Environment

The recent visit to Jakarta by Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was productive. Among many issues raised in a joint communique released following a meeting with Indonesia’s Joko Widodo, climate change stands as the most pressing. Both countries face acute environmental challenges

The declaration of a national emergency in response to unprecedented flooding in eastern Australia, and the deployment of 7,000 Australian Defence Force troops across the states of New South Wales and Queensland, has reignited debate in the community about how Australia should best respond to more

One of the former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials involved with a new group “Diplomats for Climate Action Now” recently voiced regret that during his decades representing Australia, he never really got to promote climate leadership. What would it look like if Australia’s

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. Australia’s natural cost advantage in renewable energy means we would be well-placed in a decarbonised world to

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 estimated to affect up to 1 billion people in 109 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Increased rainfall,

A long-awaited report released last week in the United States by the Biden administration recommends a new legal pathway for humanitarian protection for people facing serious threats to their life because of climate change. The US has a compelling national interest to strengthen protection for

In February 2020, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo made a state visit to Australia and addressed a joint sitting of the Australian parliament. This was a rare privilege granted to only a few world leaders, and Indonesia’s popular president – known as Jokowi – used the opportunity to

The Indonesian government lost a “citizen lawsuit” last month against 32 Jakarta residents after the court ruled that the defendants, which included President Joko Widodo, had responsibility for controlling air pollution in the capital city. The decision also pointed a finger at the governors of

Some months ago, I was part of a special ocean and culture story-telling workshop on my home island of Erromango, in southern Vanuatu. There, I listened to traditional elders recount ancient sea wisdom and oral histories about ocean connections with other islands, passed down through generations

In the lead-up to the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in November, the world is looking for nations to step up in the clean energy sector. Australia, with its plentiful resources, economic capacity and established trade connectivity is perfectly poised to become a leader in that step-up –

The Covid pandemic relentlessly rolls on but prescribed burns have now also begun across Australia as the next bushfire season rapidly approaches. Such actions highlight that compounding, overlapping disasters are the new normal and now need to be planned for. Indeed, last year’s Bushfire Royal

Southeast Asian governments are aware of the intersecting challenges of water security and disaster governance. The importance member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations place on this dual imperative is reflected in the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead

Last year, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in launched a climate-change policy branded as a “Green New Deal” as part of a wider stimulus package for the country’s pandemic-afflicted economy. This sat alongside a commitment to achieve a net-zero carbon emissions target by the year 2050