Balancing Trade Growth and Environmental Protection in ASEAN

The briefing examines the tension between economic growth and environmental sustainability in the Mekong subregion (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam) and ASEAN. It argues that while regional strategies and national laws exist, actual commitment to environmental protection in trade policy remains low, often driven more by foreign donor interests than by regional political will. The author highlights the 'ASEAN Way' of non-binding consensus as a barrier to enforcement and recommends strengthening regional ownership and civil society engagement.

• Environmental protection often takes a secondary role to industrialization and poverty reduction in the Mekong subregion, and multilateral efforts to balance these interests have shown little evidence of effectiveness.
• In Thailand, there is increasing engagement with environmental challenges from both the public sector and business, evidenced by a 2009 Administrative Court injunction that prioritized environmental rights over economic interests by halting 76 investment projects worth THB 400 billion at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate.
• Trade agreements in the region often lack environmental safeguards; for instance, the ASEAN–China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) contains no provisions for cooperation on environmental problems resulting from trade liberalization.
• Pro-environment initiatives in the trade and investment sectors are frequently driven by foreign donors (such as the EU, USAID, and UNDP) rather than national or regional agendas, particularly in the area of organic export agriculture.
• The 'ASEAN Way' of consensus-based, non-binding decision-making and the lack of sanctions mechanisms hinder the enforcement of environmental agreements, such as the 2002 ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.
• The Roadmap for an ASEAN Community 2009–2015 contains a clause that allows member states to avoid environmental commitments if they conflict with competitiveness or economic development.

APA

Dosch, J. (2010). Balancing Trade Growth and Environmental Protection in ASEAN. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/balancing_trade_growth_asean_brief.pdf

Chicago

Dosch, Jörn. Balancing Trade Growth and Environmental Protection in ASEAN. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2010. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/balancing_trade_growth_asean_brief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Dosch |first1=Jörn |title=Balancing Trade Growth and Environmental Protection in ASEAN |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=June 2010 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/balancing_trade_growth_asean_brief.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{dosch2010balancing, author = {Dosch, Jörn}, title = {{Balancing Trade Growth and Environmental Protection in ASEAN}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2010}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/balancing_trade_growth_asean_brief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }