Asia-Pacific ClimateScapes

The Asia-Pacific ClimateScapes project was led by Dr Peter Howson in collaboration with Dr Oliver Hensengerth from Northumbria University, as well as Dr Rini Astuti from the Australian National University; Prof Sara Kindon from the Victoria University of Wellington; and Dr Van Pham Dang Tri and Dr Huynh Van Da from Can Tho University. It was funded by the British Academy.

The purpose of this project was to provide background context to decarbonisation strategies across the Asia-Pacific region. By reviewing existing policies and stakeholder interests, whilst zooming-in on particular case studies, the final report provides recommendations for promoting just transitions to sustainability. It also highlights the challenges and trade-offs in fulfilling decarbonisation objectives regionally.

Through regional partnership networks, the project engaged a large portfolio of ongoing nature-based climate change and decarbonisation initiatives in countries across the Asia-Pacific. It adopted a multi-landscape approach and regional political ecology to consider the intersecting social, political, and economic challenges towards decarbonisation across interconnected work packages, including: 1) RiverScapes, 2) ForestScapes, and 3) OceanScapes.

In doing so, the research activities were set out to address the following three questions:

How do young people understand ‘just transitions’, i.e., what trade-offs are they facing, what are the sacrifices they are willing to make, and what do they expect from policymakers to ensure sustainable futures?
How do young people engage with environmental change and how do they understand and frame the threats arising to their livelihoods?
How do young people take action for climate adaptation and mitigation?

Using textual analysis, interviews, and participatory action research the project explored the role of young people in envisioning and charting a future for living in coastal zones, major river deltas, and tropical forests in times of rapid environmental change.

You can find out more about the research and the authors here, as well as download the final project report in different languages from the links below: