On Earth Day, it is easy to be overwhelmed by all the difficult environmental problems facing the world. Each day there are new reports of melting icecaps, illegal logging, animal extinction, and rising sea levels. The list goes on. Instead, we challenge you to make a difference by drawing inspiration from some Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) participants that are making a difference.
Southeast Asia’s precious oceans are in the midst of a crisis. The region is home to one of the largest concentrations of marine biodiversity in the world. It houses the Coral Triangle, a marine region that includes Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The region contains over 500 species of reef-building corals, thousands of fish species, and six (of the world’s seven) marine turtle species. Four ASEAN countries are in the top 20 fishing economies, which produce over 15% of the world’s fish in the wild. Unfortunately, Southeast Asia has millions of humans impacting the environment. This anthropogenic activity is threatening many of its…
Read more of “The Most Life-Threatening Issues Facing ASEAN’s Oceans”
In an era in which “all politics is local,” there is perhaps no issue that is more global than the environment. While pollution of the soil can be contained (to a point), water and air pollution are notoriously “cross-border” in nature. If we look at the world as a snow globe, 70% of which is a single interconnected ocean, perhaps we would be more cognizant of the way we interact with these critical elements. Young people have been keen (even “hip”?) to the way mankind has been, at worse, abusive, and at best, benign toward protection of the environment since…
Read more of “Why Environmentalism and Exchanges are a Perfect Match”