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NewSecurityBeat

The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
Showing posts from category Japan.
  • China, Japan, and Korea: “Cleaner” Than the Worst Coal Plants, but Nowhere Near “Clean” Energy

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    China Environment Forum  //  December 17, 2020  //  By Cecilia Han Springer & Dinah Shi
    AP_2020-12-15_BlogImage2

    This article originally appeared on Asia Dispatches, a blog of the Wilson Center’s Asia Program.

    The convergence of environmental pressures and economic recession due to the COVID-19 pandemic makes the future of international finance for coal-fired power plants increasingly uncertain. Environmental advocates have long been concerned about international coal investments locking host nations into decades of harmful air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions that cause global climate change. Now, the future of these planned coal plants is at a crossroads.

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  • China’s Waste Import Ban: Dumpster Fire or Opportunity for Change?

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    China Environment Forum  //  July 19, 2018  //  By Guo Chen
    Empty Chinese plastic bottles ready to be recycled

    In early January of this year, China’s “National Sword” policy banned imports of non-industrial plastic waste. The ban forces exporting countries to find new dumping grounds for their waste, which is estimated to total nearly 111 million metric tons by 2030. China’s decision has exposed deep structural flaws and interdependencies in the global waste management system. Western countries that have long depended on China to take their garbage are now struggling to deal with mounds of plastic trash, while China lacks the low-priced labor needed to effectively sort and process waste.

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  • As China Adjusts for “True Cost” of Rare Earths, What Does It Mean for Decarbonization?

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    China Environment Forum  //  Guest Contributor  //  March 21, 2017  //  By Hongqiao Liu
    hongqiao-liu1

    Known as the “vitamins of industry,” rare earths refer to a cluster of minerals widely used in green technologies such as wind turbines, rechargeable batteries, and electric vehicles. Rare earth elements embedded in these products keep them light, efficient, and affordable. They’re essential to the decarbonization of the global economy envisioned in the Paris Climate Agreement, agreed to by 192 countries in 2015. And we may soon face a significant shortage, due in no small part to changes in China.

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  • As More Aid Flows to Fragile States, a Call for a Better Approach

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    March 7, 2017  //  By Sreya Panuganti

    Global poverty has been reduced dramatically over the past two decades. Less than 11 percent of the world’s population were living in extreme poverty in 2013 compared to 35 percent in 1990. But improvements have largely come in stable countries. Many of the remaining pockets of extreme poverty are in “fragile states,” countries that are vulnerable to internal and external shocks and can easily tip into crisis when faced with an environmental, economic, social, or political change.

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  • Report: Reducing Risks from Rapid Demographic Change

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    October 27, 2016  //  By Cara Thuringer
    fortress-europe

    The world is undergoing a period of demographic transition which presents both opportunities and challenges for governments. A report by the Atlantic Council’s Mathew Burrows, formerly of the National Intelligence Council, Reducing the Risks from Rapid Demographic Change, examines the changes in population structures across high-, upper-middle-, lower-middle-, and low-income countries.

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  • As Ivory Becomes Bigger Issue, Environmental Peacebuilding Gaining Ground at IUCN World Congress

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    Guest Contributor  //  October 21, 2016  //  By Bethany N. Bella
    elephants

    A traditional conservation approach to climate change (e.g., habitat restoration, species protection) has been a primary tenet of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) agenda for decades. But this fall at the quadrennial World Conservation Congress in Hawai’i there were new discussions about tackling climate change in the context of national security and environmental peacebuilding.

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  • Wild Laws: China and Its Role in Wildlife Trafficking

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    China Environment Forum  //  From the Wilson Center  //  September 12, 2016  //  By Evie Kirschke-Schwartz
    rhino-remote

    Picture your typical farm: Pigs, cows, chickens, goats…and tigers? This may sound far-fetched, but many iconic wild animals – including tigers, bears, and rhinos – are now farmed en masse in China.

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  • From Brown to Green: Three Scenarios for a Southeast Asian Regional Energy Grid

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    Guest Contributor  //  September 7, 2016  //  By Molly McKeon & Adam Greer
    Lopburi-solar

    Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing energy markets in the world. Regional demand for energy may grow by as much as 80 percent and electricity demand more than triple by 2040. To keep up, governments are working to expand coordination across borders and create a broader regional energy grid (indeed their efforts predate their northern neighbors’ recent announcement of a “supergrid” by several decades).

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