency of a major bushfire disaster over the summer, Roland Rajah foresaw a rapid and positive shift for the country in the economics of climate change…
Only a truly national security strategy can forestall disaster
There is much talk of war drums beating, China battles and military deployments to North East Asia. Such visions are improbable and distant, and even if they occurred, Australia…
Trouble on the Mekong
Two reports released last month by The Mekong River Commission (MRC), an inter-governmental organisation that works with the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam…
India, China cop finger pointing in climate politics
Two weeks of negotiations in Glasgow meant that COP26 resulted in a resolution – of sorts. Nations agreed to resume next year with stronger 2030 emissions reduction targets in a…
Glasgow delivered, but what, exactly?
The Glasgow climate conference – the 26th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Convention – was held in uniquely difficult circumstances compared to…
Podcasts
COP26 and beyond: fault lines in global climate policy
In this episode, Lowy Institute lead economist Roland Rajah is joined by Dr Vijaya Ramachandran and Dr Sam Geall to discuss the outcomes from the COP26 Glasgow Climate Change…
What climate change means for mosquito-borne diseases
Mosquitos currently kill more than a million people each year. Diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and Rift Valley fever and Zika virus borne by these irritating insects are…
It’s time to talk about existential risk
Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi was having lunch with his colleagues in 1950 when he asked a now famous question: where is everybody? He was referring to the apparent…
The dynamics of dust
Many effects of a warming climate are well understood – increased temperatures, longer fire seasons, drought, rising sea level and intense storms. But drier conditions are also…
Is Russia finally getting serious on climate change?
At last month’s annual Valdai forum in Russia, President Vladimir Putin said it was “impossible” to deny climate change when disasters had become “almost a norm”.
…