Author: Amritha Thiyagarajan, UNSW

Australia has been involved for a number of years in helping developing countries adapt to the devastating effects of climate change.

But while Australia’s recently passed carbon tax has stimulated much debate, there is little to no scrutiny of how Australian money is being allocated throughout adaptation projects at a grassroots level. Read more…

Author: Liu Shuguang, Ocean University of China

China’s central government approved Guangdong Province’s plan to build a national-level marine economic-development zone on 20 July, establishing a clear trend in this direction.

Guangdong’s is the third plan approved so far this year, following those for Shandong and Zhejiang. Read more…

Author: Frank Jotzo, ANU

Indonesia is among the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, and it has committed to cut its carbon footprint.

Can Indonesia achieve its goals, what is its role in the region, and how could developed countries assist?   Read more…

David Kelly, UTS

We live in a riskier, more uncertain world than just a few years ago.

Climate change, financial crisis and the decline of the West are three issues many put high on their list of ‘Black Swan’ factors, that is, major events that might occur very unexpectedly. China figures centrally in all three. Read more…

Author: Anil Kumar Kanungo, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade

How India will negotiate the issue of trade and sustainable development at international fora with its new environment minister, Ms Jayanthi Natarajan, is a question that concerns many.

Former environment minister Jairam Ramesh had fought the issue tooth and nail in different international platforms, blaming both developed and developing countries for their brazen exploitation of the environment in the guise of public good. Read more…

Author: Rajiv Kumar, FICCI

The Supreme Court of India seems to have created a crisis after imposing a large-scale ban on iron ore mining in the Bellary district of Karnataka.

Although the Supreme Court has subsequently allowed the public sector entity National Mineral Development Corporation to continue operations, its imposition of a ban on iron ore mining in Bellary remains an extreme step. Read more…

Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, EAF

Looked at from the outside, it’s a little difficult to understand why the political leadership in Japan is now under such intense pressure about its handling of the Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

The approval ratings of Prime Minister Kan’s DPJ government plummeted after an initial lift and created an opportunity for enemies within his own party to challenge his leadership — a challenge he managed to fend off by declaring that the time was not right for him to resign but that he would do so later. Read more…

Author: Sheila A Smith, CFR

The Kan cabinet is facing a defining moment in Japan’s postwar nuclear debate.

With the bulk of nuclear reactors now offline, the country is holding its breath over how Prime Minister Naoto Kan will proceed. Read more…

Author: Yuhan Zhang, Columbia University

While many Chinese pundits and scholars are applauding for China’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) as a milestone for China’s green revolution, the country’s march to low energy consumption and low carbon economy is not going to be a smooth or straight one.

China’s five-year plans, albeit strategically sound, are not likely to change the short- and medium-term energy and climate landscapes. Challenges will remain. Read more…

Author: Ron Duncan, ANU

Does the recent upturn in grain prices, or more generally food prices, signal a permanent reversal of the long-term downward trend in the real prices of foodstuffs?

This question seems to underlie most comments on the recent food price increases — and, incidentally, commentary on the 2006–08 upturn in primary commodity prices. Read more…

Author: Colin Filer, ANU

In April this year, the Policy Board of the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD) approved the National Programme Document which sets out how the Government of Papua New Guinea proposes to achieve a state of ‘REDD plus readiness’ within the next three years.

This triggers the release of about US$6.4 million towards the cost of making PNG look like it deserves to receive compensation from the international community for various steps taken to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from this source. Read more…

Author: Fitrian Ardiansyah, ANU

This year’s World Environment Day, which sports the theme ‘Forests: Nature at your service’ is likely to be celebrated in a more colourful way in Indonesia.

This may be due to the fact that in the two weeks prior to 5 June, three influential policies were issued by the government. Read more…

Author: Vlado Vivoda, Griffith University

The nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station has raised questions about the future of nuclear power in Asia. Prior to the disaster, Asia was described as the nuclear powerhouse of the future.

With increasing competition for oil and gas among Asian states and the negative impact of carbon pollution, nuclear power has been referred to as a matter of survival for the region, both in terms of energy and environmental security. Read more…

Author: Benjamin Fox, Tunghai University

As the effects of climate change in Asia become more obvious every year, carbon emission reduction policy in the region remains largely inadequate.

During the signing of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, most of Asia’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting nations were considered developing countries and therefore not held to internationally binding agreements to reduce emissions. Read more…

Author: Matthew Bunn, Harvard University

As bad as it is, Japan’s nuclear accident is dramatically less catastrophic than Chernobyl. That accident spread millions of curies of radioactivity — 3-4 per cent of all radioactivity in the reactor core — around the surrounding countryside, exposing millions of people in several countries.

Large areas are uninhabitable to this day. Here, there is no real prospect of a runaway chain reaction as occurred at Chernobyl. Instead, what has happened is the melting of fuel in reactor cores, leading to the release of a very modest amount of cesium and other fission products. Read more…