Internationales Umweltrecht in Südostasien. Vom ASEAN-Way zur aktiven Gestaltung regionalen und globalen Umweltvölkerrechts?

Southeast Asia is a region extremely rich in natural heritage. However, rising populations, economic development and other factors pose significant dangers to the environment of the region. Therefore the development of environmental law in this part of the world deserves attention. The overview shows the legal environmental mechanisms now in place on the national level. Most states have environmental clauses established as a constitutional principle and the extent of respective legislation has increased significantly in recent years. On the international level, they are also mostly members of many global environmental treaties. Furthermore, Southeast Asian states have increased regional cooperation in the framework of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, the common efforts to enforce the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the Mekong River Treaty (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) are examples for regionally coordinated efforts in the protection of the environment. However, for the time being the regional instruments are, in the tradition of the ASEAN-Way, comparatively soft and seemingly not par ticularly effective. Most importantly, the majority of Southeast Asian states have serious problems in the field of effective administration, which affects the enforcement of national laws and the fulfillment of international obligations alike. Whereas Singapore is the only state in the region that has enforcement capacity comparable (or even better) than average Western developed countries, states like Indonesia and Cambodia suffer from deeply rooted dysfunctions in their administrative and judicial structures. Although the current process of strengthening ASEAN (preparation of an ASEAN-Charter etc.), might be helpful in respect to a more effective environmental policy in the region, success in the in the fighting of illegal logging, forest fires, over-fishing etc. will depend to a significant extent on an overall improvement in the administrative, legal structures and capacities.