Asia

Designing resilient buildings

New guidelines for designing buildings that are resilient to earthquakes, typhoons and storm surges could save lives and livelihoods in the Philippines.

Protection and detection: improving waterway health in India and Australia

Anu Kumar knew that people in India were getting sick from exposure to pesticides and impurities in their waterways, and she wanted to do something to help. Working with Indian women, she was able to improve the health and safety of entire communities. Now, her work in detecting micropollutants is helping to clean up Australian waterways.

Asia’s rivers and people to benefit from Australian water knowledge

With massive and growing populations in India and China, water security will be crucial into the future. Australian water management knowledge is now being applied in Asia to help manage the growing problems of pollution and increased water use.

Diving for treasure to help protect the world’s great reefs

Amid growing demand for seafood, gas and other resources drawn from the world’s oceans, and growing stresses from climate change, we examine some of the challenges and solutions for developing “the blue economy” in smarter, more sustainable ways. For example, could the diving industry, long criticised as contributing to declines in coral reef health around the world, better contribute to reef conservation?

Mapping East Asia’s disappearing tidal flats

Who speaks for the tidal flat? There are many voices for the mangrove forest, the coral reef and the seagrass meadow, but the chorus for the mud, sand and silt flats that sit hidden under shallow water for most of the tidal cycle is often silent.