The biggest challenges facing ASEAN are crisis preparation and climate change. From 2004 to 2014, half of the global disaster fatalities were ASEAN citizens. The economic impact of natural disasters such as floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, have resulted in US$91 billion of economic damage.
Climate risk and pandemic risk are closely intertwined. Environmental degradation, habitat and forest loss and rising temperatures all increase the risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases, such as COVID-19, among humans. Even as countries grapple with their response to COVID-19, climate events threaten to complicate response efforts.
Here are some of the key recommendation from the ASEAN-ISIS Mid-Term Report to tackle crisis preparation and climate change. The report looks at how ASEAN has fared in meeting its 2025 Vision. It was directed by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) as chair of the ASEAN-ISIS network (an association of think tanks within Southeast Asia that is affiliated with ASEAN), for the year 2020 and is supported by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Foundation.
