Asia

Political transition in Myanmar from a military to a civilian government holds the promise of opening up political spaces to previously marginalized groups. However, the dividend of the country’s democratization process seems to be still far off for the LGBTI community.

Political empowerment of women cannot be made possible without changing the patriarchal mindset within political parties, participants at a consultation on “Gender Action Manifesto” highlighted. The consultation was held in Karachi on April 20, 2017as part of a series of such activities being organsied by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung (hbs) at provincial and national level under its “Gender Action Manifesto” project.

It is difficult to have peace if you do not move your positions. We were talking with Dr. Sai Oo over the opportunities for a constructive peace conference. He is the Country Representative of Pyidaungsu Institute for peace and dialogue in Yangon, Myanmar.

Against the backdrop of persistent ethnic tensions, the second round of the peace conference of Burmese government, army (Tatmadaw) and ethnic minorities begins on 24 May in Myanmar. The political internal climate and the relationship of Aung San Suu Kyi to the international community projected its shadows ahead.

Heinrich Boell Stiftung in collaboration with Sustainable Development Policy Institute held a panel titled, “Sustainable Energy Solutions for the Region” at the Sustainable Development Conference in December 2016.  The objective of the panel was to foster learning around renewable energies across countries in Asia in the wake of climate change and increased demand for energy due to population increase and development plans.

Under the umbrella of the Regional Green Dialogs project and in collaboration with Vasl Artists’ Collective, from April 6th to May 12th, 2017 an arts residency with five artists from Afghanistan and Pakistan is taking place in Karachi. For six weeks, the participants explore the concept of Social Sculpture that evolved from the broad understanding of art of the German artist Joseph Beuys who said ‘Every Human Being can be an Artist’. Professor Shelley Sacks, Director of the Social Sculpture Research Unit at Oxford Brookes University, UK is mentoring the residency. The artists’ works were installed on public places in Karachi and involved the general public.

The resource equity dialog held in Quetta, Balochistan on 21st April 2016, highlighted the issues around resource equity and development projects. The key question raised by the academia, civil society and researchers present at the dialog.

In 2010, by means of 18th amendment to the constitution of Pakistan, provinces were made autonomous. This amendment opened up an opportunity to rethink and formulate provincial level policies across board. Civil society in this regard has been acting as a support for the provincial governments. Bargad-Organization for Youth Development initiated a process of supporting provinces (Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in formulating youth development policies. hbs being a green foundation considered it worthwhile to support Bargad in launching of the environmental component of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa youth development policy on 29th November 2016. Following are some of the pictures from the event.

The provincial level resource equity dialogs were initiated based on the recommendations from the Federal level dialog on resource equity. The topic for each dialog at provincial level was selected around the water, land and energy nexus which was defined through the federal level dialog. The framework of each dialog was set around hbs' resource equity memo-“Resource Politics for a Fair Future”, so that the participants could be introduced to the global debate on resource equity.  Province-specific ecological case studies were also shared based on the book titled “Water in the Wilderness” to create a wider understanding of the basic ecological landscape of the province.

The NGO Natural Justice and its regional partners, with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, have jointly assisted a number of communities to develop community protocols in the context of extractive industries. You can download them and the project report here.

Heinrich Boell Stiftung along with other partners supported a stakeholder dialog titled “Framing the Pakistan Agenda for COP 22”. The event was held with two main objectives; firstly to discuss various issues pertaining to climate policy and future for Pakistan and its agenda during COP22.  Secondly, the event was also a launch of a new initiative called “the Civil Society Coalition for Climate Change” (CSCCC), a new platform of like-minded organizations formed with the objective of raising awareness, strengthening adaptive capacity and fostering partnerships that will contribute towards building climate change resilience and reducing vulnerability in Pakistan.  The CSCCC is led by the Mountains and Glaciers Protection Organization (MGPO).

For those who have held the U.S. as the bastion of all things good and right, this may be a wake-up call.

Pakistan might be one of the most vulnerable countries in the world when it comes to climate change – ranking seventh in this year’s Long-Term Climate Risk Index brought out by Germanwatch – but it still not focused on protecting its 200 million strong population from serious impacts such floods, glacier lake outbursts, and sea level rise.

"One Cube" Three, yet one! - is a documentary film by Pramod Dev. Depicting three women who work in export-oriented sectors of India's economy, the film shows how the demands of trade impact upon the personal, familial, social, economic and cultural aspects of the lives of the protagonists.

Recent infrastructure projects and developments have become a threat to National Parks all over the world. Large companies and businesses want to invest in precious land, therefore, the National Parks become the apple of the eye. In Pakistan the malpractices around development projects, personal interests and corruption are having a toll on the National Parks. The violation of National Parks’ law is a common practice thus increasing wildlife vulnerability, pollution, and deforestation. To understand the gravity of the problem and discuss possible solutions, hbs initiated visits to National Parks in Pakistan that are threatened and are going through a struggle of existence.

India likes to consider itself the “world’s largest democracy”. In practice, however, there are many restrictions on the freedom of expression. The space available to civil society organizations for action is increasingly restricted.

The Welcoming Communities Transatlantic Exchange is a unique opportunity for leaders in Germany and the U.S. to share promising approaches to welcoming and integrating immigrants and refugees into their communities.

It is not always the lack of attention from policy-makers but their capacities and knowledge on environment-related issues that put the environment on the back-burner. In Pakistan, unfortunately, there is less sensitivity about the environment and ecological considerations in policy-making circles. Therefore hbs initiated a Green Parliamentarians’ Caucus in collaboration with a premier think tank of Islamabad, the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

President Duterte is the most controversial figure in the Philippines today, and arguably in the ASEAN region. He is now President of the Philippines, which chairs ASEAN in 2017. What is in store for the Philippines and for the chairmanship of ASEAN? 

A three day (29th, 30th August and 1st September 2016) initiative called “Reclaim Ecology in the Heart of Islamabad” was launched by Heinrich Boell Stiftung in partnership with Pakistan Youth Climate Network. It was part of hbs’ larger campaign on climate change and environment conservation called “there is no planet b.”