Synthesizing ethnographic case studies from mainland Southeast Asia, the authors critically review the implementation of REDD+, a UN project to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. They argue that REDD+ maps onto local power structures and political economies in its implementation, rendering it blunt as a tool for change.
Modern Crises and Traditional Strategies evaluates local and indigenous ecological knowledge which may help populations cope with insecurity due to environmental, sociopolitical and economic stressors, through positive examples from Southeast Asian islands.
The authors seek to ascertain if ASEAN can respond to regional human-induced environmental problems given existing problems of national sovereignty and the interest-based character of ASEAN-type associations, since ASEAN’s goal, in contrast to that of the EU, has been regional cooperation rather than regional integration. The aim is to highlight the status of the respective policy frameworks and exemplify areas in which the regions can learn from one another in the field of air pollution, given its global relevance for climate change.
