In Southern Afghanistan, an urgent crisis is brewing. Water scarcity is driving large-scale displacement and migration, threatening to escalate into a global issue. Decades of drought have depleted traditional water sources, pushing communities to rely on unsustainable groundwater extraction.
Within Taliban governance, the absence of a constitution or legal structure leaves Emir's decrees as the principal guiding force. This policy brief looks at Taliban governance and the challenges posed by the reliance on moral guidance.
In 2023, tensions peaked between Afghanistan and Pakistan over the expulsion of Afghan nationals. This brief examines the institutional response, challenges, and recommendations for international support.
To successfully achieve a peaking and rapid decline in emissions, China will need increased efforts on energy efficiency, a successful transformation of the economic growth model, or even higher investments into clean energy.
This policy brief is an expanded version of the Submission made by the Manila Observatory to the UNFCCC Transitional Committee after a sector-wide SEA-specific workshop in Bangkok, Thailand August 2023.
This policy paper investigates the trend towards authoritarian elections in mainland Southeast Asia – in Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar – with a focus on the right to political participation.
Activists and amateur women filmmakers have played a pivotal role in capturing the realities of life under the Taliban rule. They have utilised social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter to obtain an unfiltered perspective of Afghanistan. This E-Paper explores the insights that can be gained from these films in our efforts to understand the current crisis that women in Afghanistan face.
Seventeen months after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, little has been done to address local level grievances and disputes that have fuelled decades of conflict. This report, based on field research conducted from October 2021 to March 2022 in Helmand province, strongly argues that these grievances risk erupting into renewed violence and further destabilising the country.
In this groundbreaking report tracking China’s climate transition, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) assessed China’s progress in curbing emissions against 19 different benchmarks and carried out a survey of 26 Chinese energy sector analysts and experts.
The study by Asia expert Dieter Reinhardt shows why the construction of this coal-fired power plant is an exemplary anachronism: it prevents the expansion of renewable energies, which is necessary because of climate change and for which Bangladesh has the potential; and it weakens coastal protection, which should have priority in view of rising sea levels.
Malaysia and Singapore share a history of suppression of youth activism by the state, and as a result, this has led to the depoliticisation of young people, who are often labelled as apathetic. However, the changing realities of both countries, such as the instability of the economy, has led young people to engage more in political discussions in recent years. However, the rise of youth activism also entails rising harassment and state suppression of youth activists through surveillance, arrests and threats to future employability.
Based on 34 individual interviews with youth activists involved in the peaceful anti-coup resistance movement in Myanmar, this paper asks: What are the conceptualisations, motivations and expectations held by youth activists participating in the peaceful 2021 anti-coup movement, and what challenges do they face?
The business of the AIIB is the financing of large infrastructure projects such as power plants, dams and transport routes. Such investments are inherently associated with high environmental and social risks, as well as corruption and high levels of debt. This study provides an overview of the institution's close alignment with China and its transparency and information disclosure rules.
The 10th issue of Perspectives Asia takes a look at how the pandemic is reshaping state/society relationships in different Asian countries; it also shares down-to-earth Covid-19 experiences from different regions and cultures, on issues as diverse as trust in government institutions, the situation of migrant workers, and gender relationships.
Evolving around the main essay “Sharing life. The Ecopolitics of Reciprocity”, all contributions to this assemblage reflect a common understanding that ecology and biodiversity needs to be reclaimed – and constantly generated – as a process of lived and living realities in a system of reciprocal relationships.
This issue of Perspectives Asia examines intersections of sports and politics. We look at how, through sports, identities are shaped, myths and heroes are born, and unconventional truths are buried.
The Salah Consortium, a consortium of 6 Afghan civil society organisations, conducted a survey in order to give ordinary Afghans a voice in the peace process and to learn about their expectations. Responses of the survey show, that the people perceive a more prominent role for civil society, tribal elders and other members of society, while the current process is largely driven by foreigners and the Afghan political elite.
This edition of Perspectives Asia presents the work of climate change activists in Asia who are calling their governments and people to action. With contributions from Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, India, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam, and Hong Kong.
In the last years, a number of countries decided to join the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which has developed into a major player in the global financial architecture in record time. Korinna Horta's analysis of the situation regarding the respective standards after three years of AIIB in operation is very sobering.
Report from the Commission "Perspectives for a Forward-Looking and Sustainable Refugee and Immigration Policy" of the Heinrich Böll Foundation with important impulses for politics and society in migration and integration.