Driving Forces

In Sixth ASEAN State of the Environment Report
Chapter: 2
Report Chapter
cover image

● Many environmental responses tackle the impacts that appear at the end of a long chain of
logic, such as premature deaths from air pollution, but they rarely address the underlying “drivers”
of change.
● In the ASEAN region, these drivers include economic strategies that are geared towards
creating an ASEAN economic community, continued population growth and demographic
changes, the expected bounce from a post-COVID-19 recovery, ASEAN’s global links through
international trade, infrastructure development, technological change under the Fourth Industrial
Revolution, global climate change, and biodiversity loss.
● Responding to these drivers is usually not seen as the responsibility of the region’s
environmental agencies, but an effective understanding of how they contribute to the ASEAN
State of the Environment and the necessary level of multiple-sectoral cooperation towards joint
environmental goals is crucial.
● To address the drivers, environmental and social management will need to become far more
cross-sectoral, going beyond the simple mandates of environmental ministries and authorities.

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