Third ASEAN State of the Environment Report 2006: Towards an Environmentally Sustainable ASEAN Community, and: Asian Aspirations for Climate Regime Beyond 2012: Energy Security and Development Needs, Clean Development Mechanism, Technology Development and Transfer, Adaptation to Climate Change (review)

Both publications echo the necessity of protecting the environment and natural resources for sustaining economic development and long-term economic growth. They also provide interested readers (especially environmental economists, environmentalists, and policy-makers) with hands-on information on the practical complexities involved in understanding the management of environmental resources. In addition, environmental degradation issues often transcend national barriers and has impacts on the economy within and outside a country. As such, both volumes deal with issues from a local, regional, and global perspective.

The first publication, Third ASEAN State of the Environment Report 2006: Towards an Environmentally Sustainable ASEAN Community, by the ASEAN Secretariat, focuses on the ten Southeast Asian countries, and the environmental challenges ahead in setting up an ASEAN Community. The second, Asian Aspirations for Climate Regime Beyond 2012, covers a wider region but narrows the focus to just one environmental concern, that of the dynamic processes of climate change, its impact on the Asia-Pacific region, and the effective engagement of Asian countries in shaping the future of the global climate change regime.

Third ASEAN State of the Environment Report 2006: Towards an Environmentally Sustainable ASEAN Community by the ASEAN Secretariat

Preventing the degradation of the environment has been a recurring factor that has not been given a high priority in the development goals of some countries in ASEAN. In recent years, ASEAN leaders have come to an agreement that prosperity in the region can only be fuelled if natural resources are used on a more sustainable basis. ASEAN leaders have also agreed that a balance between economic growth, social equity, and environmental integrity shall be the guiding principle in order to establish an ASEAN Community by the year 2020. This is because ASEAN faces enormous challenges towards achieving an environmentally sustainable and economically prosperous community given the socio-economic divide among the more and less developed member countries in ASEAN.

This book is the third in the series where a description of environmental conditions and analyses of recent economic, social, and environmental data and indicators is provided in sufficient detail for the interested reader. Developments in key emerging environmental issues in the years to come have also been identified. This publication also highlights ASEAN's initiatives in the field of environmental management and sustainable development, providing at times a candid discussion of ASEAN's achievements and the challenges still remaining.

The first four chapters provide background information on the ASEAN region covering its geographical setting, people, demography, social, and economic development. The next six chapters, which form the crux of the book, cover important environmental concerns like freshwater and marine ecosystems (Chapter 5), terrestrial ecosystems (Chapter 6), the atmosphere (Chapter 7), global environmental issues (Chapter 8), the ASEAN Environmental Management Framework (Chapter 9) and the establishment of an environmentally sustainable ASEAN Community (Chapter 10).

Important issues like the ASEAN strategic plan of action on water resources management, the protection of wetland sites in ASEAN (consisting of twenty-six Ramsar Convention-listed wetlands), the management of fishery resources, the issue of deforestation and land degradation, endemic species in ASEAN and the challenges involved in protecting endangered species (tiger and orang utan) and preserving biodiversity, waste management, the issue of air pollution and air quality, transboundary haze pollution, ASEAN's participation in multilateral environmental agreements, and climate change are examined in a succinct, interesting (case studies are provided where relevant) and informative manner.

However, more could have been said about the issue of implementing and enforcing environmental regulations or the lack of it in some ASEAN countries. Are the set of property rights...