Welcome to SEARCA Knowledge Center on Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management in Southeast Asia (KC3)

Harvested News

Published on 15 August 2020 by Shiloh Fetzek and Dennis McGinn Southeast Asia
Climate change is likely to alter the local physical and strategic environment profoundly, and potentially catastrophically. This week the ASEAN Joint Task Force on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) will meet via video conference, with the COVID-19 pandemic escalating just as some countries in the disaster-prone Indo-Asia Pacific enter their cyclone, drought, heatwave, or monsoon seasons. The overlaying of the pandemic with existing complex…
Published on 22 July 2020 by Long Kimmarita Cambodia
The National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) launched a new information-sharing system over the weekend to safeguard vulnerable citizens against floods and natural disasters amid the rainy season. Areas along the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers were identified as higher-risk locations. Speaking at the launch of the Platform for Real-time Information Systems (Prism) over the weekend, NCDM first vice-president Kun Kim said improving Cambodia’s disaster…
Published on 22 July 2020 Thailand
Rampha Khamhaeng, a farmer in central Thailand’s rice-growing Suphanburi province, was sceptical when she first heard about a new farming method for paddy fields that could reduce both water use and greenhouse gas emissions. Read more.
Published on 22 July 2020 by Alexandria Dennise San Juan Philippines
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) launched on Thursday its latest Web-based disaster risk reduction tool in time with the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the 1990 Luzon earthquake. Named GeoMapper PH, this web and mobile application was designed to collect and update natural hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and coping capacity data to further enhance natural disaster preparedness of the local government units.…
Published on 22 July 2020 by Mike Crismundo Philippines
Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) urged Caraganons to help protect the region’s rich bounty of natural resources by planting more trees “without let up” in support to the government’s Enhanced National Greening Program (E-NGP). As the Agusanons and Surigaonons poured the ample time by strictly adhering to health protocols during the community quarantine by exploiting vacant areas and communal garden…
Published on 22 July 2020 by VNA Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City is carrying out multiple methods and programmes to reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions in its aim to create a "clean, green and beautiful" city. Nguyen Thi Thanh My, deputy director of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that environmental programmes implemented since 2016 aim to reduce 70 percent of the total volume of emissions by transport. The…
Published on 22 July 2020 by VNA Vietnam
Enhancing state management on climate change is one of the major measures set in the national plan on climate change adaptation for 2021-2030, with a vision towards 2050, recently issued by the Prime Minister. The plan emphasised the integration of climate change adaptation into strategies and planning schemes, the investment in adaptive activities, science and technologies, and the improvement of public awareness of this issue.…
Published on 9 June 2020 Brunei Darussalam
British High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam Richard Lindsay, in commemorating World Environment Day, underscored the important roles that Brunei Government and local NGOs (non-governmental organizations), as well as the British High Commission, played in preserving the environment in the country. “World Environment Day is marked on June 5. This year, as we are adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic, we should reflect on the world around…
Published on 9 June 2020 Brunei Darussalam
On June 5, 2020, Brunei Darussalam joined over 100 countries to commemorate World Environment Day, a global platform aimed at fostering and enhancing environmental awareness as well as encouraging the support and participation of each and every community to play its role in preserving the environment. The year 2020 marks the ‘Super Year’ for biodiversity. The theme ‘Time for Nature’ was chosen, focussing on the…
Published on 9 June 2020 by Richard Lindsay Brunei Darussalam
To mark World Environment Day, the UK High Commissioner calls on leaders and businesses to slash carbon emissions World Environment Day is marked on 5 June. This year, as we are adjusting to the COVID-19 pandemic we should reflect on the world around us, and the wider impacts when humanity’s relationship with nature breaks down. As we look to recover from the pandemic we have…
Published on 9 June 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic is a silent reminder that we are at a tipping point of two of the world's greatest yet invisible enemies — climate change and biodiversity loss. The three global challenges are interlinked. Some researchers are suggesting a link between humanity's destruction of biodiversity and the conditions conducive for new viruses and diseases such as Covid-19 that were once contained in the wild.…
Published on 9 June 2020 by Ellalyn de Vera Ruiz Philippines
The Climate Change Commission (CCC) said on Tuesday that the Philippines needs to preserve now more than ever its coastal and marine resources to protect its valuable contribution in the field of medicine and providing services for the health sector. “The public should give preferential attention in reinforcing, observing, and developing coastal and marine activities to facilitate the conservation, rehabilitation, and sustainable management of the…
Published on 2 June 2020
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$300 million loan for state-owned geothermal energy company PT Geo Dipa Energi (GDE) to expand its geothermal power generation capacity. GDE will receive an additional $35 million loan from the Clean Technology Fund for the project managed also by the ADB, the bank announced on Thursday. The company will use the loan to increase its generation capacity…
Published on 2 June 2020 Vietnam
When Vietnam takes over the ASEAN chairmanship in 2020, the country outlined five priorities to be executed throughout the year. Among all, strengthening the institutional capacity of ASEAN and leveraging the Industrial Revolution 4.0 to address inequality, are the most challenging goals to be realized within a year. Other scholars such as David Hutt, meanwhile, even pointed out that Vietnam’s most important goal is to secure a united…
Published on 13 May 2020 Myanmar
A new study by the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found that mangrove deforestation in Myanmar is taking place at a faster rate than previously estimated. The NUS study, led by Edward Webb and Jose Don De Alban and published online in Environmental Research Letters on March 3, found that between 1996 – 2016 more than 60 per cent of all mangroves in Myanmar had been permanently or…
Published on 13 May 2020
Shortages in key commodities have been reported in most of Indonesia’s 34 provinces as the nation copes with the double whammy of the coronavirus outbreak causing supply chain disruption and a dry spell hurting harvests. Garlic, sugar, chili and chicken eggs are in short supply in more than 20 provinces, while rice, a staple food for Indonesians, is in deficit in seven provinces across the…
Published on 13 May 2020 Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste—also known as East Timor–is one of the least developed countries in Southeast Asia.  It was the center of the world’s attention around the turn of the millennium when, having been occupied by its powerful neighbor Indonesia for almost a quarter of a century, its citizens overwhelming voted for independence through a UN organized referendum in 1999.  In 2002, Timor-Leste formally became the first independent…
Published on 12 May 2020 Feature
From where they're grown to how they taste to when we eat them, very little will stay the same in coming decades. Climate change threatens many of the world's favorite foods. A writeup in National Geographic's Earth Day 2020 magazine by Daniel Stone lists seven "charismatic foods" that we can expect to "morph in appearance, nutritional value, availability, and price as growing regions shift and…
Published on 12 May 2020 Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — State weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) recorded blisteringly high temperatures in several stations across the country throughout the weekend. Warning of possible heat cramps, exhaustion, and even stroke, Pagasa reminded the general public to regularly drink water and reduce physical activity during midday to prevent heat stress. "The air temperature in Echague, Isabela reached 40.1°C yesterday, May 9. It…
Published on 12 May 2020 Global
Members of Cornell’s Humphrey Fellowship Program shared stories of struggle and hope as their countries grapple with climate change during “Global Climate Stories,” an April 22 webinar marking the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day. Read more.
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