Our oceans are under the threat of climate change — marked by damage to coral reefs in various parts of the world and ocean acidification. Humans have played a large part in sea damage through pollution from ships, from land, mining at sea, as well as irresponsible fisheries exploitation.

The combination of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the oil collapse has created new threats to the economy, along with political instability and poverty in countries reliant on oil sales. The oil price war could be traced back to when OPEC producers tried to negotiate a production cut in line with a global demand slowdown and this condition has led to the oil price crash. With lockdown measures being implemented in 187 countries – bringing mobility to a halt- demand for oil has fallen resulted in the global oil price crash.

Ramadan is known as the time when gatherings and activities such as communal prayers, communal meals or banquets and pilgrimages are conducted every day amongst family, friends and also the mosque community. However, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, governments and the World Health Organizations (WHO) have taken several measurements to ensure a safe Ramadan practice while maintaining social distancing. As a result, physical worships such as communal prayers and religious sermons have been avoided and prayers are conducted at home using virtual alternatives.

On Monday, 11 May 2020, Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) has successfully convened a virtual roundtable discussion involving Governor of West Java Ridwan Kamil and several Foreign Ambassadors to Indonesia. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Dino Patti Djalal, Founder of FPCI. The Governor and Ambassadors had a fruitful discussion on best experiences and practices in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like all countries around the world, for Indonesia, diplomacy is a critical part of the life-and death efforts to beat the Covid-19 pandemic. This involves a variety of important tasks: evacuating Indonesian citizens from affected areas, coordinating with WHO on Covid-19 knowhow, securing medical equipments including test kits from international manufacturers, pushing an ASEAN response, ensuring effective international cooperation, mitigating the economic impacts of Covid-19, and so on.

The World Economic Forum acknowledges that faith leaders can actually provide such comfort to their communities by turning to religious texts and theology, and encouraging safe practices. However, they also recognize the need for “an immediate and whole-of society approach to prevent the transmission of the virus.” Particularly for some communities, they need an extra measure of help more than ever as well. It is the kind of relief that is not just spiritual relief, but also physical and financial ones. The question is, how can interfaith communities collaboratively work to respond to the pandemic? What are some of the things that been done in this respect all around the world?

COVID-19 has created a global economic crisis that is now hitting countries across the world. Travel, tourism, production, and international trade have been severely disrupted. Businesses across many industries are forced to shut down. International Monetary Fund projected that the world economy is most likely to experience its worst recession since the Great Depression. How has Covid-19 actually been impacting the world and Indonesian economy? How should the Indonesian government mitigate the risks of possible economic depression?

On the 25th of April, FPCI in collaboration with Indonesian Diaspora Network – Global (IDN-G), Asosiasi Dosen Indonesia (ADI), and Perhimpunan Pelajar Indonesia se-Dunia (PPI Dunia) convened the first Indonesian government briefing on COVID-19 in Indonesia to Indonesian diaspora around the globe.