Environmental emergencies in the Indo-Pacific

Fri 26 May 2023

Downing College

The Indo-Pacific is incredibly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with the United Nations estimating that by 2050, this region could have up to 89 million people made climate refugees, with increasing average temperatures resulting in heat waves, alongside other extreme weather events in the form of flooding and droughts. These environmental emergencies and their impacts are already present. However, environmental governance and conservation measures also produce emergencies of their own, with issues arising in the form of geopolitical conflicts with large-scale transboundary projects, as well as the perpetuation of environmental injustice at the community level, where local conflicts with national and international conservation measures may emerge. Bringing together panellists with a range of expertise across the Indo-Pacific, this panel will discuss the various dimensions of these environmental emergencies from the international, state, and local levels, addressing the region-specific challenges of negative environmental impacts and their mitigation.

Panelists:

Liana Chua, University of Cambridge
Mari Mulyani, University of Oxford
Heike Schroeder, University of East Anglia
Alexander Cullen, University of Cambridge

Moderated by: Alisa Santikarn, University of Cambridge