Global Asia

Dear Reader,

For climate scientists and environmental activists who have been warning for years of the disastrous consequences of global warming, 2007 was a bittersweet year. It will be remembered as the year when the world seemed finally to have awakened to the importance of climate change. For decades, climate change scientists have toiled like a modern-day Cassandra, the mythical Greek woman to whom the god Apollo granted the gift of prophecy, but who was doomed never to be believed.

This year, belief came in many forms. Former US Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their extraordinary efforts to deepen and spread awareness and understanding of the issue. And Al Gore’s riveting film on global warming, “An Inconvenient Truth,” snapped up two Academy Awards.

As 2007 draws to a close, representatives from more than 180 countries are gathered in Bali, Indonesia at a United Nations climate change conference to debate the next stages of the Kyoto Protocol and what kind of international framework might replace. The need to translate awareness and understanding into concrete policies to combat climate change has never been more urgent.

Asia’s place in the debate over climate change is critical. This region’s extraordinary economic growth has been fossil-fueled and CO2 rich. Without fundamental changes, Asia is on a path to contribute ever more to greenhouse gas emissions and to suffer the consequences.

In this Winter Issue of Global Asia, we explore what is at stake for Asia, and how governments, businesses and civil society can respond. We look at the UN’s role in the policy debate, the potential impact of climate change on Asia, and the issues that should frame the options we have to act. The message is stark: the time to act is now.

In this issue, we also provide a compelling debate on the threat of Islamic terrorism in Asia from two very different viewpoints; a first-hand account of the recent summit between the leaders of North and South Korea, comparing the substance of the latest summit with the symbolism of the earlier one; an engaging discussion on why a more modest approach to Asian monetary integration holds the best chance for success; a thought provoking essay on Asian-style corporate social responsibility; a look at the growing ties between Russia and China, and what it might mean for the world; an article demonstrating why and how Asian media companies should embrace “convergence” in the delivery of their news; and an eloquently written review of two recent books by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt and by Norman Podhoretz.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions on Global Asia. If you need to know what matters in Asia, you need Global Asia. Let us know what you think. You can email us at editorial@globalasia.org.

Sincerely yours,

Chung-in Moon, Editor-in-Chief

David Plott, Managing Editor