Compliance with, and effective implementation of a multilateral environment agreement:looking back at the trams boundary haze pollution problem in the ASEAN region
The prognosis for effective environment governance in the ASEAN region, at least in the case of the THP problem, is not good, and does not bode well for the 2015 integration. The assessments on the effectiveness of the anti-THP measures, i.e., RHAP and the ATHP, reveal that forest/plantation fires remain unabated despite efforts on the part of the ASEAN and its member-countries to douse them through domestic laws and fire-control measures.
What is worrying is that, with the aid of satellites, other new haze emitters from other members have been detected. Smoke haze emanating from them, through the years, have been noted to be on the rise.
Despite efforts on the part of the ASEAN and its member-countries to curb the forest/plantation fires, the region is entangled in a complex labyrinth of socio-economic-legal factors that make it hard to put a stop to this problem. Hence, the author believes that the experiences and lessons in the implementation of the RHAP and the ATHP, the following policy recommendations, both at the regional and local levels, would somehow help untangle the web of problems.