Sustainable Asia

In the Plasticity Podcast, Marcy speaks with innovators and entrepreneurs in the world of recycling, to find out what needs to happen in Asia for us to move away from the plastic linear economy of produce, consume, and discard and create a more circular economy of reuse and recycle.

Groundbreaking new podcast series 1986 from Sustainable Asia interviews Chinese and global ocean advocates to investigate the overfishing problem that is pushing Chinese fishing vessels into the South China Sea and beyond to find their catch.

How does a grouper from the Seychelles end up in a restaurant’s fish tank in Hong Kong? What damage is the banquet culture in Asia doing to marine species and what can be done? Three Billion is a four-part podcast series about the seafood trade in Hong Kong, China and Asia. It’s made in collaboration with chinadialogueocean and sponsored by Swire Group Charitable Trust.

The concept of deep seabed mining has been around for decades, but our growing demand for renewable energy is making this far fetched idea a reality. Renewable energy resources are perceived to be the solution to the world’s climate change problem. But, their production requires a lot of rare minerals which often come from questionable sources. What do we have to gain and lose from Mining the Deep?

In China’s Polar frontiers, we explore China’s recent positions and discussions on the icy expanses of the Arctic and Antarctica. They’ve recently established themselves as stakeholders in the future of both these areas. Why is China so interested in these polar regions? And how do the impact of warmer temperatures and climate change shift China’s priorities in the the poles?

Pangolins are the most trafficked mammal in the world, in large part due to demand from Chinese consumers. In The Pangolin Reports, we investigate their role in global conservation efforts. Scientists are pointing to these peculiar creatures as a possible source of the coronavirus outbreak in China, where a temporary ban on all wildlife trade is now in force. Could this mean fresh hope for pangolins? Why are they so sought-after? And why, despite laws preventing their trade, have they been hunted to the point of extinction?

COVID19 with HKU: Ten episodes walk you through the leading research coming out of HKU to fight COVID19.

Setting up plastic recycling systems is difficult. Like, really difficult. Especially on a national scale. In our latest series, Plastic First Mile, we travel to different parts of Asia to understand what it takes for a circular economy to become a reality instead of just a dream. From Taiwan to Indonesia, journey with us as we get to the bottom of what really happens to your bottle after you throw it in the trash.

China’s interest in Antarctica’s rich fishing grounds has grown significantly over the past 20 years. A member of the international body governing use of these resources since 2007, the country is also involved in managing the Southern Ocean’s two existing marine protected areas (MPAs). Three new MPAs are due to be voted on later this year, and China’s approval will be crucial. Will China help secure a sustainable future for Antarctica’s ocean?

From Japan to India….new ideas taking shape to tackle the decades old problem of plastic pollution in Asia… Based on a new research report by the Heinrich Boell Foundation called The Asia Plastic Atlas with support from Break Free From Plastic Asia.

It turns out, sound is really the dominant sense for animals underwater. For anything further than 10 metres away, marine life uses sound rather than sight to gather information. So human-produced noise pollution – whether its construction or shipping vessels – alters ocean animals ability to communicate, mate and even survive. In this season, we first describe the beauty of undersea animal acoustics and then dive into the impact of noise pollution on marine life in China’s southern ocean.

In February 2022, the UN Environment Assembly agreed to negotiate a global plastic treaty over the next two years. With so many Asian nations struggling under the weight of plastic waste….can the UN do for plastic what the Paris Agreement has done for climate change? How is this treaty viewed across the region?

Why haven’t the governments in Asia’s larger cities done something about the decades old problem of air pollution? Our two young environmental journalists, based in Hong Kong, Khoa Tran and Chermaine Lee, try to find out why. As always in our podcast series, we’ll talk to experts and activists on the ground to bring out a fresh local perspective….We’ve called the series Clearing the Air to add an optimistic tone because the citizen movements that we uncovered while producing this series….were so inspiring. 

Thirty percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are from food systems…and over half of those emissions…come from the two food superpowers:  the US and China.  So we went looking for solutions in the US and China to this difficult task of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.  We chose three themes:   Soil, Rice and Dairy….with the hope some of these ideas become research cooperation opportunities between the two countries.

The Global Plastics Treaty negotiations kicked off! This is a historic moment for Asia, because after decades of plastic waste washing up on their shores…finally..there may be a path forward. Join us as we talk to BFFP members and other experts about each INC meeting, to find out what YOU can do to support their work at the treaty negotiations.