By Terry Foecke and Chris Plante
Terry Foecke is Senior Environmental Consultant at The Asia Foundation; Chris Plante is The Asia Foundation’s Environment Programs Director, and can be reached at cplante@asiafound.org.
Current funding and project trends to improve environmental governance in Asia focus on activism, increased enforcement of environmental regulations, public participation, and intergovernmental efforts to address transboundary environmental issues. Yet, an environmental protection model of activism and enforcement often ignores too many realities of developing economies. During more than 50 years of program work in developing Asian economies on governance and law, economic development, and the environment, The Asia Foundation has found that the existing governance systems and policy instruments often support polluting and environmentally destructive practices.
The Foundation’s Environment Program integrates and supports activist and enforcement approaches, but it also adds a third way: emphasizing a realignment of political and economic incentives and collaborative public policy. The fundamental problem is that, by its very nature, the status quo approach to environmental protection slows growth. Pollution control and cleanup drains resources away from short-term productivity and places resources into long-term investments like protected lands and forests, clean water, and clean air.
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