Climate Change in Singapore: Conversations on Sustainable Futures, Knowledge Mobilizations and Transnational Initiatives
Tuesday, 08 October 2024 | 20:00 PST
Tuesday, 08 October 2024 | 23:00 EDT
Wednesday, 09 October 2024 | 11:00 (Singapore)
Want to learn more about Climate Change in Singapore? Join us as the Critical Malaya Studies Initiative and the Asia Pacific Foundation bring together scholars and policy experts from Singapore to explore exciting opportunities for collaboration on climate change and sustainability advocacy in the region.
This discussion will dive into the pressing implications of climate change in Singapore such as the challenges of green transitions and heightened vulnerabilities to communities. Participants will engage in critical conversation with the panelists to understand what it means to build a sustainable future for Singapore and regionally, particularly focusing on transnational advocacy and alternative ways for knowledge mobilization. The discussion will also explore how domestic and international actors can support and learn from climate initiatives from Southeast Asia.
Please register for the virtual session at this link.
Speakers’ Profiles:
Dr. Hema Nadarajah leads the regional and thematic research programs on Southeast Asia, Arctic, and Outer Space at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. She has a PhD in International Relations from the University of British Columbia where she researched international law governing the Arctic, climate change and Outer Space. Dr. Nadarajah taught at the University of British Columbia, consulted for WWF, and also worked for the Government of Singapore on issues of international biodiversity conservation and climate change.
Melissa Low is a Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions. At the Centre, Melissa leads Continuing Education and Training. She previously worked at the Energy Studies Institute, NUS where she carried out research projects on a range of energy and climate issues of concern to Singapore and the region. She has participated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) for over a decade and is an active sustainability thought leader, authoring, publishing and presenting at various forums.
She is the Designated Contact Point for NUS’s accreditation to the UNFCCC and currently serves as interim co-focal point on the Steering Committee of the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organisation (RINGO) Constituency under the UNFCCC. Melissa holds an LLM in Climate Change Law and Policy (with distinction) from the University of Strathclyde, MSc in Environmental Management and BSocSci (Hons) in Geography from NUS. For her Master’s thesis on past and contemporary proposals on equity and differentiation in shaping the 2015 climate agreement, Melissa was awarded the Shell Best Dissertation Award 2013. She is currently pursuing a PhD part-time at the NUS Department of Geography.
In 2021, Melissa was conferred the NEA EcoFriend Award and the Public Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Masyarakat) for her contributions towards environmental sustainability, climate change awareness and impact on youth. She serves as Chair of the Climate Action SG Alliance and Advisor to the #GreenHacks Youth Panel. In April 2024, she was appointed to the Ministry of Education Headquarters (MOE HQ) Syllabus Development Committee for Lower Secondary Geography. In March 2023, Melissa was appointed to the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.4 mechanism Roster of experts as “Climate Policy Expert” for two years.
From 2021 to 2024, Melissa served as Council Member of the 16th and 17th National Youth Council and Advisory Committee Member for the MSE SG Eco Fund. She was formerly Chief Curator of the National Youth Council’s Young ChangeMakers Programme, Committee Member of the Speak Good English Movement, panellist on the Speak Good English Movement Programmes Evaluation Panel and a Member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) Long Term Aspirational Goal Task Group (LTAG-TG).
Outside of work, Melissa started an eco-friendly/ social book swop movement in Singapore, called Books and Beer, which has been featured in The Straits Times, The Business Times, Bangkok Post and The Wall Street Journal’s Scene Asia Blog.
Dr. Yong Ming Li is a Research Fellow at the East-West Center in Hawaiʻi, United States. Her research focuses on transboundary water governance in the Mekong region, with an interest in hydropower governance, environmental justice, and community-based natural resource management. She is also leading projects in Southeast Asia focused on centering community perspectives on climate change, and creating research and education initiatives relating to vulnerable river deltas.
Belicia Teo is a doctoral candidate at New York University’s sociology department. Her work is about market-based solutions to climate change and the different moral logics that come together and/or collide in such spaces, with a specific focus on the emerging biodiversity credit market. Another line of work examines the intersection of ethology and sociology, and aims to understand how we can think of non-human animals as social actors. Her previous work studied climate subpolitics in Singapore.
Moderator:
Sim Zhi Ming is s a PhD candidate in the Politics Department with specializations in Women and Politics, International Relations, and Political Ecology. Their research examines clean electrification/transmissions and climate-sustainability projects in Southeast Asia through decolonial and posthuman IR perspectives. They also engage in research and writing on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) and anti-imperialist/colonial social movements across Southeast/East Asia. As an international scholar, Ming’s research has been awarded the Vivienne Poy Asian Research Award and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (International Stream). Ming is also the founder of the Critical Malaya Studies (CMS) Initiative, supported by the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR).
