Alleviating Environmental Degradation in the Asia-Pacific Region

📖 The Scoop

This paper emphasises the basis for environmental co-operation in the Asia-Pacific region and identifies issue-linkage as an important characteristic of this process. Progress on international or trans-boundary environmental problems - in which at present the developed countries of the region have the most stake - would be facilitated by linkage with progress on issues in which developing countries have a more immediate stake - local degradation effects for one. It is argued in this paper that welfare effects can be enhanced by expanding the list of potential issues for linkage with international environmental negotiation. The paper provides a brief overview of the state of the environment in the Asia-Pacific region, underscoring the importance of the distinction between emissions and degradation. It then assesses human vulnerability to existing environmental conditions in the Asia-Pacific and emphasises the importance of designing mechanisms for internalising external effects - both within countries and trans-nationally - and assessing the impediments to such internalisation. The paper also advances some suggestions for furthering such internalisation.

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