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The document highlights the critical role of Indigenous Peoples in Southeast Asia as stewards of biodiversity and climate stability, noting that deforestation rates on their lands are half those on other lands. It criticizes the current draft of the ASEAN declaration on environmental rights for omitting Indigenous Peoples, which the authors argue leads to human rights violations, land dispossession, and the marginalization of traditional ecological knowledge. The brief provides specific recommendations for the declaration, including the recognition of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the protection of Indigenous Environmental Human Rights Defenders.

The report identifies opportunities to reduce direct emissions from the food, agriculture, and land use (FALU) sector in Southeast Asia by 1.9 billion tons of CO2-eq per year. It highlights that FALU is responsible for 54% of the region's total greenhouse gas emissions, with deforestation and peatland degradation acting as the primary drivers. The analysis emphasizes 'hotspots' where targeted interventions—such as protecting 20% of carbon-dense forests or improving rice cultivation on 20% of farms—can yield disproportionately high emissions savings. Key solutions include legal forest protection, non-continuous flooding in rice paddies, and improved nitrogen fertilizer management. The report also discusses indirect solutions like shifting diets toward the EAT-Lancet planetary health diet and reducing food loss and waste, while detailing co-benefits such as improved air quality, water security, and enhanced farmer incomes.

The report examines how voluntary sustainability initiatives (VSIs) in the mining sector address forest risks. It finds that while VSIs are growing in membership and scope, they often lack biome-specific language, fail to address the full mining lifecycle, and suffer from governance gaps and weak market incentives. The analysis of 20 VSIs reveals that about half do not explicitly recognize forest impacts. The report argues that VSIs must move beyond broad sustainability language to integrate specific criteria and collaborate with governments to raise regulatory baselines to effectively protect forests, especially as demand for energy transition minerals increases.

The document analyzes the spillover of conflict-related online risks—such as disinformation, hate speech, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence—into domestic environments. It argues that while the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) and UK's Online Safety Act (OSA) were not primarily designed for conflict settings, their systemic risk assessments and crisis protocols can be leveraged to hold platforms accountable. The brief highlights critical gaps, including the erasure of war crime evidence due to over-moderation and the role of engagement-driven algorithms in amplifying harmful content. It recommends structured cross-border cooperation, the development of evidence-preservation protocols, and a shift toward outcome-based metrics in platform risk reporting.

The report examines whether Official Development Assistance (ODA) prevents or exacerbates violent conflict. A systematic review of 20 studies indicates that while assistance can foster stability by improving livelihoods and accountable governance, it can also fuel violence by creating 'prizes' for elite capture or provoking insurgent backlash. Case studies of South Sudan and Mozambique highlight a contrast between fragmented states and capable but exclusionary states, suggesting that prevention strategies must be tailored to the specific institutional context. The authors recommend shifting from externally imposed state-building models toward community-driven initiatives and inclusive governance reforms.

The 2025/26 Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index ranks 181 countries, with Denmark scoring highest (.939) and Afghanistan lowest (.279). The report highlights a global stagnation or decline in women's status, coinciding with a historic peak in armed conflict. In 2024, 676 million women lived within 50 kilometers of armed conflict, a 74 percent increase since 2010. While developed countries generally lead the rankings, significant improvements were noted in fragile states like Congo and South Sudan. The report emphasizes the disproportionate impact of conflict on women, citing severe humanitarian crises in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan, Myanmar, and Ethiopia, and calls for urgent investment in women to foster peaceful and resilient societies.

The report identifies significant legal fragmentation and gaps across 12 tiger range countries (TRCs), particularly regarding the regulation of the entire trade chain, captive breeding, hybrid species, and digital markets. Key findings highlight that while tigers are protected, many TRCs lack mandatory confiscation requirements, comprehensive definitions of 'wildlife trade', and explicit regulations for tiger hybrids. Enforcement is often hindered by fragmented inter-agency coordination and a lack of specialized powers for frontline officers. Furthermore, online trade is largely under-regulated, and only a few countries adequately link wildlife crime to anti-money laundering frameworks as a predicate offence. The report recommends mandating permanent inter-agency task forces, criminalising all acts in the trafficking chain, and aligning national laws with CITES and UNTOC standards to combat transnational organised crime.

The document argues that while 'ecological security' is not yet widely recognized in Southeast Asia, it is essential for addressing interconnected threats like the Mekong polycrisis, green transition externalities, and environmental crimes. It highlights the tension between security services and civil society, the influence of US-China competition on resource extraction and infrastructure, and the need for a holistic framework that bridges the gap between political-security and environmental specialists.

The report argues that artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is an underestimated but significant contributor to the global supply of critical minerals, particularly cobalt, tin, and tantalum. It highlights that while some minerals like lithium have high potential for ASM extraction in pegmatite deposits, others like graphite are less viable due to low value per unit of weight. The document emphasizes that the sector's deep informality, lack of geological data, and restrictive licensing frameworks hinder its potential. It presents case studies from the DRC, Indonesia, and Chile to demonstrate both the challenges of informality and the success of formalization models like Chile's ENAMI. The report concludes that for ASM to become a reliable supplier, governments must streamline licensing, provide geological foundations for small-scale plots, and create tailored regulatory frameworks specifically for critical minerals rather than relying on generic gold or gemstone policies.

The roadmap, developed following a 2023 science-policy dialogue with 45 regional stakeholders, provides 15 recommendations to address 'next generation' climate risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. These recommendations are categorized into research and knowledge sharing, policy and governance, and implementation, capacity strengthening, and finance, aiming to establish new channels and leverage existing entities for regional cooperation.

The report identifies several climate-smart water technologies for rice cultivation in the Mekong Region, such as Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and Modern Irrigation Systems (MIS), which can significantly reduce water consumption. It analyzes the policy landscapes of Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, noting that while national strategies exist, adoption is hindered by financial barriers, technical gaps, and insecure land tenure. The document recommends strengthening policy frameworks, increasing access to credit, and fostering public-private partnerships to enhance agricultural resilience and food security.

ASEAN's electricity demand grew by 3.6% in 2023, a rise entirely met by fossil fuels, leading to a 6.6% increase in power sector emissions. While solar and wind costs are falling, the region remains heavily dependent on coal and gas, and hydropower has become less reliable due to climate-induced droughts. The report argues that scaling renewable capacity by 3-5x by 2035, implementing direct power purchase agreements, and expanding the ASEAN Power Grid are essential to meet rising demand and climate goals. It also highlights the potential for a regional compliance carbon market and the importance of a just transition to secure social acceptance.

The report finds that international concessional climate finance grew by 50% from 2019 to reach USD 81 billion in 2022, though it remains small compared to fossil fuel subsidies. Sub-Saharan Africa is the primary recipient of these flows. The analysis highlights a gap in adaptation finance and a lack of standardized impact metrics. Domestic concessional finance is heavily concentrated in high-income economies, particularly Western Europe, and focuses primarily on mitigation. The report recommends redirecting fossil fuel subsidies, targeting fragile and conflict-affected states, and streamlining project approval processes to enhance efficiency.

The report examines how fossil fuels correlate with inter-state wars, militarism, and internal violence, while advocating for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to manage a just transition to renewable energy. It highlights the 'peacetime-wartime continuum' of violence, noting that fossil fuel revenues often fund conflicts and that extraction sites frequently experience human rights abuses and gender-based violence. The document calls for a treaty based on non-proliferation, a fair phase-out, and a global just transition to prevent the replication of colonial extractivist patterns in the renewable energy sector.

The document outlines eleven reasons why the media should report on disaster risk reduction (DRR), framing it as a multifaceted issue spanning politics, economics, human rights, environment, culture, gender, and health. It emphasizes that media coverage can save lives by disseminating early warnings, holding governments accountable for bad governance or corruption, and highlighting the role of traditional knowledge in survival. The guide notes that disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity due to factors like climate change and environmental degradation, with 2022 damages totaling approximately $270bn.

The report analyzes 450 votes and 5,850 voting decisions by African states at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) between 2006 and 2022. It finds that the African Group generally opposes or is unwilling to defend civil and political rights, particularly regarding sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) and freedom of expression. The group frequently protects African states from international scrutiny through country-specific resolutions while remaining inconsistent or indifferent toward human rights violations in non-African countries. Despite a general decline in the domestic freedom scores of its members, the group's HRC voting patterns show a slight shift toward a more human rights-friendly direction after 2010, though it remains largely obstructive toward intrusive mandates for African nations.

China has positioned itself as a leader in green technology transfer to the Global South, utilizing the Belt and Road Initiative and the South–South Climate Cooperation Fund to deploy renewable energy, green agriculture, and electric vehicle technologies. While achieving significant scale—including exporting photovoltaic modules to over 100 countries—the brief identifies critical challenges: a gap between environmental commitments and actual impacts, deficiencies in ESG disclosure, geopolitical tensions, and limited local operational capacity. To improve sustainability, the document recommends enhancing transparency, aligning with global ESG standards, and fostering locally led innovation ecosystems through active partner ownership and capacity building.

China has positioned itself as a leader in green technology innovation, utilizing aid, trade, and investment to support the energy transition in the Global South. Through mechanisms like the Belt and Road Initiative and the South–South Climate Cooperation Fund, China has deployed renewable energy, electric vehicles, and sustainable agricultural technologies across Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. However, the effectiveness of these partnerships is hindered by gaps between environmental commitments and actual impacts, limited local operational capacity, geopolitical tensions with Western nations, and difficulties in meeting global ESG standards.

The report argues that the World Bank Group, Asian Development Bank, and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have policy gaps regarding 'captive coal'—coal plants dedicated to industrial facilities. It highlights how these loopholes risk funding carbon-intensive processing of minerals like nickel, which are essential for the energy transition, thereby undermining global climate goals.

The author contends that the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline would undermine China's energy security by increasing dependence on Russia, create unnecessary capital expenditure in an oversaturated market, and conflict with China's goal to peak carbon emissions by 2030.