Everyone who has ever been to one of the Southeast Asian urban centers knows that traffic is a big problem. It is a problem for life quality of the city citizens as the endless traffic jams are health hazards and time consuming. Beyond this, transportation also cause emissions that contribute to climate change. However, solutions to free the streets from cars are yet to be implemented. By Johanna SonJohanna Son, a Filipino journalist/editor based in Bangkok for 17 years, follows a mix of regional issues, including ASEAN. She also works on programs around the capacity-building of journalists from Asia. Picture: Ines Meier/Lizenz: cc-by-nc-nd

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50 Years of ASEAN (3/3): Sustainable Transport and Emissions

The haze agreement is the first agreement in ASEAN on an explicit environmental issue. It has entered into force 2003 in order to manage forest fires and reduce environmental destruction as well as air pollution with joint regional efforts. However, in 2015 Singaporean citizens saw themselves confronted with a major haze, zero visibility and a thick smoke smell coming over from Indonesia. Today, the struggle between environmental, regional foreign and economic policy has still not been decided despite these immediate consequences. By Johanna SonJohanna Son, a Filipino journalist/editor based in Bangkok for 17 years, follows a mix of regional issues, including ASEAN. She also works on programs around the capacity-building of journalists from Asia. Bild: Ines Meier/Lizenz: cc-by-nc-nd

50 Years of ASEAN (2/3): All clear on the Haze?

Where are ecological concerns in the ASEAN development paradigm? They are stuck in the word “sustainable”. Despite the haze agreement and protocols on maritime policies, ASEAN has fallen short of reacting to climate change. Despite international commitments as the Paris Agreement, it does not manage to put words into regional action. As long as limits of growth are not integrated into the overall ASEAN vision, single projects like saving orang-utans will lead nowhere but deeper into the ecological crisis. By Johanna SonJohanna Son, a Filipino journalist/editor based in Bangkok for 17 years, follows a mix of regional issues, including ASEAN. She also works on programs around the capacity-building of journalists from Asia. Bild: Ines Meier/Lizenz: cc-by-nc-nd

50 Years of ASEAN (1/3): Taking stock of ASEAN´s vision of development

The Paris Agreement has set an ambitious goal to prevent global warming from spiraling out of control. But it has also set the stage for what will form the subject of numerous heated debates in the coming years: How do we tackle climate change? What is the framework that helps us decide which solution is viable? In this podcast series, we’ve looked at different strategies that have been proposed – some of which are speculative, risky, heavy with side-effects, others which look more attainable. In this last episode, we will zoom out and take a broader look at the transformation ahead. Climate change is a unique challenge. Each and every sector of the economy will have to change. Tackling the issue will require a fundamental shift in how we as humans interact with nature and our planet. Do we need a masterplan to get there? Maybe not. Because at this moment, many activists, scientists and entrepreneurs are already active, experimenting with models and ideas for a more sustainable and more equitable world. It’s a diverse set of approaches based on diverging cultural backgrounds that share acommon vision – to find ways for a livable and climate just future. Photo CC-0: Igor Ovsyannykov / Unsplash.com

Tipping Point (5/5): The great transition - Alternative paths for a better and climate just future

The food that we eat plays a big role in the search for solutions to climate change. Agriculture is one of the major contributors of greenhouse gases. But the way we farm our land can also be a big part of the solution. In fact, certain kinds of soil are huge carbon sinks, which means that they take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In this way, healthy soil can regulate the climate. The kinds of crops we plant play another crucial role. They can help us adapt to changes in the climate that we cannot prevent. If we farm diverse crops instead of monocultures, this makes us more resilient. In this episode, we discuss the impacts of industrial agriculture and alternatives concepts like agro-ecology with Teresa Anderson from Action Aid and Mariann Bassey from Friends of the Earth Nigeria. As it turns out, the way farmers nurture their crops can make a huge difference for people and the planet. Foto CC-0 Stephen Radford / Unsplash.com

Tipping Point (4/5): Precious Soils and Seeds - Industrial agriculture and climate smart farming

We start to count as little kids. First our fingers, then our toys, and finally more grown-up things – calories, money, trophies. As a society, we now count our wealth and the CO2 that we emit. If you can quantify something by counting it, you can turn it into a market – right? That’s what countries around the world have tried by setting up emission trading systems. These new markets aim to put a price on carbon, to save emissions where it is cheapest and benefit the global climate. But the approach has failed so far. In the EU, the price for carbon has dropped to a low, so producers can easily continue polluting. And they are actually making huge profits from the permits they receive. Carbon credits are another way for polluters to buy themself out of responsibility. These offsets are often produced in poorer countries, in forests for example. By turning nature into a commodity, indigenous people are often forced to leave or change their traditional ways of life. In this episode, we discuss the side-effects of our new carbon economy with biologist Jutta Kill from Germany and Ivonne Yanez from Acción Ecológica in Ecuador. Photo: CC-0, pixabay.com

Tipping Point (3/5): License to pollute - Carbon markets and the new economy of nature

In Germany, a Peruvian smallholder farmer and mountain guide is suing a big energy company over a melting glacier that threatens his valley. In the Netherlands, citizens have won a lawsuit in the first instance to pressure their government into guaranteeing stronger climate protection. In the Philippines, the Commission on Human Rights is investigating the fossil-fuel industry. Can governments and industry be put on trial in climate cases, to ensure the rights of the most vulnerable and future generations? The livelihoods of hundreds of millions could be threatened by unprecedented storms, droughts, floods, and sea-level rise. While having contributed little to the problem, they will be the hardest hit. In the political arena, the discussion around climate-related losses and damages has revolved mostly around financial support. But the underlying justice issues remain unsolved. So now, advocates around the world are spearheading lawsuits to protect the climate and those affected. In this episode, we explore the new movement with two experts in climate litigation, lawyers Tessa Khan and Roda Verheyen. Photo: CC BY 2.0 Dan4th Nicholas / Flickr

Tipping Point (2/5): Climate Justice - Can the courts solve the climate crisis?

Can and should the global climate be regulated by technological means, the so called geoengineering? Our host took off to hear from experts what these approaches mean for the planet’s environment and society. Kann und sollte das Weltklima technisch mit so genanntem Geoengineering gesteuert werden? Unser Host erfährt von Experten/innen etwas über Auswirkungen dieser Versuche auf die Menschen und die Umwelt unseres Planeten. Photo CC-0: Eugene Triguba / Unsplash.com

Tipping Point (1/5): Climate geoengineering – Experimenting with the global thermostat

The english podcast of the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation.

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