Southeast Asia on its path towards a sustainable energy and climate policy - Regional Programme Energy Security and Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific
Event Reports
The main goal of the presentation had been to raise the young audience's awareness of the topic, deepen their knowledge and provide stimuli to develop own ideas. Dr. Peter Hefele, director of RECAP, gave an introduction into the recent developments in energy and resources politics and regional impacts of climate change. Asia in particular is heavily affected by the growing demand on energy and natural resources. The presentation dealt with the unequal distribution of resources in the region and the risk of transborder conflicts which are triggered and fueled by claims on disputed resources. Dr. Hefele subsequently showed the possible consequences of climate change for Southeast Asia and explained basic principles for sustainable action in energy and climate politics.
The presentations were held at the Royal University Phnom Penh, the University of Cambodia and at an evening lecture for KAS alumni. All events were attended by a large number of students who followed the presentations attentively. The young audience critically discussed the problems and contributed with own questions and experiences.
Besides the presentations, RECAP also established new contacts to potential partner institutions in Thailand and Cambodia. Representatives of the regional project informed themselves about the current situation of energy and climate politics in the countries. They had appointments with the Supreme Administrative Court of Thailand, the Ministry for Mines and Energy in Cambodia as well as representatives of NGOs, institutes, enterprises and universities. Most of these institutions have already been partners of the KAS country offices in Thailand and Cambodia for a long time. They demonstrated great interest in a cooperation with RECAP and presented concrete ideas for future cooperation.
In September 2016, a workshop for climate-related and environmental journalism will be conducted jointly with the KAS country office Cambodia. Journalism students will work together with experienced journalists to conduct field studies. The students gain further experiences in investigative journalism and broaden their knowledge on energy and climate politics.
