The Asia-Pacific Working Group has an independent website that will be regularly updated by its members. You can view this website here.
This working group seeks to initiate collective and collaborative dialogue and discussion among scholars (from early career to senior scholars) who are interested in adding regional perspectives and insights of and from the Asia-Pacific region into Earth System Governance (ESG) research. The aim of this WG is to reflect on research and experience in different fields and disciplines and apply ESG analytical frameworks to socio-ecological challenges within the Asia-Pacific region. An important focus of this working group is also to explore how ESG research in the Asia Pacific could contribute to the global ESG research agenda, as well as to improve the current ESG governance in Asia-Pacific region and make sustainable impacts on the ground.
We believe that this initiative is timely and urgent, not only because of the rapid socio-economic development and dynamics, widening inequality and injustice, and accelerating rate of environmental changes in the Asia-Pacific region, but also due to the increasing scholarly engagement with new ideas and research innovations produced by scholars in the region to analyse and evaluate the governance of current and future socio-environmental problems.
An initial survey has been conducted to gain a better understanding of any potential interest in forming such a working group, as well as to understand the expectations and opportunities from interested Research Fellows, Senior Research Fellows, Lead Faculty members of the ESG community, or from outside the network. On February 11th, 2021, seven members affiliated with seven different institutions from the Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Indonesia gathered and agreed to form the ESG Asia-Pacific Working Group and further develop its structure and focus. We have mapped several topics of interest among the members, including climate adaptation and mitigation governance, energy transition, water governance, and sustainability governance. We are very much open to include more topics relevant to ESG in the Asia-Pacific region.
We would like to invite scholars within and beyond the ESG network who are interested in Earth System Governance in the Asia-Pacific to join us and share their ideas and interest in terms of important research and future collaboration relevant to the region and to design (short and long-term) activities together. We also welcome scholars from the region who may be focusing on issues of wider relevance. We have planned several activities such as regular meetings and research discussion sessions, which we expect to trigger scientific output (including edited books, special journal issues and journal articles) and opportunities to engage with policymakers and other actors. This will enable us to formulate policy-relevant research questions to address socio-environmental problems on the ground.
Current members:
- Milan CHEN (National Taiwan University, Taiwan)
- Muhammad Badrul HASAN (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
- Paul HARRIS (The Education University of Hong Kong EdUHK, Hong Kong)
- Tarek KATRAMIZ (Keio University, Japan)
- Erwin NUGRAHA (University of Twente, The Netherlands and Resilience Development Initiative, Indonesia)
- Mahesti OKITASARI (The United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, Japan)
- PEI Qing (The Education University of Hong kong- EdUHK, Hong Kong)
- Annisa TRIYANTI (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
- Yanuardi (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
For more information about the working group and how to join, please contact the coveners: Annisa Triyanti (a.triyanti@uu.nl) and Paul Harris (pharris@eduhk.hk) or fill in the survey here: https://forms.gle/ENv4J5pio8rZdpS7A