The East-West Center’s multidisciplinary Research Program addresses issues of contemporary policy significance in a comparative context, focusing on challenges of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States. The Research Program is a source of rigorous and critical analysis and regional expertise in support of all the Center’s programs. The Center’s collaborative research and policy analysis promotes better relations and understanding among the nations of the region and the U.S. and contributes to both capacity and institution building.   Work is organized into four study areas: Economics; Environmental Change, Vulnerability, and Governance; Politics, Governance and Security; and Population and Health.

Highlights

In late May the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded the Center almost $1.4 million dollars to carry out a three year transdisciplinary research project, “Coupled Natural-Human Systems & Emerging Infectious Diseases: Anthropogenic Environmental Change & Avian Influenza in Vietnam.” Led by Jeff Fox, Melissa Finucane, Sumeet Saksena and Nancy Lewis from the Center and colleagues from Hanoi Agricultural University and the University of Hawaii’s School of Medicine and  Globalization Research Center, a team worked closely on the competitive proposal. The research is based both on a long tradition of research in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia (MMSEA a update is on that research is given below) and the Center’s work, led by now Adjunct Senior Fellow Kirk Smith, on the risk transition.

“Cities at Risk: Building Adaptive Capacity for Managing Climate Change in Asia’s Coastal Megacities”, was held in Bangkok in late February, in collaboration with Chulalongkorn University and supported by START (global change SysTem for Analysis, Research and Training) and other partners. The Center has increased capacity to address the challenges of Asian urbanization in this case, climate change. Under the leadership of Senior Fellow Roland Fuchs, the meeting brought together scientists, urban planners, disaster managers and other officials to review scientific findings and projections regarding climate related risks and assess the gaps in both the science and policy responses.  Funding is pending for a capacity building workshop on the same topic to be held early next year.

More than a decade ago, the East-West Center began developing computer models for the spread of HIV/AIDS, including both the Asian Epidemic Model (AEM) and the UNAIDS Estimation and Projection Package (EPP). Today, EWC-developed software enables national health programs throughout the region and beyond to analyze their local HIV epidemics and develop effective policy responses. For example, the Thailand Analysis and Advocacy (A²) Team, coordinated by Senior Fellow Tim Brown, has worked successfully with the government to establish a prevention goal of reducing the number of infections in half by 2010. Models have been prepared in all other A2 sites now and are being used in developing intervention strategies. The Summer Seminar on Population has included workshops on the AEM and EPP since 2006. The Commission on AIDS in Asia presented its report, Redefining AIDs in Asia, to the United Nations in March, 2008. Two of the nine members of the commission, Senior Fellow Tim Brown and Tadashi Yamamoto (President, Japan Center for International Exchange) from Japan who serves on the EWC Board of Directors were members of the commission.

NASA has awarded Jeff Fox, Environmental Change, Vulnerability and Governance study area coordinator, a three-year grant for a projected total of $826,639.  Through this grant, researchers will determine the effects of the explosive expansion of rubber cultivation in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia (MMSEA) on regional water and carbon dynamics.  The study will bring together a multidisciplinary team of specialist in three fields (remote sensing/land cover-land use, ecosystem modeling, and hydrology) from the East-West Center, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the National University of Laos, Harvard University, and the Carnegie Institution.

MMSEA is comprised of the highlands areas of Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, China’s Yunnan Province and half of Cambodia.  Hydrologic changes to this region could have serious consequences for approximately 200 million inhabitants of the region and for the climate of monsoon Asia.  The research builds on the many years of work on land use and land cover change in mainland Southeast Asia carried out by Jeff and his team. Understanding the dynamics of these changes within the context of a changing climate are critical to the formulation of effective policies for sustainable development.

The Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI) is working in Cambodia on several projects.  Most recently, AIJI began monitoring the first trial of the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The trial of Kaing Guek Eav (“Duch”) commenced March 30, 2009.  AIJI staff trained an international cadre of ten trial monitors consisting of young lawyers and human rights professionals from the region who monitor the trial daily and produce weekly summary reports (KRT Trial Monitor) detailing the proceedings.  Beginning in 2007, AIJI has been instrumental in the training of the defense counsel, co-prosecutors, and judges for the trials. Much of the training for the judicial officers was supported by the Government of the United Kingdom through the British Embassy in Phnom Penh.

In order to increase the understanding of the Khmer Rouge trials by the Cambodian population AIJI is also involved in a video outreach project .Matthew Robinson of Khmer Mekong films produces a weekly video summary of the trial, with two young reporters reviewing the week’s progress. These 24 minute clips are shown on Cambodian prime time TV. Both the videos and weekly reports (KRT Trial Monitor) are available on the EWC and UC Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center websites. It is the Center's hope that our suite of activities (legal training, trial monitoring, and outreach) in Cambodia will increase knowledge of the rule of law in Cambodia as well as contribute to the legal skills of the Cambodian Bar.

The second Summer Institute on International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, “Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Human Rights” was held in Bali, Indonesia, 22 June to 3 July 2009. Our partner in the endeavor was KOMNAS-HAM (the Indonesia National Commission on Human Rights). The Institute was coordinated by AIJI Director, David Cohen, and AIJI Deputy Director, Michelle Staggs. Faculty included a very impressive list of regional and international human rights experts including Dr. Homayoun Alizadeh, Regional Representative of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Mr. Marzuki Darusman, Advisor, KOMNAS-HAM, Professor Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, Director General of Human Rights, Republic of Indonesia, Judge Daqun Lin, Judge of the Appeals Chamber, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and Judge Motoo Noguchi, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. The Institute was funded by registration fees, SEARCH (Canadian NGO), the East-West Center, and MacArthur Foundation. Twenty nine individuals from 15 countries participated. Planning is already underway for the third Institute to be held in Indonesia next May. Other ongoing AIJI activities include planning additional trainings for the Indonesian judiciary, work in Timor Leste, support of the ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, including a Nathan-USAid-supported series of meetings aimed at developing a blueprint for an ASEAN Human Rights Resource Center and Participating Network of Institutions (HRRC-PNI).

Shabbir Cheema continues to develop the Asia Pacific Governance and Democracy Initiative (AGDI).  Policy Brief Number 7: "Governance Through Civil Society Engagement in Asia" is available on line at the United Nations University website. In May (18-20) 2009, the “Stakeholders Conference on Cross-Border Governance in Asia and the Pacific” took place in Bangkok, Thailand. The meeting focused on examining the key regional governance dimensions of cross-border issues in promoting human development in the region and identified critical issues for a possible UNDP-supported regional project on Cross-Border Governance. Experts presented papers on governance related to migration and refugees, trade and poverty reduction, water management, human trafficking and human rights and emerging disease surveillance and response. The following week, a meeting was held in Beijing in cooperation with the China Center for Comparative Politics and Economics (CCCPE). This “Workshop on Governance for Sustainable Development: Global Practices and the Chinese Experience” examined emerging regional and global issues in governance for sustainable development; addressed governance reform and innovations for sustainable development in China; and provided a forum to exchange experience and practices among training and research institutions and government officials. The AGDI  partners include Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, United Nations University, Soka University of America and national institutions in six Asian countries.

Dieter Ernst is developing a new joint EWC/National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) project on “China’s Standards and Innovation Policy – Sharing the Benefits of the Global Knowledge Economy” examining how China’s deep integration into global production networks affects its policies developing national standards, especially in the IT sector.  The ASEAN Secretariat has accepted Non-resident Senior Fellow Michael Plummer’s  (with co-author Shia Siow Yue of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs) report, Realizing the AEC: A Comprehensive Assessment  which suggests that the financial impact of an AEC would be twice that of the formation of the European Union.  The report will be launched just before the ASEAN Ministerial meeting in Thailand in October. The East-West Dialogue, is spearheaded by non-resident fellow, Peter Petri. Peter in currently working on lining up a number of timely pieces leading up to our 50th Anniversary. He will be the author of a Dialogue issue on a research project he is heading for the  Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) on recovery from the global financial crisis.

The 40th Annual Summer Seminar on Population, was held from 2 June to 2 July 2009. Three seminars focusing on HIV/AIDS modeling (described above), fertility change in Asia, and communicating with policy makers were held. There were approximately 38 participants in the program from 12 countries. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Integrated Data and Environmental Applications (NOAA IDEA) Center is yet another example of the EWC’s important role in supporting new regional activities. It was started at the Center, is still housed on the 4th floor of Burns Hall and several of the staff are EWC employees. The IDEA Center advances NOAA’s mission to meet critical regional needs for ocean, climate, and ecosystem information. This information is used to protect lives and property, support economic development and enhance the resilience of Hawaii and other Pacific Island communities in the face of changing environmental conditions. The program’s suite of activities includes the development of the Pacific Climate Information Service (PaCIS) portal and Pacific Region Integrated Climatology Information Products (PRICIP). NOAA IDEA recently completed a study with the Pacific Tsunami Museum analyzing historical Hawaiian indigenous knowledge that recorded past catastrophic hazard events. The environmental knowledge provides a unique source of expertise that can contribute to contemporary natural hazard management and mitigation. It can also become a valuable resource for community education and involvement in hazard preparedness. Eileen Shea is the director of the NOAA IDEA Center as well as Chief of the Climate Services and Monitoring Division of the National Climatic Data Center. Commuting between Honolulu and Asheville, South Carolina, she continues her association with the Center as an Adjunct Fellow.

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