Author: changethinker

Born and raised in Mumbai, India with an undergrad degree from Oman and a masters degree from the National University of Singapore. I am an Environmental Professional with a passion for Sustainability, Social Innovation and Governance related issues. A Change Agent in the making who believes that small is beautiful and that impact can be achieved -one soul at a time.

The Haze is Politics.

Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur.

The haze mess isn’t new; Singapore faced it in 2015-16 while I was working at a think tank then. This year has been slow-burning (pun intended) and suffocating, and I have been breathing it in Kuala Lumpur. It is bad for health, particularly for the super-ageing society. This is quite tragic, but expected, as the climate discourse has been reduced to recycling plastic straws and zero-waste shops. Environmental legislation was rooted in public health governance and the impact on the scale of human health.

The financialization of the climate discourse into ESG indicators has taken us all away from the larger questions of politics and livelihoods. The elephant in the room is whether the smallholder farmers in Kalimantan are paid enough so that they do not slash and burn. All the millions in peatland governance grant money in Singapore’s best research institutions should help solve it instead of only aiming for Nature and Science publications. Singaporean taxpayer dollars for research should have an ROI that builds community resilience.

The haze crisis, with a capital C, is one of troubled politics and entrenched interests. The Energy Transition with EVs and Battery Storage with a solar+wind+hydrogen+nuclear energy mix will clean up the air in normal times, but it is not meant to address the haze mess. Environmental matters need to be solved politically with the chequebook.

Where are the blended finance instruments for funnelling funds to smallholder farmers and the palm oil ecosystem in Kalimantan? This issue will continue, as with the winter haze in Delhi each winter, as farmers in Punjab will burn the stubble. Farmers in Punjab will vote in a few months, and politicians need votes to be in power in the crucial border state. There are parallels in various contexts in Asia; the bottom line is the same- the politics and the interests that guard votes and profits.

Nothing fuels change as a crisis; the Hormuz crisis turbocharged EV adoption in Southeast Asia as oil at the pump was skyrocketing. The buffering electorate does not solve for the haze. Palm oil is intertwined with politics in Indonesia, and a major export. Solutions will not happen overnight, but moving towards recognising where the power lies is a starting point. TNFD, RSPO and all other frameworks are merely a band-aid in the midst of a regional public health crisis.

Walking the Indian Ocean Region

I have been walking the back streets of towns and cities of the Indian Ocean for twenty years, with the language to express or without the faintest clue of what ROI will come out of it. The Indian Ocean, is very much alive through labour migration, and resident diasporas who will watch the latest Vijay film, and catch Sadhguru live.

In this world where flux is the norm, some things stay the same and identity through Faith and Language is the anchor.

Too Many Climate Conferences

The issue with the sustainability space, is too many climate weeks and conferences where the same set of actors land up. We need white papers and panels, but we need more science which gets translate into impact. Sustainability conferences themselves need decarbonising and is the only profitable part of the services industry with clients cutting sustainability spends. May be a panel on that.

Took a Guest Lecture at NUS Geography

The Cafe at Hilton PJ was thankfully quiet enough !

After 15 years of graduating with a masters in environmental engineering at the National University of Singapore, and a number of years of ESIA consultant life, it was a privilege to share in a guest lecture via zoom to a masters class on Pollution Control to students in the Geography Department. After working in twelve countries in Asia and Africa, I realise the true value of bringing science from the seminar room/lab to the realpolitik of environmental planning decisions, whether regulatory or IFI led.

The question on the value of a PhD in consulting is interesting, as after a PhD a consultant is a peer reviewer and is made to do the work of presenting in front of regulators. And as it is a Science based business, the value of papers as scientific evidence is solid.

Thank you so much Professor Li for your generosity of spirit.