Review by Urvika Sharma (July 01, 2025): In Climate Refugees in South Asia: Protection Under International Legal Standards and State Practices in South Asia (Springer Nature, Singapore, 2019), Stellina Jolly and Nafees Ahmad consider the legal invisibility of communities as well as individuals forced to relocate due to climate-related disasters a subject that is b
The South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Foreign Ministers meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting has become a convention since 1997. Despite the SAARC Summit meetings being cancelled or postponed, the SAARC foreign Ministers have met regularly to discuss the regional affairs.
Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led government came to power in India in 2014, the nomenclature of policies has been either Sanskritised or Indianised. With a tech-savvy Prime Minister on the steering wheel, the government is communicating with the general public through catchy one-liners that are quite apt for character-restricted social media like Twitter. Latest in this catchy pronouncement is the Foreign Secretary’s 'SAARC Yatra', as he rounded up tours of four neighbouring countries in the first week of March.
The 20th Conference of Parties (COP) to the UN-sponsored Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will be held from 1 to 12 December in Lima, Peru. Since the US-China bilateral climate deal on the sideline of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) early this month, the world has eerily been watching India's 'breaking news' short of indication of targeted greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. Between APEC and COP 20 (Lima), the 18th SAARC summit (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation:26-27 November) in Nepal provides a breathing space for India.
In a remarkable display of faith in regional cooperation, the new Prime Minister in Delhi invited all the heads of government and their representatives of SAARC and Mauritius to his swearing-in. Interestingly, except for a common dinner hosted by the President of India, the SAARC leaders never met. Are we looking forward to a robust, frequent, effective, and efficient regional dialogue on various South Asian issues, especially on the environment front?