Asean Recognises Environment As A Human Right. What Lies Ahead?

After three years of discussion, member countries adopted a landmark declaration during the 47th ASEAN Summit here on Oct 26, recognising a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right.

The declaration includes promoting multilateral environmental laws, education and public access to information, and improving equal protection of vulnerable groups such as indigenous people against human rights violations. It also “strongly” encourages businesses to adopt sustainable models, and asks ASEAN member states to enhance collaboration between them. 

The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) is in charge of developing a regional plan of action.

ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Interface Meeting with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) Representatives at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in July after discussing ASEAN peoples’ right to a safe and clean environment. –fotoBERNAMA (2025) COPYRIGHT RESERVED

While lauding the declaration, environmental  groups have criticised it as not going far enough. In its press statement, Greenpeace Southeast Asia (GPSEA) called the declaration “long overdue,” adding that it remains incomplete as it lacks clear obligations, measurable targets and enforcement mechanisms. 

It also criticised the declaration for omitting “corporate responsibility to uphold people’s environmental rights and the need to address the transboundary nature of the region’s environmental challenges.”

The Asian Research Institute for Environmental Law – an umbrella group comprising environmental organisations in the region – praised ASEAN for including indigenous peoples/communities in its press statement but said that the declaration lacked strong language that addresses the urgent need to safeguard and protect the environment, and the people that defend it.

“(I)ts true strength will not be defined by words written on paper, but by how each member state translates these commitments into concrete and measurable actions,” said Raynaldo G. Sembiring, director of the Indonesian Centre for Environmental Law.

REGIONAL CHALLENGES

Countries in Southeast Asia, and members of ASEAN, are remarkably rich in biodiversity and natural resources, with unique flora and fauna. Three ASEAN members, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, are part of the 17 megadiverse countries.

This wealth is under threat from overdevelopment as ASEAN is an emerging world economy – currently the world’s fifth biggest economy, and set to be the fourth by 2030. 

Another environmental challenge in the region is the transboundary nature of environmental pollution, such as haze, plastic waste in the ocean as well as wildlife trafficking.

Edmund Bon, chair of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR). –Credit: Nina Muslim/BERNAMA

Chair of the AICHR Edmund Bon told Bernama that much of the criticism is directed at the non-binding nature of the declaration, meaning member states are not legally required to take action in accordance with the declaration.

However, he stressed it did not mean the declaration was toothless.

“Just because it’s non-binding doesn’t mean that it is not an obligation that has been agreed to and can be enforced,” he said.

He cited how courts in Malaysia accept and refer to the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration, which passed in 2012, using the declaration to inform judicial decisions.

Although the declaration is not law, it is considered “soft law” and can be used in judgements when dealing with trans-boundary environmental issues.

“So when you talk about plastic, when you talk about haze, this detailing comes in the plan of action.

“We can then use this declaration to say, hey, this is affecting another country, the environment and the declaration is acknowledged by all member states to say we should stop it,” he said.

Bon added that member states, civil societies and communities can use the declaration as a framework for advocacy and implementation at the national level. 

NATIONAL PLAN

A way to translate the declaration into “concrete action” will require national legislation to address transboundary environmental problems, such as allowing a party from one nation to take action against another party operating in another nation, the way Singapore did.

The island state passed the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA) of 2014 to address haze from other countries, with possible fines up to S$2 million.

In 2015, Singapore sent a notice to a Singapore-listed company to supply information on its subsidiaries operating in Indonesia, suspected of illegally slashing-and-burning forests for land-clearing, to extinguish the forest fires, not to start new ones and to submit prevention plans.

Subang Member of Parliament Wong Chen published a paper on the cost of statelessness in 2019. In it, he estimated Malaysia lost RM6 billion in revenue in 2018 because they are underemployed and underpaid. –fotoBERNAMA (2024) COPYRIGHT RESERVED

Subang Member of Parliament and ASEAN Parliamentarian for Human Rights (APHR) board member Wong Chen said Malaysia should follow Singapore’s example.

“The best mechanism is, I think, what Singapore is pursuing. Whether Malaysia will go to that level or not, I don’t know. I can’t say,” he said via Google Meet. “But I think we should lah.”

The Singaporean law and action have caused some diplomatic friction with Indonesia. Although Indonesia had pledged to respect international laws on haze and pollution, it also said Singapore’s efforts should not compromise the sovereignty of ASEAN’s most populous nation.

Co-chair of APHR Charles Santiago agreed there should be laws that would apply regionally, adding there also needs to be a way to monitor the biggest environmental polluters, not just in the case of haze but also waste.

ASEAN nations, including the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, are known as the biggest contributors to plastic waste in the oceans.

“The big stakeholder that’s always responsible for unhealthy environment (and) unhealthy air is actually what they call plantations and factories.

“So we need to have some kind of a protocol to ensure that there’s monitoring and a strong plan that ensures that companies whether they are based in Malaysia, Singapore, or anywhere, or Thailand or Indonesia, including haze and so on, has got a system to recycle it,” said Santiago.

He stressed that the government needed to pass legislation to reflect the points in the declaration.

Charles Santiago, co-chair of ASEAN Parliamentarians on Human Rights (APHR). File pic. –fotoBERNAMA (2025) COPYRIGHT RESERVED

Santiago said Malaysia could either update current existing environmental laws or pass new legislation, adding that updating current legislation would be faster and easier to pass.

“It must be a local law. If it is not, if it doesn’t find itself in the local law, then there cannot be any monitoring, no enforcement. And if you don’t have monitoring and enforcement and together with the penalties for polluting, then there’s nothing you can do,” he said.

Environmental laws in Malaysia include the Environmental Quality Act 1974, National Forestry Act 1984 and Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.

Bon told Bernama he hoped to have a plan of action when ASEAN nations next meet in 2026, under the chairmanship of the Philippines.

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