South Asia

1150 Items

Students at left watch as student activists take positions in the Cathedral of Learning

AP/Keith Srakocic

Journal Article - Environmental Politics

Fossil Fuel Divestment and Public Climate Change Policy Preferences: An Experimental Test in Three Countries

| 2023

Divestment is a prominent strategy championed by activists to induce positive social change. For example, the current fossil fuel divestment movement includes over 1,500 institutions that control $40 trillion in assets. A primary pathway through which divestment is theorized to be effective is by influencing public beliefs and policy preferences, thus pressuring policymakers to take action. However, prior research only tests this argument via qualitative case studies. The authors assess the impact of exposure to information about fossil fuel divestment on public opinion through the use of national survey experiments in three major greenhouse gas emitters: the U.S., India, and South Africa.

A Chinese Coast Guard ship sails near a Philippine Coast Guard vessel

Philippine Coast Guard via AP

Analysis & Opinions - Foreign Affairs

China's Indo-Pacific Folly

| Jan. 31, 2023

Andrew D. Taffer and David Wallsh argue that China's effort to erode U.S. alliances has been incoherent and undisciplined, strengthening, rather than weakening, U.S. alliances in the Indo-Pacific and producing an energized U.S.-led coalition poised to constrain Beijing for years to come. 

The ghost town of Kayaköy (Livisi) in southwestern Anatolia

Wikimedia CC/William Neuheisel

Analysis & Opinions - Political Violence @ a Glance

Why Do Mass Expulsions Still Happen?

| Jan. 30, 2023

Meghan Garrity details the history of mass expulsions since the centennial of the signing of the Lausanne Convention—a treaty codifying the compulsory “population exchange” between Greece and Turkey. An estimated 1.5 million people were forcibly expelled from their homes: over one million Greek Orthodox Christians from the Ottoman Empire and 500,000 Muslims from Greece.

United States' Ambassador to India Richard Verma speaks at the Foreign Correspondents Club Of South Asia in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017. Verma said that India-U.S. relation is on an upward trajectory

AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal

Announcement - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center Senior Fellow Richard Verma Nominated as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources 

| Jan. 17, 2023

The White House has announced President Biden's nomination of Ambassador Richard Verma as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources at the U.S. Department of State. Ambassador Verma is a Senior Fellow with Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and an active member of the Harvard Kennedy School community. 

A public charging station for electric vehicles in New Delhi, India, Thursday, April 1, 2021.

AP Photo/Neha Mehrotra

Journal Article - Nature Energy

Understanding India’s Low-Carbon Energy Technology Startup Landscape

| Dec. 15, 2022

Low-carbon energy technology (LCET) startups could play a key role in accelerating India’s decarbonization. Yet, understanding of the LCET startup landscape and what shapes it remains low. This paper provides an analysis of the Indian LCET startup landscape to fill this gap.

Farmers showing their paddy and poplar trees based agroforestry, Haryana, India

World Agroforestry Centre/ Devashree Nayak

Journal Article - Indian Forester

Forests, Trees, and Agroforestry: Their Roles in India's Sustainable Development and Climate Action

| May 2022

This research note provides insights on the role of nature-based solutions for carbon mitigation in India, including scenario simulations by 2050. The results show that forests, trees, and agroforestry can provide major carbon reductions through sustainable land use nationwide, helping India to offset carbon emissions from hard-to-abate sectors.