Blog Posts: asia

India and Bangladesh are no strangers to extreme cyclones, so when Cyclone Amphan made landfall, South Asia could draw on decades of preparation and experience. The COVID-19 pandemic added a new layer of complication, so these areas had to deal with a double disaster.

Southeast Asia's Mekong region has lost much of its forests. A new satellite imagery technique reveals countries like Thailand are reversing the trend, not just in forests but on farms and villages too.

About half of the world's land is collectively held. In this podcast, WRI Vice President Lawrence MacDonald interviews Peter Veit, director of the Land and Resource Rights Initiative in the Governance Center at WRI, about the social, environmental and economic case for securing tenure for indigenous and community lands.

The devastating effects of sea level rise and extreme weather events have the potential to result in migration, humanitarian crises and international conflict. By collaborating on mitigation actions now, as a new report suggests, member nations of ASEAN can address these threats.

Asia's growing manufacturing, industry and services sectors are increasing demand for electricity in Southeast Asia, which too often results in more power plant pollution and a rise in climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, regional leaders are blazing ahead with clean energy.

People in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand are bracing themselves for heat-stressed crops, severe flooding and sea level rise. A new study assesses climate adaptation efforts in five sites across the Lower Mekong Basin.

Many of the world's biggest aquifers are being depleted much faster than they can be replenished, from the Middle East to India to California. New NASA satellite data reveals a looming global groundwater crisis.

Helping communities in Southeast Asia’s Lower Mekong Basin adapt to a changing climate requires a careful balancing act between scientific information and local knowledge.

On September 23, heads of state and leaders in finance, business and civil society will gather in New York City for the United Nations Climate Summit, aimed at jump-starting talks to reach a global climate agreement by December 2015. It's hardly the first time these actors have convened to counter climate change. Here's why this summit is worth watching.

A U.N. working group of 70 member states recently adopted a proposed set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to succeed the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set to expire in 2015. The “post-2015” SDGs will aim to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 while also supporting inclusive economic development and environmental sustainability. While the proposal puts forward a plethora of targets for the international community to pursue between 2015 and 2030, it leaves out a critical component of improving rural livelihoods—securing community land rights.