South-South Series: Climate Governance in Southeast Asia

On April 26th, 2023, an online webinar on climate governance in Southeast Asia was held from 10:00 to 11:30 GMT+2 or 16:00 to 17:30 GMT+8, in partnership with The Indo-Pacific Circle.

Southeast Asia is one of the most climate-vulnerable regions of the world. At the same time, the region’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) have grown in recent years – attributed to land use change and fossil fuel-dependent economies. Yet it is important to acknowledge that the countries of the region are at different levels of development with varying climate vulnerabilities; and have differentiated requirements when it comes to climate mitigation and adaptation. Countries in the region have been focusing on promoting context-specific adaptation and climate-resilient development strategies to deal with the adverse climate impacts (including on water security) and simultaneously reducing carbon emissions. They have also been cooperating with each other through regional organizations such as the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and with international, multilateral climate governance and policy mechanisms. However, the region faces several challenges in climate governance – ranging from financial and capacity to institutional and policy.

Against this background, this event featured presentations by three experts, and will offer an analysis of climate change-related governance architectures and case study-based insights in Southeast Asia. This webinar also covered issues of justice and equity in the context of regional and global climate governance. The presentations were followed by an open discussion and Q&A with the online participants. The discussions were moderated by Dr Dhanasree Jayaram.