Climate Risks in the Asia Pacific

About the event

The new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) landed in the midst of a series of deadly extreme weather events around the world. From the record-breaking “heat dome” and the wildfires, to the catastrophic flooding, reporting on extreme weather has frequented the headlines in 2021, on top of the existing challenges brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With the climate crisis, these shocks and associated stresses will continue to worsen in many regions of the world with the brunt of the impacts being felt by the most vulnerable among us, especially children.

Although many processes in the climate system follow well-defined trajectories, some have “tipping points” where a small increase in pressure can trigger a rapid, often irreversible change in the process. Examples include Arctic sea ice, the Greenland ice sheet, the Amazon rainforest, coral reefs and more. Some of these tipping elements are linked so that complex cascades can form when one element is tipped. If a tipping cascade is triggered, there could be serious consequences for human well-being, especially for the most disadvantaged, with the Asia-Pacific region identified as a particularly vulnerable region to such abrupt shifts.

Ahead of the COP26, join us for a timely discussion to understand what is “climate system tipping point”, and what are the challenges and opportunities to practically manage these  climate risks for the most vulnerable populations in the Asia Pacific.

The OxCAN Asia, Australia and New Zealand event series is led by our regional Climate Action Director, Tracy Jin Cui, focusing on in-depth climate conversations relevant to this region. We particularly encourage participation in the wider Asia, Australia and New Zealand region, as well as interested regional observers who would like to contribute your voices in these upcoming dialogues.

About the speakers 

Will Steffen is an Earth System scientist. He is a Councillor on the publicly-funded Climate Council of Australia that delivers independent expert information about climate change, an Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra; a Senior Fellow at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Sweden; and a Fellow at the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm. He is the chair of the jury for the Volvo Environment Prize; a member of the International Advisory Board for the Centre for Collective Action Research, Gothenburg University, Sweden; and a member of the Anthropocene Working Group of the Sub-committee on Quaternary Stratigraphy.

From 1998 to mid-2004, Steffen was Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, based in Stockholm. His research interests span a broad range within climate and Earth System science, with an emphasis on incorporation of human processes in Earth System modelling and analysis; and on sustainability and climate change.

Sujay Natson is a Regional Climate Change and Environment Consultant at United Nations Children's Fund East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (UNICEF EAPRO). Since 2019, he has supported the development of child-centred climate and environment programmes and policies for UNICEF in East Asia and the Pacific – with 14 country offices, covering 27 countries and 580 million children in the region, focusing on social sectors such as Health, Education, Social Policy, Child Protection, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

Before joining UNICEF, Sujay worked with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre on urban adaptive social protection, where he explored climate risks in urban areas and the role of social protection to address them for the most vulnerable populations. Sujay earned his M.Sc. in Environmental Change and Management from Oxford and an A.B. in Political Science and Geology from Brown University.

Event Details

• Introduction: 5 mins
• Speaker 1: 25 mins
• Speaker 2: 15 mins
• Q&A: 15 mins
• Alumni networking coffee/drinks (optional): 30 mins

Timezone details

This event is taking place at this time:

7.30pm-9pm AEDT

10.30am-12pm BST

11.30am-1pm CEST

5.30am-7.00am EDT