Asia’s Environment After the 1997 Financial Meltdown: The Need of a Regional Response

This article analyzes the environmental implications of Asia’s financial crisis from its start in mid-1997 until mid-1999 when it appeared largely over. The crisis contributed to widespread environmental changes, mostly (but not entirely) negative. It also altered the underlying processes driving environmental change and the ability and willingness of governments to enforce environmental regulations. For water and conservation, the crisis aggravated environmental problems in many areas, while for agriculture, plantations, fisheries, and mining, it left strong financial incentives to expand production quickly and export commodities to earn foreign exchange. Without preventive measures Asia may enter a second crisis soon, this time centered on regional environmental collapse. The need is urgent for a concerted regional response, with APEC the logical organization to lead it. So far, however, APEC’s rhetoric of sustainable development contains little substance. Even more ominously, its broader agenda of financial and market liberalization has the potential to accelerate natural-resource degradation.