East and Southeast Asian Adaptations to a Changing Climate

We live in a rapidly changing world.

The significant factors causing environmental change today are the COVID-19

pandemic and climate change. We cannot yet foresee when COVID-19 will end,

even though it has been spreading since its first report in December 2019. As of May

2021, more than 150 million people have been infected, and the number of COVIDrelated

deaths has exceeded 3 million people worldwide. With such direct damages,

COVID-19 has profoundly influenced the living conditions of vulnerable people

such as those living in poverty, non-regular workers, the elderly, children,

and women.

It has been pointed out that a potential cause of its occurrence and spread is the

expansion of human activities, which degrades natural ecosystems and increases the

risks of encountering unknown viruses. Recent globalization trends have contributed

to the rapid diffusion of the virus and the expansion of the pandemic. The

COVID-19 pandemic also highlights essential issues in today's society, such as the

relationship between humans and nature, the vulnerable sides of globalization, and

various socioeconomic divides among and within countries.

Climate change has also been progressing, making its impacts more apparent

globally, particularly over the past 10 years. For example, India was hit by extraordinary

heatwaves of more than 50簞C in 2019, and the Philippines has suffered from

severe damage from super typhoons. Simultaneously, Japan has been experiencing

the increased impact of larger-scale floods caused by torrential rains and typhoons,

which have caused escalating levels of damage. Bushfires in Australia in 2020 and

California in 2021 gave a strong shock to the world. Although the times and places

were different, all of these events were similarly reported using words such as

"unprecedented" or "once a lifetime" occurrences. Hence, it is clear that among the

features of today's rapidly changing world is the reality that environmental changes

are confronting us with unparalleled challenges and risks.