South East Asian forest fires: haze over ASEAN and international environmental law

Abstract

The South East Asian forest fires of 1997 underscore the need to bring developing countries to the negotiation table, to consider mechanisms, such as joint implementation and other measures to stabilize their greenhouse gas emissions. The South East Asian forest fires also impact on environmental law and policy-making beyond Kyoto and climate change concerns. Many environmentalists hold that the principle of state responsibility for transboundary polution, as declared in Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration, is now a norm of customary international law. There are also some who believe that because of their unique position at the interface of the national and global levels, regional organizations should play a greater role in making and enforcing environmental laws and policies that are best suited to the particular circumstances. Yet the South East Asian fires show that, in practice, the countries in the region did not rely on the law of state responsibility to hold Indonesia liable. They also demonstrate the difficulties faced by the existing regional organization, Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), to prevent the fires or to deal with them once they had started. This article will begin by reviewing the causes and effects of the fires. It will then consider the adequacy of responses to the fires by Indonesia at the national level, and by ASEAN at the regional level. Finally, it will consider the need for an international effort to deal with the South East Asian forest fires, and for principles and institutions that will link local, regional and global concerns arising therefrom.