The Zenith of Asia’s Environmental Ignorance and Politics – Free Essay Example

Responsible for its own success, the most famous beach in Thailand has accumulated a growing concern of its deteriorating reefs and is set to be free of tourism for two additional years. In accordance to Songtam Suksawang, director of Thailand’s National Parks Department (NPD), Maya Bay, the stunning cove made famous by the 2000 film, The Beach, has already been shuttered for a year, and will remain closed to allow for its natural resources to regenerate. With the closing of one of the biggest tourist attracting locations in Asia, Thailand citizens have begun to question the multiple causes that result in the loss of a crucial aspect of their country. Whether it is the devastation of forests, carbon dioxide emission, or the rise of sea levels, it has become evident that environmental crises do not halt at nations’ borders. Rather, they should be acknowledged as transnational issues; Asian governments are being demanded now more than ever to promote a multilateral perspective in order to avoid the problems that may challenge the survival of their societies and citizens.

Despite buoyant economies, healthy investments, growing trade ties, as well as prospering interactive societies, predictability and certainty in the political spheres have become elusive for Asian nations in regards to the prospering global standings and their entities. What appears to be stable political outcomes or transitions in thriving countries, have recently begun to generate fear and uncertainty among civilians; squabbling political entities are battered by divisive issues of environmental policies and relative societal communication. Thus, these current issues contribute to answering the following research question: existing within the past two decades, what are some ongoing and rising human-induced environmental issues in Asia, and how are these problems impacting relative Asian societies and their global standings today?

South Korean Perspective of Political Interactions

The consensus that it is the fault of inefficient governmental systems for not resolving these environmental issues derives from the belief that there is a greater focus on diplomatics, economics, and global standings. Author Yoo Jeongyeon, who obtained a PhD from the Political Science Department at Seoul University (1987) and is a citizen of the Republic of Korea, has analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of her countries’ relations to the thriving nations of China and America in her journal, “US- China Energy and Energy Institution Building in the Asia – Pacific”; overall, she states that there are two sides to a temporary shift of focus in public connections. In agreeance with Yoo, “China’s Ban on Trash Imports Shifts War Crisis to Southeast Asia” by Laura Park, also a professor at Seoul University in the Environmental Policy Program and South Korean citizen, states that there is also a partial fault of international countries, especially China. Generally, both authors believe that an increase in Asian political interactions can assist in the search of solutions for these seemingly perpetual environmental issues. As these nations continue to learn about efficient energy systems and processes with their international relations, these tactics “could be diffused to other energy relations” as well as their own countries; thus, such a focus influences the spread of environmental awareness through the establishment of political alliances (Yoo). For example, although China and the United States are just beginning their fourth decade of energy cooperation, only recently has there been a concerted US effort to create a substructure for their bilateral energy relations. In the past three decades, both nations have witnessed many energy projects that have failed in completion and institutionalization, often becoming ‘one – off’ exercises that duplicate previous projects. Additionally, both Yoo and Park have emphasized that recent initiatives are intended to establish long – term linkages between US and Chinese energy bureaucracies, thus also connecting energy efficiency, energy security, and environmental issues. The US is currently attempting to establish their bilateral relationships with Asia – Pacific multilateral energy and environmental regimes, and have also been using these agreements as mechanisms to promote domestic energy and environmental reform. However, “Urban Environmental Issues and Trends in Asia – An Overview” by author Hidefumi Imura, a professor at the Global Cooperation Institute for Sustainable Cities of Yokohama City University, agrees that these environmental issues are a result of “weak institutionalizations”, but disagrees that there are benefits in increasing political attention, as this will only result in “poor government policy and response, lack of political will, [and] lack of appropriate economic and human resources” (Imura et al.). In summary Imura expresses his belief that it is solely the fault of governments who choose to not take part in the movements of institutions, organizations, and even their citizens.

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East Asia: Poor Governance

Moreover, in support of Imura’s argument that Asia’s political establishments have little to no interest in environmental issues, the journal, “Southeast Asia May Be Building Too Many Dams Too Fast” by Shana Mintozaki, professor at Chung-Ang University and head of the Japanese Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, expresses that governments are purposely hiding from citizens possible dangers through their lack of response to domestic concern, lack of effort to reinforce environmentally safe infrastructure, and the general ignorance of communist governments (Mintozaki). Focusing on the areas of transport planning and air pollution, solid waste management, and water supply and sanitation, Mintozaki looks at the major environmental issues faced by cities in the region, challenges confronting city administrators, and the ways in which they are responding. From the perspective of Im Nayeon’s (researcher in the Department of Humanities and Social Science at the Konkuk University) “Is Asia’s Media Reporting the Real Causes of Air Pollution?”, she argues that with appropriate policies, it should be possible for governments to continue to pursue economic growth while reducing environmental impacts. Poor governance in the water supply and sanitation sector mainly stems from lack of policies on tariff schemes and on the roles of service regulators and service providers, rather than the sole fault of the citizens. Insufficient tariffs mean that public investment only subsidizes the existing levels of service rather than being used to improve coverage and quality. As a result, low tariffs encourage wastage of water by the more affluent sectors of society, with the end result being that the poorer sectors subsidize the rich. In “Financing Urban Environmental Infrastructure in East Asia: Current Situation, Challenges, and Strategies”, Miao Chang and Yong Ren, professors in the Social Science Research Council Faculty Professional Development Grant at Kyunghee University, state that poor governance has also resulted in “high levels of non-revenue water due to poor construction, operation, and maintenance of the infrastructure” (Miao, Yong). Many of the urban poor are not yet served with piped water and do not have access to safe sanitation. As a result, they suffer more from water- and sanitation-related health risks. Devising institutional arrangements and allocating roles for different actors according to the changing needs, so as to cater to the needs of the poor while creating the right environment and incentives for the service providers, is a governance challenge faced by most cities in Asia. Overall, the three sources share the similarity in providing an overview of the linkages between population growth, urbanization, economic development, and environmental issues in Asian cities.

Conclusion

Interestingly, despite the potential conflicts that may result from environmental issues, implementation of laws has hardly been realized. A number of factors (specifically, the fundamental principles of non-interference in domestic affairs, informality of negotiations, and non-binding plans instead of treaties) hinder the creation of effective environmental regimes and the establishment of serious environmental protection measures. National and metropolitan city governments in Asia have begun to recognize the need for urgent action to limit the environmental impacts of urbanization. Seen in both developed and developing cities, a variety of responses are being trialed, taking in both policy and action, to offset current trends and to move towards sustainable solutions. However, Asian governments are similarly focusing on three areas aforementioned: air quality management and urban transportation, solid waste management, and water supply and sanitation. Several Asian cities are considering measures to improve their urban transport systems and initiated policies to integrate urban transportation in development planning: improving public transport, switching to cleaner fuels, technology application, private sector participation and partnerships, participatory approaches to urban transport planning, and integration of local pollution control and greenhouse gas mitigation measures.

In general, there are significant environmental problems and management issues that straddle multiple borders. These emerging and overlapping regimes are driven partly by environmental imperatives, bureaucratic competition, and leadership aspirations in regards to geopolitics or geoeconomics. To begin resolving these seemingly perpetual environmental calamities of Asia, political entities must first acknowledge the dangers their nations face by ignoring its effects on their citizens and land.