Climate Change in Southeast Asia: Progress on UN Sustainable Development Goal 13

• Main Authors: DING, Kuan Yong David, BEH, Sarah Emily
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: Climate change; Sustainable development; ASEAN; Environmental performance; Environmental Sciences; Growth and Development
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7218
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Climate change is a threat and has wreaked havoc on Southeast Asia’s economy and its citizens. It hurts the productivity of the agricultural sector, threatens food security, and leads to adverse health impacts. ASEAN’s member states see climate change as a pertinent issue and place great importance on their adapting to climate change, while playing a vital role in contributing to the global reduction of emissions. It is commendable that all ASEAN member states have integrated comprehensive climate-related measures into their policy planning. To understand the effectiveness of ASEAN’s regional efforts in tackling climate change, this chapter carries out an evaluation on the region’s policies and efforts to combat and adapt to climate change. The authors conclude that more aggressive efforts on adaptation and mitigation efforts must be taken for ASEAN to play a pivotal role toward limiting the rise in temperature to less than 1.5 °C from the pre-industrial period to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals on Climate Change (Goal 13).