Dialogue Earth is the new name for the China Dialogue organisation – and our new, unified website dialogue.earth. The site brings together our four long-standing platforms China Dialogue, China Dialogue Ocean, The Third Pole, and Diálogo Chino. For us, this means new branding across a single website in eight languages. The mission remains the same and will better reflect what we do today: publishing compelling environmental journalism from China, the global ocean, South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. Work that lifts up local voices and creates better, more constructive conversat ..read more

China is increasingly seeking to put solar panels on the seas off its coastline, with some state-run companies experimenting as far offshore as 30 kilometres. A global leader in renewable energy, China has already been looking to the ocean to meet its future power via wind, waves and tides. But ambitious plans for large solar installations face problems ranging from rough seas to a regulatory vacuum, experts have told Dialogue Earth. The country’s strong supply chains could give it a leg up in tackling hurdles to ocean solar power. It could spearhead a new sector that harnesses the vast surfac ..read more

In Cambodia’s Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, spanning 490,000 hectares, expansive tracts of protected forest are being illegally converted to cassava, cashew and rubber plantations. Husband and wife Piseth and Sokheng (names changed) began cultivating cassava to repay a USD 10,000 loan from AMK Microfinance Institution, following the collapse of their mango business. Cultivating cassava, a quick-growing crop, facilitated his family’s monthly repayments, which exceeded USD 200, as they waited for their cashew trees to bear fruit. “I needed money to buy seedlings to plant cassava here and some fo ..read more

Argentina’s lithium, with all its promises of bringing foreign currency and economic progress, is spread out across millions of hectares of unique ecosystems: salt flats. Below these sparse expanses, located in the most arid areas of the country, sit many deposits of lithium-rich brine. These landscapes, known locally as salar, are heavily depended on by surrounding populations, as well as local flora and fauna, playing important roles in regulating climates and water cycles. Control over many of these salt flats is also claimed by various companies. Argentina is the world’s fourth-largest lit ..read more

As climate change brings warmer, more acidic waters to China, its offshore fish stocks are coming under pressure. A number of fish populations – including the large yellow croaker, sea bream and sandlance – are at risk, according to a study by researchers based in the US and China, and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Ocean warming has been more pronounced in China’s offshore waters than almost anywhere else. Winter surface temperatures in the Bohai, Yellow and East China seas, off the country’s eastern seaboard, rose by nearly 2C from 1958 to 2014 – wel ..read more

“It took me three days to take the flood water out of the house,” says Asghar Baloch, a local fisher living in the congested and squalid Mulla Band area adjacent to the Gwadar Port. “It was knee-deep, damaging the carpets, furniture and other household items. It has now been removed but it weakened the structure and base of the house.” Like many of his neighbours in Gwadar’s low-income neighbourhoods like Mulla Band, TTC Colony and Shambay Ismail Ward, Asghar earns substantially below the national average. He told The Third Pole that his income varied, but was usually below PKR 30,000 (USD 108 ..read more

The beginning of 2024 for Nepal was marked by important talks to export hydropower produced electricity. In the first week of January, Nepal signed a 25-year trade deal with India. One key agreement was to sell 10,000 MW of electricity to India in the next 10 years. And in the third week of February, Kulman Ghising, the managing director of the Nepal Electricity Authority led a delegation to Bangladesh to discuss tariffs for electricity trade. While the two countries have not, as yet, succeeded in agreeing on the price, both the countries have long pursued electricity trade with each other. R ..read more

Early in 2023, monsoon rains hit hard in Nepal’s Koshi Province. The cascading nature of the flood damaged hydropower infrastructure and took the lives of several hydropower workers. The increasing frequency and intensity of climate hazards, including heatwaves, droughts, floods, landslides, windstorms and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods make Nepal particularly vulnerable to climate change. Coupled with its diverse geography spanning from mountains to plains, interactions between these hazards result in compounding impacts on lives, livelihoods, assets, critical infrastructure and ecosystems. An ..read more

When he took office in 2022, Colombian president Gustavo Petro promised to turn his country into a “world power of life”, making decarbonisation and environmental protection a central mission of his government. He has also attracted global attention for his passionate speeches on environmental justice and the energy transition, heard at the United Nations’ General Assembly, the World Economic Forum in Davos, and climate COPs in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. However, now over a year and a half into his term, experts and data agree on one thing: most of Petro’s proposals for a greener Colo ..read more

Etched in the ancient temples of Angkor, the giant barb is the largest carp species in the world and Cambodia’s national fish. Despite its revered status, however, it is among an estimated 19% of Mekong River fish species facing extinction. The giant barb may disappear along with other species unique to the Mekong unless decision-makers stop undervaluing and overlooking the Mekong’s fishes, according to the Mekong’s Forgotten Fishes report, which was produced by a cohort of 25 conservation groups. It warns that the loss of biodiversity will significantly affect the region’s culture, livelihood ..read more