"A report of the CSIS Asian Regionalism Initiative, July 2010."

"This new report by energy, regional, and humanitarian disaster specialists at CSIS examines the politics of climate change in Asia, the region's response to natural disasters, and the implications for the future geometry of Asia's institutions and U.S. policy in the region. The assessment looks broadly at two areas of nontraditional security cooperation in Asia: (1) climate change, including the domestic political factors in Asia and the regional strategies for securing low-carbon pathways; and (2) regional approaches to disaster management. The volume draws on case studies to assess the utility of existing and emerging institutions--the promises as well as the problems--as the United States and the region seek greater cooperation on both traditional and nontraditional security challenges. The authors discuss the problems related to lack of coordination at different levels, the uncertain role of the military, and continuing gaps in resources and expertise in key organizations. Looking ahead, the authors conclude that the United States will continue to play a critical role in supporting the region's response to many of the natural disasters it will face. They also recommend that the United States seek to focus Asia's attention on the long-term threat of climate change and other slow-onset disasters. As the authors explain, not only is the region expected to be a major victim of the consequences of climate change, it is a source of the threat itself. They recommend that the United States continue its bilateral and multilateral programs to increase energy efficiency and the use of alternative energy and clean-coal technology and that it also begin to explore broad, secure, low-carbon pathways within the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate."--Publisher description.

This book, focuses on South and Southeast Asia, upgrades our understanding of the influence of multiple sociopolitical and governance factors on climate change and risks. Moving beyond science and technology-oriented discussions on climate change, it argues that the real solutions to climate change problems lie in societies, governance systems, non-state actors, and the power and politics underpinning these systems. It presents a range of detailed conceptual, empirical, and policy-oriented insights from different nations of South and Southeast Asia, including India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Maldives, and Bhutan. The chapters bring forth critical discussions of climate change, covering a diverse range of topics including livelihoods, gender, community perspectives, relocation, resilience, local politics, climate change communication, governance, and policy responses. By investigating climate change vulnerabilities and as well as offering feasible solutions to the states and other non-state actors in responding to climate change and risks, this book deepens our existing knowledge of the social and political dimensions of climate change. With interdisciplinary perspectives, this book will appeal to all students, researchers, and scholars of environmental studies, geography, disaster studies, sociology, policy studies, development studies, and political science. It provides valuable reading to practitioners, policymakers, and professionals working in related fields.

In this volume, contributors look at response, recovery and adaptation to climate-induced disasters, in Asia-Pacific - the world's most disaster-prone region. Chapters examine case studies from Cambodia, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Samoa.

Displacements in the Asia Pacific region are escalating. The region has for decades experienced more than half of the world’s natural disasters and, in recent years, a disproportionately high share of extreme weather-related disasters, which displaced 19 million people in 2013 alone. This volume offers an innovative and thought-provoking Asia-Pacific perspective on an intensifying global problem: the forced displacement of people from their land, homes, and livelihoods due to development, disasters and environmental change. This book draws together theoretical and multidisciplinary perspectives with diverse case studies from around the region – including China’s Three Gorges Reservoir, Japan’s Fukushima disaster, and the Pacific’s Banaba resettlement. Focusing on responses to displacement in the context of power asymmetries and questions of the public interest, the book highlights shared experiences of displacement, seeking new approaches and solutions that have potential global application. This book shows how displaced peoples respond to interlinked impacts that unravel their social fabric and productive bases, whether through sporadic protest, organised campaigns, empowered mobility or; even community-based negotiation of resettlement solutions. . The volume will be of great interest to researchers and postgraduate students in development studies, environmental and climate change studies, anthropology, sociology, human geography, international law and human rights.

This book explores how climate change and disaster risks threaten human security in Asia. Climate change and disaster risks have emerged as major human security challenges in the twenty-first century, and are an imminent “threat multiplier” with the potential to harm the vital core of human life and curtail people’s freedom and ability to live with dignity. Climate change and disaster risks undermine the security of individuals, communities, nations, and the world, considering the increasing trend in the frequency and magnitude of hydro-meteorological disasters and the projections on their future adverse impacts. Despite recent advances in the literature, there is still a major gap in understanding the relationship and linkages between climate change, disaster risks, and human security, particularly as gleaned from the Asian experience. Asia is the world’s most vulnerable region in terms of the quantity and magnitude of impacts from various forms of disaster. At the same time, it has developed a number of innovative responses to address those risks, offering a wealth of experience. Exploring and capitalizing on the Asian perspective, this book provides valuable resource material for students, academics, researchers, policymakers, and development practitioners working in these areas.

This compendium looks at Asian and European policies for dealing with climate change, and possible impacts on conflicts and security. It clarifies the impacts of climate change on natural resources, on the frequency and expansion of natural disasters and the repercussions for environmentally-induced migration.