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3.1 Introduction
Asia is showing increasing signs of demographic fatigue in its quest to provide for all
the needs and wants of its exploding population. Of the world’s more than six billion
people, approximately 3.5 billion live in Asia. Two Asian countries combined—China
and India—account for more than one-third of the global population; each of these
nations has for more than one billion people. Environmental degradation has been one
of the most visible manifestations of this evolving struggle. However, in most Asian
countries, environmental activism or leadership is a fairly recent phenomenon. For
example, in China, the government by the mid-1990s had started to tolerate environmental activism, as long as it focused on solving specifi c problems rather than criticizing government policies and decisions. Two prime indicators of environmental
legislation and enforcement agencies were introduced in the ECLA class (see Fig. 3.1 )
to illustrate Asia’s institutional level of environmental leadership and reform.
Japan was the fi rst country in Asia to become industrialized and to face serious
environmental disasters such as Minamata disease, so it was the fi rst Asian country
to pass basic environmental laws (1967) and to establish a ministry of the environment (1971) as shown in Fig. 3.1 . Singapore established its own environmental
ministry 1 year later (1972), with China and Malaysia following in 1974. Since
then, the second wave of environment ministries in Asia occurred in the late 1980s
and early 1990s. In most Asian countries, basic environmental legislation lagged
behind the introduction of environment ministries.
Asia is the fastest-growing region measured by population growth as well
economic development (though countries are at different stages), thus Asian economies provide many hints to our students to deal with evolving environmental
Fig. 3.1 Establishment of environmental governance, 1967–2000 ( Source : UNEP-RRCAP, 2003)
M. Onuki and K.J. An
3.1 Introduction
Asia is showing increasing signs of demographic fatigue in its quest to provide for all
the needs and wants of its exploding population. Of the world’s more than six billion
people, approximately 3.5 billion live in Asia. Two Asian countries combined—China
and India—account for more than one-third of the global population; each of these
nations has for more than one billion people. Environmental degradation has been one
of the most visible manifestations of this evolving struggle. However, in most Asian
countries, environmental activism or leadership is a fairly recent phenomenon. For
example, in China, the government by the mid-1990s had started to tolerate environmental activism, as long as it focused on solving specifi c problems rather than criticizing government policies and decisions. Two prime indicators of environmental
legislation and enforcement agencies were introduced in the ECLA class (see Fig. 3.1 )
to illustrate Asia’s institutional level of environmental leadership and reform.
Japan was the fi rst country in Asia to become industrialized and to face serious
environmental disasters such as Minamata disease, so it was the fi rst Asian country
to pass basic environmental laws (1967) and to establish a ministry of the environment (1971) as shown in Fig. 3.1 . Singapore established its own environmental
ministry 1 year later (1972), with China and Malaysia following in 1974. Since
then, the second wave of environment ministries in Asia occurred in the late 1980s
and early 1990s. In most Asian countries, basic environmental legislation lagged
behind the introduction of environment ministries.
Asia is the fastest-growing region measured by population growth as well
economic development (though countries are at different stages), thus Asian economies provide many hints to our students to deal with evolving environmental
Fig. 3.1 Establishment of environmental governance, 1967–2000 ( Source : UNEP-RRCAP, 2003)
M. Onuki and K.J. An