Opinion Pieces

May 21, 2020
COVID-19’s origin has become a political issue, but this should not prevent governments from learning from China’s response to the crisis.… Read More

May 19, 2020
How and where the novel coronavirus originated has now become a highly debated political issue. But this should not preclude learning from the good practices of countries that are emerging from the global public health crisis.… Read More

May 11, 2020
Megatrends are reshaping the world as we know it. Urbanisation, demographic and social change, resource scarcity and pollution, climate change, mass migration, technological breakthroughs, globalisation, and shifts in global economic and political power are some of the forces that are impacting the lives of billions of people due to their ‘global reach, broad scope and fundamental and dramatic impact.’
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May 4, 2020
The Covid-19 crisis is drawing attention to respiratory health, and in cities with severe air pollution, people may be more vulnerable to the virus. While the world is focused on crisis mitigation, it is important not to lose sight of recurring challenges such as air pollution and environmental degradation.
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April 30, 2020
COVID-19 and its unintended environmental impacts have been discussed at length. While there have been immediate gains, such as lower greenhouse emissions and improved air quality in numerous cities, much more remains to be done to improve the state of the natural environment in the long term.… Read More

March 27, 2020
Singapore is very fortunate as the entire population has access to clean water, soap and handwashing facilities. But are these actually used by individuals and by food handlers, whether in hawker centres or fancy restaurants? Anecdotal information indicates this is often not the case.… Read More

March 18, 2020
Climate change and natural resource pollution have become part of the national security agenda in countries all over the world. Although analysts have traditionally treated the strength of sovereign borders through the lens of political or economic issues, recent years have seen increasing attention paid to how environmental issues exacerbate, complicate, and multiply these political and economic problems.… Read More

March 6, 2020
China’s response to coronavirus has been reasonably effective, but if its policymakers are to show they’ve learned anything from this and the SARS outbreak, they must make China’s wildlife trade ban permanent.
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March 4, 2020
Chinese top leader Xi Jinping has asked Party officials to be on the “highest alert to ‘black swan’ incidents and take steps to prevent ‘gray rhino’” events. He has emphasised the importance to fight well with preemptive warfare so as to prevent and withstand risks, and at the same time fight well the war of strategic initiatives to convert danger into safety and turn crises into opportunities.… Read More

January 23, 2020
Interests of Chinese companies in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues are of comparatively recent origin. Because of this, many major Chinese companies started considering seriously their ESG issues. … Read More