By ANTONIA BHAGWAN* SUVA, Fiji | 28 September 2026 (IDN|Wansolwara) — The South Pacific region with its many vulnerable island nations may have moved beyond the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but its economic consequences continue to weigh on governments across the region. Once again, countries are facing rising debt levels. In its 2026 Pacific […]
Earthquakes and Japan: Does Preparedness Truly Equal Prevention?
By Kadhija Mohamed TOKYO | 8 September 2026 (IDN) — This past couple of months, our planet has seen a seemingly significant rise in the number of higher magnitude earthquakes in regions near tectonic fault lines all over the world. Last month alone there were devastating earthquakes with a magnitude of five or higher in […]
Frontline Pacific: Greening The Earth May Pollute The Oceans
By Kalinga Seneviratne * SYDNEY, Australia | 24 August 2026 (IDN) — In the past year there has been a scramble by the big powers to secure the continuing supply of “rare mineral” that are used in batteries driving electric cars and wind power turbines. There is a looming catastrophe awaiting the Pacific Ocean if […]
Thailand and Myanmar Sign Agreement To Tackle Transboundary River Pollution, But Can They Do It Alone?
By Kalinga Seneviratne* BANGKOK, Thailand | 12 August 2026 (IDN) — Witnessed by the visiting Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing and Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the two ASEAN members signed a Terms of Reference (TOR) on 7th August for the establishment of a joint working group on water quality management for transboundary rivers, such […]
How cowpea is securing resilience and nutrition for farmers in Africa
By Busani Bafana BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe | 16 March 2026 (IDN) — In villages in Kano State in Northern Nigeria, farmers do not fear the drought. When their maize crop fails, as it does often, cowpea flourishes. They harvest enough of the bean to feed their families with extra to sell and pay school fees for […]
Diving Deep into Natural Disasters: Real or Fake?
By Fathima Kadhija Mohamed* TOKYO | 26 December 2025 (IDN) — The recent rise in natural disasters worldwide has inflicted serious damage on infrastructure and economies across several nations—from typhoons and floods devastating South Asia and Africa to wildfires in Iran, Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean, and spontaneous earthquakes across Asia. Yet while these disasters […]
Can Global Climate Diplomacy Still Deliver?
COP30 and the Amazon Reckoning This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | 28 November 2025 (IDN) — When world leaders arrived in Belém for COP30 on 10 November, the symbolism was clear. Delegates entered a city where the air is thick with humidity, the scent of river mud blends with […]
The Changing Monsoon in The Himalayas: Lessons from Bhutan’s Floods
By Madhurima Sarkar-Swaisgood, Prangya Paramita Gupta, Shashwat Avi, and Sanjay Srivastava, ESCAP* BANGKOK | 29 October 2025 (IDN) — The Himalayan arc from Bhutan through Nepal and India into Pakistan has always followed the rhythm of the monsoon. In 2025, that rhythm became deadly. Rain that sustains agriculture and rivers turned destructive, testing the capacity […]
How Island Nations Are Rewriting Climate Finance
Caribbean states are pioneering bold financial reforms to survive climate change. This article was first published on https://rjaura.substack.com BERLIN | 18 October 2025 (IDN) — When hurricanes strike the Caribbean, they leave behind more than just destruction. They also leave debt. Small island developing states (SIDS) often have to borrow large sums at high interest […]
Saving the Emerald Forest
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 16 September 2025 (IDN) — Belem is the Brazilian city at the mouth of the Amazon. Unlike its slummy counterpart, Kinshasa, at the mouth of the Congo, it is full of resplendent streets with beautiful nineteenth-century houses. It has squares and marketplaces filled with cafes, fountains, and life. In […]