Sustainable Management of Coastal and Land Resources in Southeast Asia - Rule of Law Programme Asia
Event Reports
The event was opened by the Thai Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources, Gen. Surasak Karnjanarat. During this event, 70 participants, mainly from research institutions and civil society organizations, discussed the significance of natural resources in coastal and inland regions for the global climate and their economic value. The latter includes food production and the development of prosperity as well as tourism, which is an important sector in many Southeast Asian countries.
The coastal areas in the ASEAN region stretch over approximately 173,000 km, bordering the South China Sea, Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. A large part of the population and consequently, economic activities, are concentrated here. Dependence on agriculture as an important pillar of the people’s livelihood means heavy reliance on natural resources.
In addition to being plagued regularly by natural disasters, especially typhoons and floods, countries in the region also fall victim to man-made disasters, such as oil spills and overfishing as a result of illegal fishing and mismanagement of natural resources. All of these have resulted in the degradation of land.
Experts from the various countries of the region, including the host country Thailand, China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, agreed that economic growth and environmental protection must be balanced – not least in the interest of continued growth which in turn depends on the preservation of natural resources.
In order to achieve this balance, clear and binding laws governing the environment and economic activity are essential. While such legal provisions are increasingly being enacted in the region, their consistent application by competent state authorities leaves much to be desired. In this context, the training of young lawyers and members of the judiciary in particular, with regard to more effective enforcement of environmental protection laws and thus improved legal protection of citizens regarding “green access rights”, such as access to information, access to justice and participation in environmental issues, were significant topics of discussion at this conference.
Media library
#11: Hannah Lim on Legal Technology in South East Asia
As Head of Rule of Law and Emerging Markets at LexisNexis in Singapore, Hannah identifies areas where LexisNexis can, leveraging on technology, support the rule of law.
read now
#6: Lee San Natalie Pang on the General Data Protection Regulation & its influence in Southeast Asia
For the last episode of our first series “Data Protection” we go to Asia and take a closer look at the Southeast with Dr Lee San Natalie Pang, our expert on Data Protection.
read now
#5: Ridwan Oloyede about the GDPR and its influence in African legal framework
Ridwan Oloyede is co-founder of a Nigerian start-up, that helps businesses to achieve operational excellence through the reliable and efficient application of technology.
read now
#4: Nadim Gemayel on the General Data Protection Regulation and its influence in Middle East
Nadim Gemayel is a politician and lawyer based in Lebanon and Qatar. He was a member of the Lebanese Parliament between 2009 and 2020.
read now
#3: Eduardo Magrani on Data Protection in Latin America
We speak with Eduardo Magrani about the General Data Protection Regulation and its influence in Brazilian and Latin American legal framework.
read now
#2: Ioana Stupariu on the GDPR's influence in South East Europe
Ioana Stupariu works with tech and healthcare start-ups and companies across Central and Eastern Europe. And she researches on Data protection & Privacy.
read now