Environment
Hydro-hegemon? Complexities of shared rivers between China and India
Transboundary river governance has long been a headache for governments in Asia. One of the region’s most complex cases is the bilateral governance of the Yarlung Tsangpo…
Indonesia’s nickel superhighway
Indonesia currently has the most significant nickel deposit in the world, putting it in a prime position to build advanced industries such as renewable energy, in which rare…
A jurisdiction over the high seas
After nearly two decades of discussion and negotiation, on 5 March the United Nations announced a new agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological…
Vietnam’s challenge to wean off coal
Northeast of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is Quang Ninh province, home of the famous UNESCO World Heritage site, Ha Long Bay. Tourism is part of Vietnam’s economic success story…
2022: A global turning point
Tectonic shifts in world affairs are underway as 2022 draws to a close.
With the Ukraine war drawing a line under the familiar post-Cold War period, the world has entered a…
Europe must fully embrace nuclear energy
Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine stripped away many naive assumptions. War in Europe is not a thing of the past. Greater economic integration will not deter a madman. And…
Strengthening disaster resilience in the Pacific
Climate change is compounding disaster risk around the world. Recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) make clear that the growing effects of…
Can China build a “community” for shared oceans?
While China’s growing naval presence has garnered much attention, awareness about its global maritime governance model remains limited. President Xi Jinping has spoken about …
Water scarcity challenges China’s development model
Southern China’s longest drought on record is the latest manifestation of a slow-burning but increasingly severe water crisis. Left unchecked, it has the potential to act as a…
The Quad needs a futures focus
If there is a cumulative lesson from the past few years, it’s that the era of “polycrises” is firmly upon us. A polycrisis is defined as the net effect from the non-linear…