Sustainable Security

December 2022

Dr Marty Natalegawa, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, wrote that Southeast Asia is surrounded by complex power dynamics, competition, and conflict. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has in the past managed the challenges creditably. Yet, the increasingly intense contestation among major powers necessitates renewal of a foresightful approach in maintaining the relevance of ASEAN and in securing its security.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Securing ASEAN’s Security Amidst Geopolitical Divides”

Julius Cesar Trajano, Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) – The Philippines is seeking nuclear energy partnerships with various countries and allies as it aims to address the twin challenges of achieving energy security and reducing carbon emissions. How can advanced small modular nuclear reactors help the Philippines in its transition to clean energy?
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Small Modular Reactors in the Philippines’ Journey Toward Nuclear Energy”

November 2022

Distinguished Fellow, RSIS, and Nanyang Professor of Practice, NTU, Mr Barry Desker, wrote that the ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh would likely highlight three initiatives to push the regional economic agenda forward. The thrust will focus on consolidating gains from facilitating trade, harnessing digitalisation, and embedding sustainability in ASEAN’s economic integration.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Advancing the ASEAN Economic Community: More Trade, Digitalisation and Sustainability”

Jose M.L. Montesclaros, Research Fellow with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) – There has been increasing uncertainty, with Russia opting out from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and re-joining five days later. In this brief period, wheat and maize prices jumped for commodity traders. These events portend continuing instability in supply of essential food items amid the Ukraine war and putting Asia’s food security at risk.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Uncertainty in the Black Sea: Implications for Asia’s Food Security”

October 2022

Assistant Professor Stefanie Kam wrote that – As Xi Jinping secures a historic third term at the 20ᵗʰ Party Congress, China’s foreign policy objectives in the years ahead will be driven by economic, political and security initiatives shaped by both domestic and international political determinants.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Economic, Political and Security Imperatives in Xi Jinping’s Third Term”

Jose M.L. Montesclaros, Research Fellow with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) wrote that debt-distressed countries are handicapped in riding the rising costs of imported food and farming inputs amidst monetary policy shifts internationally. It is timely to rebuild “real food economies” to improve food availability and affordability, hence averting food crises and ensuing political and social instability.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “International Currency Instability and Food Security: Time to Rebuild ‘Real Food Economies’?”

Paul Teng, Senior Adjunct Senior Fellow, and Jose M.L. Montesclaros, Research Fellow, both with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) wrote that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has aggravated food insecurity worldwide and encouraged various countries to find new ways to manage this threat, including policies to substitute costly imported agricultural inputs like synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Sri Lanka’s recent experience shows that drastic policy changes can have disastrous political and societal consequences.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Global Food Insecurity – The Danger of Misguided Food Production Policies: The Case of Sri Lanka”

Margareth Sembiring, Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), wrote that Recent developments in Indonesia’s sustainability outlook that includes a net-zero goal by 2060 are pointing to stronger commitments to reducing carbon emissions from energy use. At the same time, short- to medium-term realities, and a lack of public trust may derail the long-term sustainability vision.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Indonesia’s 2060 Net-Zero Ambition: The Challenges Ahead”

September 2022

Choo Ruizhi, Senior Analyst with the National Security Studies Programme (NSSP), wrote that Singapore shifted completely from pork self-sufficiency to meeting all its pork needs through imports in 1984. As Singapore turns toward boosting local food production, what insights can be gleaned from this shift from local production 38 years ago?
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Singapore’s Food Security – Rethinking Self-Sufficiency: Lessons from Singapore’s Pig Farming Past”

July 2022

Paul Teng, Senior Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), wrote that the current food insecurity caused by the three Cs — COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and conflicts — has highlighted the reliance of many ASEAN states on imported staple food and feed.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Global Food Insecurity – Food Import: Reducing ASEAN’s Dependency”

June 2022

Paul Teng, Senior Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), and Genevieve Donnellon-May, master’s student in Water Science, Policy and Management at the University of Oxford, wrote that water is indispensable for agriculture. Farming globally, on which millions depend for livelihood, has become more volatile due to water insecurity.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Growing Food Insecurity – Global Water Crisis: Options for Food Security”

Genevieve Donnellon-May, master’s student in Water Science, Policy and Management at the University of Oxford, and Paul Teng, Senior Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), wrote that there is now a global crisis in fisheries caused by over-fishing and climate change. Aquaculture (fish farming) is expected to plug this gap and is projected to be the primary source by 2030.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Growing Food Insecurity – Asia’s Huge Appetite for Fish: Can It Be Met?”

Genevieve Donnellon-May, master’s student in Water Science, Policy and Management at the University of Oxford, and Paul Teng, Senior Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), wrote that the impact of the Russia-Ukraine War on the global food situation continues to reverberate around the world, including in Asia.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Global Food Insecurity – Animal Feed and Meat: Asia’s Looming Food Crisis”

May 2022

Jose M.L. Montesclaros, Research Fellow with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) and Mely Caballero-Anthony is Professor of International Relations at RSIS and Head of the NTS Centre, wrote that ASEAN should come together and assess what regional mechanisms it can leverage in addressing the looming threat of food trade protectionism within the region, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Ukraine War and Food Security: How Should ASEAN Respond?”

Margareth Sembiring, Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), wrote that after more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, wars present a stark reminder of how difficult it is to stay committed to environmental causes when crises arise.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Planetary Health: Managing Competing Tensions”

Jose M.L. Montesclaros, Research Fellow with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) wrote that the IMF recently lauded India’s food subsidies in helping minimise COVID-19’s impacts on food and economic insecurity. What are the lessons for ASEAN member states, where extreme poverty increased by 4.7 million amid the pandemic?
Read more in RSIS Commentary “India’s Food Security Resilience: Some Tips for ASEAN?”

April 2022

Amalina Anuar, Senior Analyst at the Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS), wrote that although the digital economy holds much promise, challenges such as rising inequality and digitalisation’s climate impact could stand in the way of realising a sustainable global digital economy.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Sustaining Trade under Cloudy Prospects – Global Digital Economy: Headwinds Ahead”

Alvin Chew, Senior Fellow at RSIS, wrote that nuclear deterrence strategy has so far prevented the world superpowers from engaging in a nuclear armed conflict.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “New Developments in NPP – Nuclear Power Plants: Safe During War?”

March 2022

Alvin Chew, Senior Fellow at RSIS, wrote that nuclear energy is not a nascent topic in Southeast Asia, with some countries having started their capacity building almost 50 years ago.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Nuclear Energy: Political Will Most Crucial”

Jose M.L. Montesclaros, Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS) Centre, RSIS, wrote that amidst the push to “phase down” coal reliance, the world is seeing a “coal crunch” of rising coal/energy prices, with serious implications on fertilisers and food.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “COP26’s Dilemma: Sustainability vs Food Security?”

Sean Tan, Senior Analyst at the Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS), wrote that influence-for-hire operations are spreading in the region while commercial agents are taking on an ever more prominent role both domestically and internationally.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Influence-for-Hire: Southeast Asia’s Shadow Economy?”

Julius Cesar Trajano, Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), RSIS, wrote that there are critical preparatory issues that need to be resolved to enhance the Philippines’ nuclear energy development.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Reviving Nuclear Power: Is the Philippines Ready?”

February 2022

Tamara Nair, Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), wrote that While AI technologies like Alexa and Siri have female names and voices, there are very few women involved in developing AI products and services.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Women in AI: Is There a Singapore Model?”

Julius Cesar Trajano, Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), RSIS, wrote that plastic pollution is clearly a climate problem as it contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Plastic Pollution in Southeast Asia: Wasted Opportunity?“

December 2021 

Hannah Elyse Sworn, Senior Analyst at RSISM wrotw that where once the US and EU dominated global trade negotiations, their grip on intellectual property regulations and pharmaceutical production are weakening amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Public Health Security COVID-19 and Its Impacts – Intellectual Property: Shift in Global IP Power?”

November 2021

Paul Teng, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), RSIS, wrote that COP26 has reinforced much of what is already known about the impact of climate change on food production. But few concrete steps are emerging from COP26 that can improve the livelihoods of producers of the bulk of the world’s food.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “COP26: Sustaining the Global Food System”

Julius Cesar Trajano, Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), RSIS, wrote that at COP26, nuclear technology was promoted as “an indispensable tool” for addressing climate change and its harsh impacts. What do nuclear power and technology actually bring to the table?
Read more in RSIS Commentary “COP26: The Indispensable Role of Nuclear Power”

Margareth Sembiring, Associate Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), RSIS, suggested that the care of nature offers holistic solutions to a wide range of issues that include climate change and the pandemic. The emerging concept of planetary health has the potential to contribute and, if widely adopted, may lead to a more resilient world post-COVID-19.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Planetary Health: A More Resilient World Post-COVID-19?”

Jose M.L. Montesclaros and Paul Teng, Research Fellow and Adjunct Senior Fellow respectively at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), RSIS, wrote that as a “Fourth Food Basket”, community gardens can complement imports, commercial domestic production, and overseas production, through the use of digital technologies.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Community Gardens: Singapore’s ‘Fourth Food Basket’?”

September 2021

Margareth Sembiring, Associate Research Fellow at NTS Centre, wrote that amidst repeated warnings against the devastating consequences of climate change, a stronger commitment to climate adaptation measures is what is next for mankind.
Read more in “‘Code Red for Humanity’: What Next for Mankind?”

July 2021

Paul Teng, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), RSIS, wrote that the approval of Golden Rice and Bt eggplant in Philippines will provide consumers with improved nutrition.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Golden Rice: Triumph for Science”

Alan Chong, Associate Professor at RSIS, wrote that extreme weather events in Europe have set the stage for a rethink of international relations as a policy pathway towards dealing with climate change.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Global Warming: Rethinking International Relations”

June 2021

Paul Teng, Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) at RSIS, and Steve Kim, Master’s Degree candidate at Harvard University, wrote that vertical farming seems like the perfect solution to tackle land-scarce Singapore’s unique food security challenges. Given Singapore’s energy mix, however, a more holistic analysis will help measure and manage the performance of vertical farms to support the local agri-food industry’s role in Singapore’s sustainable development agenda.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Vertical Farms: Are They Sustainable?”

S. Nanthini, Senior Analyst at NTS Centre, wrote that data analytics have become a central component of humanitarian work. This is used to inform what affected community needs are and where they need them most. For communities who are already vulnerable, if their data is misused or shared with actors who are not bound by humanitarian principles, they can be exposed to additional risks.
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Humanitarian ‘Do No Harm’: Plugging Gaps in Data Governance”

February 2021

Julius Cesar Trajano, Research Fellow with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) at RSIS, wrote that marine plastic pollution has worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. Nuclear technology provides a sustainable and scientific approach to tackling this environmental problem. Can it help Southeast Asian countries battle plastic pollution?
Read more in RSIS Commentary “Battling Marine Plastic Waste: Nuclear Technology’s Role“

August 2023

Senior Fellow Alvin Chew wrote that Japan’s plan to discharge water from its tsunami-wrecked Fukushima power plant has drawn mixed reactions around the world. Who your friends are is crucial to driving nuclear power policy
Read more in Op-Ed “Is Fukushima wastewater release safe? Depends on your politics and science”

July 2023

Senior analyst Wichuta Teeratanabodee wrote that Orbital debris is a growing problem that urgently needs to be dealt with. China has made some progress, but its efforts have been met with scepticism. Japan has the advanced technologies, specialised know-how and international trustworthiness that make it an obvious choice to lead clean-up efforts.
Read more in Op-Ed “How Japan can edge out China to become a world leader in cleaning up space junk“

April 2023

Researcher Genevieve Donnellon-may and Research Fellow Zhang Hongzhou – In response to growing demand for aquatic products, China introduced its 14th Five-Year National Fisheries Development Plan in 2022. Under the plan, the 2025 target for the country’s aquatic production is 69 million tonnes, suggesting that its enormous fishing industry will continue to expand.
Read more in Op-Ed “China’s fisheries policy makes a belated shift to sustainability”

March 2023

Dr Alistair D. B. Cook, Coordinator of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) , draws from discussions during a workshop co-hosted by RSIS and the Movement on the state of play in climate action for humanitarian actors operating in Southeast Asia and the role the Charter has played so far in addressing current and future crises.
Read more in Op-Ed “Climate Change, Environment and Humanitarian Action in Southeast Asia”

Assistant Professor Michael Raska wrote that if defence supply chains are key to how wars are fought and won, governments must rethink strategies on how to harness and distribute resources for new types of warfare.
Read more in Op-Ed “Everything Everywhere All at Once: The Challenge of Defence Supply Chains”

Feburary 2023

Researcher Genevieve Donnellon-may and Research Fellow Zhang Hongzhou – Given questions about the reliability of the country’s official agricultural data, it is hard to judge the state of its food security.
Read more in Op-Ed “What Do We Really Know About China’s Food Security?”

Alvin Chew, Senior Fellow at RSIS, wrote that European countries have avoided the worst-case scenario of energy rationing, amid gas supply woes arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He considers if an electricity rationing exercise makes sense for Singapore.
Read more in Op-Ed “How about an energy rationing exercise, like Singapore did with food and water in the past?”

December 2022

Researcher Genevieve Donnellon-may and Research Fellow Zhang Hongzhou wrote that careful management of hydropower resources is essential to ensure its positive impacts on climate change and avoid transboundary river conflicts.
Read more in Op-Ed “Transboundary Water Governance is a Regional Security in Asia”

October 2022

Choo Ruizhi, Senior Analyst with the National Security Studies Programme (NSSP) – As MSE celebrates its 50^th anniversary this year, we reflect on some agricultural transformations Singapore has undergone over the decades to see what lessons they potentially hold for the future of Singapore’s food security.
Read more in Op-Ed “Of Change & Challenges: Reminders from Singapore’s Past Agricultural Transformations”

September 2022

Choo Ruizhi, Senior Analyst with the National Security Studies Programme (NSSP), wrote that climate change and geopolitical developments continue to impact global food production and disrupt food supply chains.
Read more in Op-Ed “Lessons from Singapore’s former pig farmers about business transformation”

Jose M.L. Montesclaros, Research Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS) Centre, RSIS, wrote that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently lauded India’s food subsidies for their role in helping minimise the impacts of COVID-19 on food and economic insecurity.
Read more in Op-Ed “Craving India’s Food Security Success”

July 2022

Paul Teng, Senior Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) and Zaid Hamzah, a technology lawyer and is at present CEO of the Asia Law Exchange where he specializes in Cybersecurity and Technology law, Intellectual Property and Legal Data Analytics, wrote that the way forward for Singapore is to deepen its data and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in food production and to embark on mass food industrialisation.
Read more in Op-Ed “How AI can strengthen food resilience“

September 2022

This year marks the 50th anniversary since the first global conference on the environment was held in 1972 in Stockholm. It has also been 30 years since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was signed in 1992. Is it because of a failure of multilateralism, or because society simply chasing the unattainable, that climate projections have only gotten worse year after year?
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Managing Growing Climate Risk 50 Years after the First Global Conference on the Environment“

August 2022

Over the past three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed unprecedented challenges in our societies from the general disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on disadvantaged groups laying bear inequities to the specific restrictions on face-to-face interactions. As some enter a staggered opening of their societies, others remain with restrictions in place. The role of essential workers and local support networks, which keep societies running and help those most in need, is one critical component throughout the different phases of the pandemic that, for a time, was recognised.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Everyday Humanitarians: Recognising a Diverse Landscape“

July 2022

In 2020, global mobility was dramatically and abruptly halted in its tracks by COVID-19. By March 2020, over 43,000 travel measures had been put into place by various local and national authorities worldwide. Despite WHO’s advice that travel bans have little effect as a long-term measure, most countries have instituted travel measures as part of their COVID-19 response – most of which still remain, though in less restrictive forms.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Borders Re-opening? Migrant Mobility in Southeast Asia”

June 2022

Marine environmental protection is one of the areas that regressed during the pandemic and calls for immediate action. The United Nations observed the 14th World Oceans Day on June 8th, emphasising the need for all stakeholders to act collectively to protect the ocean.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Building back better: Combatting marine plastic pollution collectively”

May 2022

The world commemorates World Hunger Day on 28 May to call attention to the food crises that are occurring in both international and localised settings.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Food Security Challenges to Building Back Better”

April 2022

The NTS Centre hosted the 6th NTS-Asia Consortium Annual Conference on 6th April 2022 in Singapore. It brought together members of the Consortium to exchange views on different interpretations of and responses to the concept of planetary health, specific risks to planetary health in each country, and existing and/or hypothetical measures to operationalise the concept.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “6th NTS-Asia Consortium Annual Conference: Planetary Health and Managing Converging Risks in Asia”

March 2022

Gender inequality, in particular, is a significant factor when looking at the impact of COVID-19. After all, as has been seen time and time again, during crisis or emergency situations – where there is a strain on resources and weak institutional capacity – women and girls tend to be disproportionally affected.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Building Back Better: The Importance of Gender Inclusion”

February 2022

The on-going pandemic has shown that more lessons are to be learnt and much more should be done to be able to ‘build back better’ and advance global health security.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Building Back Better: Towards Advancing Global Healthy Security”

January 2022

As the COVID-19 pandemic approaches its third year and amid the ebb and flow in the spread of the virus globally, it is useful to reflect on the key challenges moving forward. We turn to the World Economic Forum’s 2022 World Risk Index (WRI) report as a “temperature check”, which has highlighted social/economic security and environmental challenges among the key risks globally. We further explore what these global concerns mean for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its member states.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Addressing Security and Sustainable Development Challenges in ASEAN Towards Building Back Better”

November 2021

It has been close to two years since the COVID-19 pandemic caught the world’s economies in a hybrid “health-economic crisis”. Until early 2021, when vaccines were nowhere in sight in many countries, the only way to control the virus was through effective domestic and international lockdowns.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “What Does the New Normal hold for Economic Security?”

October 2021

The peaceful uses of nuclear technology have time and time again risen up to address the world’s pressing and complex challenges, including non-traditional security issues.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Advancing the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Technology for a Sustainable Future”

September 2021

The current COVID-19 pandemic has been wrecking the world for almost two years. Among the various theories that attempt to offer explanations of its causes, environmental degradation has emerged as a plausible answer.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Planetary Health: Potential Pathway Towards a More Resilient World Post-COVID-19”

August 2021

This year’s World Humanitarian Day theme – #TheHumanRace – highlights the immediate consequences of the climate emergency for the world’s most vulnerable people.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “#TheHumanRace: Climate Action in Solidarity”

July 2021

With pandemic responses significantly disrupting human mobility in particular, migrants have been one of the hardest hit communities. Although vaccines against COVID-19 have been made available, not everyone has equal access to COVID-19 vaccines, thereby making any protection incomplete at best.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “How Migrants Cope during the Pandemic”

June 2021

Lina Gong, Research Fellow with the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre), RSIS, wrote that the COVID-19 pandemic is a powerful reminder to care for the health of our surrounding environment, including the oceans, as it is closely linked to our health.
Read more in NTS Bulletin “Ocean Health and COVID-19: Environment-Health Nexus”

• “Ocean Health and COVID-19: Environment-Health Nexus” by Lina Gong,  25 May 2021