Global Futures

The coronavirus has paralyzed trade, caused stock markets to plunge and global economic activity to shrink. The pandemic has reached Latin America: Venezuela is under quarantine and Chile has declared “estado de catástrofe“ (state of catastrophy), sending in the military, while Mexico’s president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador continues to gather large crowds and hug his supporters. In this episode, Joel Sandhu from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) sits down with Yaotzin Botello to talk about the reaction to COVID-19 in Latin American countries, situation in Europe and Germany and what it means to work for the global media outlet in the time of pandemic. Yaotzin Botello is the head of talk-shows and own productions at Deutsche Welle Latin America. Before joining Deutsche Welle in 2011, Yoatzin worked as a Germany correspondent and writer for prestigious Mexican newspaper group “Reforma” for 15 years.

International cooperation and multilateral approaches are being strained by rising populism and nationalism. The unabated march of the novel coronavirus (COVID19) across the globe threatens to further entrench unilateral approaches and nationalistic attitudes at a time when a global response is needed to combat this pandemic. Yet, we see travel bans being introduced, countries closing their boarders, schools and offices closing their doors, and shortages of medical and household supplies on the rise. COVID19 is the most recent example of how seemingly unpolitical and unideological issues can be politicized, becoming a potentially decisive matter such as this year’s US presidential elections. In this episode, Joel Sandhu from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) talks with Mara Pillinger about what makes COVID19 so different from other epidemics and pandemics. Mara explains the difference between an epidemic and pandemic; whether travel bans could work to tackle COVID19; whether she thinks the US is doing enough to prepare itself for the pandemic; and now that its 2020, what impact is this pandemic going to have on the upcoming US elections. Mara is an Associate at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law School in Washington, DC where she is part of the Global Health Policy and Governance Initiative. Her research focuses on the political, organizational and power dynamics at work behind the scenes of the World Health Organization and major multisectoral global health partnerships.

This episode marks the start of season two of the Global Futures podcast. Over the course of the next few months, we will tackle the future(s) of climate-related conflict, media and information and the politics of inequality with our fellows and other leading experts from around the world. How should we navigate the media landscape in a world where information is available at the touch of a button? In this podcast, Sonya Sugrobova sits down with Allister Fa Chang to learn about media literacy, the importance of critically analyzing what you see online, and how to approach teaching this skill. Allister is a Robert Bosch Stiftung Fellow at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin, where he researches on media literacy and disinformation. Previously, Allister was the executive director of Libraries Without Borders, a non-profit organization that has innovated library partnerships in over 25 countries.

As Beijing marked the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China with an enormous military parade, protests have erupted again in Hong Kong where the national day was marked by bursts of violence as riot police deployed to major street corners, locked down the city, and clashed with protesters. Hong Kongers have been fighting to preserve the autonomy and freedoms they are granted by the “one country, two systems” policy – freedoms that do not apply to Chinese citizens on the mainland. Since Hong Kong was handed over to China by the United Kingdom in 1997, Hong Kongers have felt Beijing’s increasing encroachment on their civil liberties. Many of them, especially from the younger generation, now fear that the city will lose its unique character and feel the need to fight back to protect their identity and way of life. In this episode, Katharina Nachbar from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) talks with Joel Sandhu about his recent visit to Hong Kong and the impressions he took away from speaking to academics, business leaders and locals in a city that has seen over three consecutive months of protests and riots. He also reflects on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and what it means for Hong Kong. Joel is a project manager at the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin, where he heads the Global Governance Futures – Robert Bosch Foundation Multilateral Dialogues (GGF) program and leads GPPi’s work on global order. Katharina manages communications at GPPi.

Indonesia, an archipelago comprising of approximately 17,000 islands, holds just one percent of the Earth’s land area, but that one percent contains contain 10 percent of the world’s known plant species, 12 percent of mammal species, and 17 percent of all known bird species, making Indonesia biodiversity hotspot. The greatest threats to this biodiversity are habitat degradation and fragmentation, landscape changes, overexploitation, pollution, climate change, alien species, forest and land fires, and the economic and political crises occurring in the country. There’s a lot at stake. Indonesia’s future environmental policy is of critical importance. In this episode, Joel Sandhu from the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) sits down with Aidy Halimanjaya to talk about environmental issues in Indonesia, public opinion and how the President, Joko Widodo, will address these issues. Aidy is a researcher, consultant and affiliate at the Padjadjaran University Center for Sustainable Development Goals Studies in Indonesia. She is currently working as an advisor on climate finance for Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry. She was also a GGF 2030 fellow.