Most comparative studies of environmental reform have focused on the experiences of advanced, industrialized societies in Europe and the Americas. But can these research traditions be applied when studying processes of environmental reform in Asia, a continent of crucial importance for the global environment? Significant methodological challenges exist in operationalizing and measuring environmental reform in Asia and elsewhere. This article explores possibilities and requirements for addressing such questions and challenges through an analysis of data from official and other sources on trends in environmental performance in 11 market-oriented, industrialized, and industrializing states in Asia during the past several decades. What evidence is there of improvement (or deterioration) in environmental quality? How can changes be explained? To what extent can improvements be attributed to innovations in environmental policy and practice? Preliminary findings, interpretations, and assessments, along with a call for new comparative analyses of environmental reform in Asia, are presented.
Aden, J., & Rock, M. T. (1999). Initiating environmental behavior in manufacturing plants in Indonesia. The Journal of Environment & Development, 6 (4), 357-375.
2.
Anheier, H., Glasius, M., & Kaldor, M. (Eds.). (2004). Global civil society 2004/5. London: Sage.
3.
Barrett, B. (Ed.). (2005). Ecological modernization in Japan. London: Routledge.
4.
Broadbent, J. (1998). Environmental politics in Japan: Networks of power and protest. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
5.
Buttel, F. H. (2000). Ecological modernization as social theory. Geoforum, 31(1), 57-65.
6.
Chandler, W., Schaeffer, R., Dadi, Z., Shukla, P. R., Tudela, F., Davidson, O., et al. (2002). Climate change mitigation in developing countries: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Turkey. Washington, DC: Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
7.
Department of Environment. (2004). Laporan tahunan 2003 [Annual report]. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Author.
8.
Esty, D. C., Levy, M. A., Srebotnjak, T., de Sherbinin, A., Kim, C. H., & Anderson, B. (2006). Pilot 2006 Environmental Performance Index. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.
9.
Fisher, D. (2004). National governance and the global climate change regime. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
10.
Fisher, D., & Freudenburg, W. R. (2004). Postindustrialization and environmental quality: An empirical analysis of the environmental state. Social Forces, 83(1), 157-188.
11.
Frank, D. J., Hironaka, A., & Schofer, E. (2000). The nation-state and the natural environment over the twentieth century. American Sociological Review, 65(1), 96-116.
12.
Frijns, J., Phung, P. T., & Mol, A. P. J. (2000). Ecological modernisation theory and industrialising economies: The case of Vietnam. Environmental Politics, 9(1), 257-292.
13.
Hasegawa, K. (2004). Constructing civil society in Japan: Voices of environmental movements. Melbourne, Australia: Trans Pacific Press.
14.
Hirsch, P., & Warren, C. (Eds.). (1998). The politics of environment in Southeast Asia: Resources and resistance. London: Routledge.
15.
Hotta, Y. (2004). The transnational politics of ecological modernisation. With special reference to the zero emissions policy in Japan. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.
16.
Jalal, K. F., & Rogers, P. P. (2002). Measuring environmental performance in Asia. Ecological Indicators, 2, 39-59.
17.
Jänicke, M. (1997). The political system’s capacity for environmental policy. In M. Jänicke & H. Weidner (Eds.), national environmental policies. A comparative study of capacity building (pp. 1-14). New York: Springer-Verlag.
18.
Japan Environmental Council. (2000). The state of the environment in Asia 1999/2000. Tokyo: Springer-Verlag.
19.
Japan Environmental Council. (2003). The state of the environment in Asia 2002/2003. Tokyo: Springer-Verlag.
20.
Khondker, H. H. (Ed.). (2001). Politics and the environment [Special issue]. Asian Journal of Social Science, 29(1).
21.
Lee, Y. F., & So, A. Y. (Eds.). (1999). Asia’s environmental movements: Comparative perspectives. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
22.
Mol, A. P. J. (1995). The refinement of production. Ecological modernization theory and the chemical industry. Utrecht, the Netherlands: International Books.
23.
Mol, A. P. J. (2001). Globalization and environmental reform: The ecological modernization of the global economy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
24.
Mol, A. P. J. (2002). Ecological modernization and the global economy. Global Environmental Politics, 2(2), 92-115.
25.
Mol, A. P. J. (2006). Environment and modernity in transitional China: Frontiers of ecological modernization. Development and Change, 37(1), 29-56.
26.
Mol, A. P. J., & Sonnenfeld, D. A. (Eds.). (2000). Ecological modernisation around the world: Perspectives and critical debates. London: Frank Cass.
27.
Mol, A. P. J., & Spaargaren, G. (2004). Ecological modernization and consumption: A reply. Society and Natural Resources, 17, 261-265.
28.
O’Rourke, D. (2004). Community-driven regulation: Balancing development and the environment in Vietnam. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
29.
Parnwell, M. J. G., & Bryant, R. L. (Eds.). (1996). Environmental change in south-east Asia: People, politics and sustainable development. London: Routledge.
30.
Roberts, J. T., Parks, B. C., & Vásquez, A. A. (2004). Who ratifies environmental treaties and why? Institutionalism, structuralism and participation by 192 nations in 22 treaties. Global Environmental Politics, 4(3), 22-64.
31.
Rogers, P., Jalal, K. F., Lohani, B. N., Owens, G. M., Yu, C.-C., Dufournaud, C. M., et al. (1997). Measuring environmental quality in Asia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
32.
Schnaiberg, A., Pellow, D. N., & Weinberg, A. (2002). The treadmill of production and the environmental state. In A. P. J. Mol & F. H. Buttel (Eds.), The environmental state under pressure. (pp. 15-32). Amsterdam: Elsevier/JAI.
33.
Sinton, J. E., & Fridley, D. G. (2001). Hot air and cold water: The unexpected fall in China’s energy use. China Environment Series, 4, 3-20.
34.
Sonnenfeld, D. A. (1998a). From brown to green? Late industrialization, social conflict, and adoption of environmental technologies in Thailand’s pulp and paper industry. Organization & Environment, 11(1), 59-87.
35.
Sonnenfeld, D. A. (1998b). Social movements, environment, and technology in Indonesia’s pulp and paper industry. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 39(1), 95-110.
36.
Sonnenfeld, D. A. (2000). Contradictions of ecological modernization: Pulp and paper manufacturing in south east Asia. Environmental Politics, 9(1), 235-256.
37.
Sonnenfeld, D. A. (2002). Social movements and ecological modernization: The transformation of pulp and paper manufacturing. Development and Change, 33(1), 1-27.
38.
State Environmental Protection Administration. (2003). The freshwater environment. Report on the state of the environment in China, 2003. Retrieved January 23, 2006, from http://www.zhb.gov.cn/english/SOE/soechina2003/water.htm
39.
Tran, T. M. D. (2003). Greening food processing industry in Vietnam: Putting industrial ecology to work. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
40.
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. (2003). Clean up of the Singapore River and Kallang Basin. Retrieved March 17, 2004, from http://www.unescap.org/drpad/vc/converence/bg_sg_14_csr.htm
41.
United Nations Environment Programme. (2002). Asia-Pacific environment outlook 2. Bangkok, Thailand: United Nations Regional Office on Asia and the Pacific.
42.
U. S. Embassy. (2001). The controversy over China’s reported falling energy use. Retrieved January 11, 2006, from http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/sandt/energy_stats_web.htm
43.
von Weizsäcker, E. U., Lovins, B., & Lovins, L. H. (1997). Factor four: Doubling wealth-halving resource use. London: Earthscan.
44.
Wackernagel, M., & Rees, W. (1996). Our ecological footprint. Reducing human impact on the earth. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.
45.
Weidner, H. (2002). Capacity building for ecological modernization: Lessons from cross-national research. American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 1340-1368.
46.
Weinberg, A., Pellow, D. N., & Schnaiberg, A. (2000). Urban recycling and the search for sustainable community development. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
47.
Wheeler, D. (2000). Greening industry: New roles for communities, markets, and governments. New York: Oxford University Press.
48.
York, R., & Rosa, E. A. (2003). Key challenges to ecological modernization theory. Organization and Environment, 16, 273-287.
