Balancing Trade Growth and Environmental Protection in the Mekong: Key issues

The fact sheet examines the tension between trade growth and environmental sustainability in the Mekong Subregion, noting that while regional strategies like the 'Green ASEAN' vision exist, implementation is hindered by national political obstacles and a lack of transparency. It highlights the negative impact of illegal wildlife and timber trade, the limited influence of domestic civil society, and the dominant role of foreign donors in driving environmental mainstreaming into trade policy.

• Trade liberalization in Mekong states, driven by WTO and ASEAN membership, creates pressure on environmental sustainability, specifically regarding the development of hydroelectric power and regional power grids.
• Illegal trade in timber and wildlife significantly undermines regional environmental sustainability, with species such as tigers, Asian elephants, pangolins, and freshwater turtles seeing sharp population declines due to high commercial value.
• The primary obstacle to integrating environmental considerations into regional trade is not a lack of strategy or policymaking at the ASEAN level, but rather implementation failures and political stumbling blocks within individual member states.
• Efforts to mainstream environmental issues into trade and investment policy in the subregion are almost entirely led by foreign donors, such as the European Commission, rather than by regional organizations like the Mekong River Commission or the Greater Mekong Subregion, due to a lack of transparency and mistrust.
• The 2002 ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution remains unratified and unimplemented, largely due to Indonesian opposition linked to economic interests in Borneo and Sumatra.

APA

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

Chicago

Dosch, Jörn. Balancing Trade Growth and Environmental Protection in the Mekong: Key issues. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2010. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/balancing_trade_mekong.pdf.

Wikipedia

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

BibTeX

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