Finding Silver Linings Amid Haze of Climatic Uncertainty

Singer-songwriter Yusuf ‘Cat Stevens’ Islam speaks during the closing session of the Global Tipping Points Conference in Kuala Lumpur. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahimby Zofeen Ebrahim (kuala lumpur)Friday, October 16, 2026Inter Press Service KUALA LUMPUR, October 16 (IPS) - With the city enveloped in a cloak of haze, the urgency of tackling the climate crisis could hardly have been clearer as the four-day Global Tipping Points Conference 2026 drew to a close at Malaysia’s Sunway University on Thursday. At the conference, speakers stressed the need for humanity to remain within planetary boundaries, or the “safe operating space”.Crossing these boundaries could have catastrophic consequences, warned Professor Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the conference organisers.He highlighted the dangers of triggering irreversible changes in major Earth systems. Some of the bulwarks have already been breached, manifesting themselves in the form of collapsed ice sheets, bleached corals, shrinking wildlife habitats and the slow death of rainforests.Dong Wang’s park in Bangkok. Credit: Zofeen T. Ebrahim‘Tipping points’ conference brings together c...