Apichai Sunchindah is a development specialist whose work has spanned four decades. He spent a good proportion of his professional career with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat and the ASEAN Foundation, both located in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Under lockdown between May and June 2020, we spoke with Apichai on what needs to change to ensure that the COVID-19 pandemic does not happen again.
His ideas give us much food for thought about where humanity is heading, with the start of this decade marked by not only a pandemic, but also wildfires, droughts, and floods — a climate crisis.
Our conversations are documented here for further reflection:
- Segment 1: ‘of animals, environment and the ACSDSD: getting ASEAN to respond cohesively to a changed paradigm’
- Segment 2: ‘traffic lights, inclusive development and economic growth: for who? when? and where?’
- Segment 3: ‘on carbon tax, embracing human security, and ASEAN’s protection of the environment’
Unfortunately, after more than a year, it appears that things have yet to substantially change.
