Environmental pollution around the South China Sea: developing a regional response to a regional problem

Abstract

Introduction: This study focuses on the South China Sea because it is an integral ecosystem and a vital international shipping lane. It is also an arena for competing security interests. Countries bordering the South China Sea have been more concerned with maximizing economic growth and ensuring adequate energy supplies than in preserving their common natural resources. They have staked territorial claims to areas with potential oil and natural gas reserves; however, these claims are overlapping and conflicting. While a territorial settlement is unlikely in the short term, other avenues of regional cooperation have emerged, in particular, the ASEAN effort to curb smoke haze. This study will examine the phenomenon of smoke haze, its short-term and long-term causes and consequences, and the institutional responses to it.