Postgraduate Student Seminar: Climate Change, the Media, and Politics in South and Southeast Asia

Asia is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to climate change. In 2021, climate disasters affected over 57 million people across the region. Rising waters are projected to cost Asia’s major cities billions in damage this decade. This year we have witnessed devastating flooding in Pakistan but also deadly floods in India and Vietnam. As a region with varying levels of socioeconomic development, and political and media freedom, the ability of governments to respond and prepare for climate emergencies is severely tested.

The Ireland India Institute and DCU’s Centre for Climate and Society held a seminar on 8 November with three postgraduate students to discuss these issues in three South and Southeast Asian countries. The speakers were:

• Rabia Qusien, PhD candidate, School of Communications, DCU

“The media representation of heatwaves in Pakistan”

• Sinead Fox, Environmental Awareness Officer of Fingal County Council

“A Political Ecology of Coastal Flooding: A Case Study of the Sundarbans Islands, India”

• Damien Kelly, Assistant Director of CEA Study Abroad

“A Transboundary Political Ecology of Environmental Change in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam”

Moderator: Dr Danny Marks (School of Law & Government, DCU)