1 Introduction

Environmental governance has been the subject of numerous scholarly writings and the concept is now firmly established both in international and domestic law. Yet environmental decisions of administrators are constantly challenged, which suggests that their decisions do not always ...   MORE>>

1 Introduction

Over the years, scholars from various disciplines have explored the meaning and possible parameters of the notion of sustainable development for different reasons. With few exceptions, most scholars agree with the definition of sustainable development contained in the 1987 Report o...   MORE>>

In most regions around the world, including in South East Asia, one of the most challenging issues facing the protection of the environment and the management of natural resources is the institutional structure for governance within state governments. Governance structures commonly produce problems ...   MORE>>

I. INTRODUCTION

Ten years ago it seemed that the whole world was “going green”. Malaysia was no exception. Suddenly the environment was very much in vogue. Terms such as “biological diversity”, “greenhouse effect” and “global warming” started to seep into usage. Amidst the added a...   MORE>>

I. INTRODUCTION

Hong Kong is one of the major financial centres in the world. It has enviable foreign reserves, which stood at US$110.6 billion in October 2002. Despite this, however, the gap between the rich and poor is significant and it is getting worse. Hong Kong also has worsening pollution ...   MORE>>

I. INTRODUCTION

Genetic resources have long been important raw materials in agriculture and medicine having continually provided the basis for both the improvement of agricultural crops and for the traditional, largely plant-based, medicines upon which 75% of the world population relies for its p...   MORE>>

I. INTRODUCTION

The Asian Development Bank recently approved an environmental policy which focuses in part on ADB participation in multilateral environmental agreements, including the non-binding Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environme...   MORE>>

I. INTRODUCTION

About ten (10) years ago, commenting on the Rio 1992 Earth Summit, I had emphasized that:

The journey to Rio involved a preparatory process almost unprecedented in human history. Did UNCED succeed or was it a failure? What lessons were learned there? Undoubtedly, there were bot...   MORE>>

“The value of money itself changes from a thousand causes; and at all events, what is of ruin to one man’s fortune, may be a matter of indifference to another’s.”

I. INTRODUCTION

In the late hours of March 23, 1989, the Exxon Valdez supertanker moved through the waters of Prince Willia...   MORE>>

INTRODUCTION

Despite the rhetoric from the developed world touting goals of environmental protection, most nations have continued investing in carbon intensive energy sources and promoting trade agreements that merely pay lip service to sustainable development. Behind these actions is the view t...   MORE>>