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Human Impact on the Environment of Southeast Asia and the Pacific

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Human Impact on the Environment of Southeast Asia and the Pacific

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The region of Southeast Asia and the Pacific is an incredibly diverse region. The recent economic growth here has been good for the people of the region as well as the world. In this section, we will explore how people in the region and around the world have had an impact – both positive and negative – on the nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

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Examine the photograph. How many containers do you see? Water transportation is essential to economic development in Southeast Asia. As one of the busiest ports in the world, the Port of Singapore has boasted the most total cargo shipping tonnage since 2005.

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World trade has expanded very quickly over the past decades. This expansion has been driven by several important developments, including some of the following:

the changing nature of production,

increased competition in international commerce,

successful multilateral trade negotiations, and

lower transport costs.

Southeast Asia is poised to increase its growing share of the world trade market. The countries of Southeast Asia realize that trade can be a powerful engine for accelerating economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction. Improving the movement of people, goods, and ideas is integral to improving the economic situation throughout Southeast Asia.

In 2004, the World Bank conducted a study to analyze how world trade could be expanded to help all countries – particularly the developing nations, including those in Southeast Asia. The study determined that gains in port efficiency, improvements in the customs environment, improvements in the regulatory environment, and improvements in the infrastructure of the service sector, particularly in the increased use of information technology, would result in a 9.7% rise in global trade – about $377 billion.
In Asia, the World Bank has been trying to address the problems of some of the developing nations by helping them grow their global trade footprint. In Asia, the issues of a developing nation are further hindered by being landlocked with no easy access to a port. The World Bank chose to help establish a corridor that linked landlocked Laos with Bangkok and support clusters were set up in Vientiane (Laos), the border region between Thailand and Laos, and Laem Chabang ports. The World Bank is studying the results of this project and will hopefully be able to use some of the successes in other countries in the region to help them build their global trade presence.

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Agriculture and Industry of Southeast Asia and the Pacific

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Agriculture and Industry of Southeast Asia and the Pacific

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Overall, Southeast Asia is richly endowed with natural resources. The region has traditionally been dependent on agriculture for its survival. It is only recently that the nations of Southeast Asia have expanded their presence into other realms. Southeast Asia is located on the equator, which means almost the entire region falls within the humid tropics. Expansive river valleys and deltas, generally rich soils, and a humid tropical climate all lend themselves to prolific agricultural development. Agriculture was the primary source of income, employer of labor, and contributor to export revenues in the pre-colonial and colonial eras (until about 1950). In today's Southeast Asia, the only countries in which agricultural activities still dominate national income are those, such as Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar (Burma), which have failed to grow in other ways. In other countries, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, agriculture used to make up ¼ to ½ of those countries’ GDP’s, yet today agriculture is only responsible for 1/10 or less.

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Agricultural Practices of Southeast Asia and the Pacific

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Agricultural Practices of Southeast Asia and the Pacific

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Areas of Southeast Asia that continue to be dependent on agriculture are facing criticism for some of their farming techniques. Some of the agricultural practices of certain nations are detrimental to the Earth and are believed to be impacting global warming. Some economists view the devastation to the forest and marine resource environments of Southeast Asian countries to be a more serious, longer-lasting problem than economic recovery and banking reforms in the region. Swidden agriculture is one of the more detrimental environmental practices. Environmentalists are pushing for Southeast Asian nations to switch from swidden agriculture to a more sustainable approach such as wet rice agriculture.

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or slash-and-burn agriculture, is still a common practice in many parts of Southeast Asia. Before the rainy season begins, acres of rain forest are cut down and the ground is left to dry out. After the ground is dry, the farmers light the area on fire – the fires create a thick layer of ash over the top level of soil. The ash mixes with the soil, creating a nutrient-dense area in which to plant crops. Although the soil produces great crops, the area of land is only good for one or two years! After two years of growing, the land must be abandoned for 10 to 15 years for the soil to replenish itself. The farmers must clear more and more land for their crops.

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on the other hand, is considered a sustainable farming practice. Farmers build terraces and irrigation canals into the landscape to create a permanent farming environment. In certain regions, the wet rice agriculture approach can give farmers two harvests of rice a year. This farming approach is very labor-intensive, but does produce excellent crops.

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"Concrete hotels, go-go bars and drug tourism have scarred Thailand, Laos and Cambodia - yet it is not too late to develop a less destructive travel industry."

Joe Cummings, New Statesmen, July 17, 2008

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Tourism drives the economy of many nations in Southeast Asia. As you can hear from the quote, not everyone is happy about the impact of tourism on the region. The following chart lists the top ten tourist cities in Southeast Asia:

1. Singapore, Singapore

2. Bangkok, Thailand

3. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

4. Manila, Philippines

5. Phuket, Thailand

6. Jakarta, Indonesia

7. Taiepi, Taiwan

8. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

9. Langkawi, Malaysia

10. Phnom Penh, Cambodia

People from all over the world travel to Southeast Asia for all different reasons. For the most part, it is relatively easy to arrive by air to most of these places. The cost once you arrive is generally reasonable – some might even say cheap! People arrive for sightseeing, to enjoy the natural beauty, get a taste of another culture, or just to relax on a beautiful beach.

In many ways, countries like Laos and Cambodia, who have been late to the tourist scene, have the opportunity to benefit from learning from the mistakes made by countries like Thailand during the 1980s and 1990s. Although Thailand's vast Andaman Sea and Gulf of Thailand coastlines still attract the majority of tourist visitors to the region, the negative impacts of overbuilding and congestion in parts of Koh Samui and Phuket have served as important lessons on how not to develop natural attractions. Even the citizens of Thailand seized upon the Tsunami of 2004 as an opportunity to rebuild tourist attractions in a more sustainable way with less detrimental impact on the environment. Following the tsunami, tourist traffic came to a complete stop for almost a year, but the country made the most of funds available for rebuilding.

Other downsides to tourism include the fact that very often, although it looks as if big spenders are spending a lot of money on their vacations, very often most of this money is never seen by the local people. Big spenders – also known as high yield tourists – often want air conditioned hotels with English-speaking staff and imported food from their home country. Almost all of their tourist dollar is spent outside the country and very little, if any, benefits the local community. Some nations are realizing that the best tourists for the region are the budget conscious traveler looking to get an authentic experience in a new country for little money. These tourists are not in search of air-conditioning or imported food from their home country. These tourists are willing to spend money in the community for food, lodging, and handmade goods.

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International travel can be both exciting and challenging. However, by following a few simple rules the stress of traveling can be reduced significantly. Asian Travel blogs offer some of the following tips for travel in Southeast Asia, but they can apply to any trip you might take:

Buy local products and eat at small local restaurants.

Be frugal with energy and water, even in tourist hotels.

Adopt a zero-litter policy. Carry waste with you until you find an appropriate place to dispose of it.

Use transport such as buses and trains.

Boil or purify your water instead of buying it in plastic bottles, and avoid imported drinks.

Always remember that you are a guest. Show respect for local customs and learn some polite phrases in the local language.

When bargaining, there is no need to haggle down to the last penny.

Choose ethically and ecologically sustainable tour operators, especially when booking hiking or diving trips.

Do not buy wildlife souvenirs such as coral, starfish, shells, fur, ivory, hides, feathers, horns, teeth or eggs.

Offset carbon emissions from your flight with organizations such as Carbon Clear, Climate Care or the World Land Trust.

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Growing the economy of Southeast Asia is important to not only the countries of Southeast Asia but also the world. Economic stability impacts political stability and dire poverty often leads to other problems. The United Nations recently issued a warning that due to the global economic crisis, there is growing concern that farmers in Southeast Asia will turn to crops that can make them more money – like opium used for illegal heroin trafficking. Over the years, the government, with the help of international organizations, has helped many opium growers replace their opium crops with substitute crops. However, with declining prices for their crops and soaring market prices for opium, thousands of former poppy growers are at risk of returning to their traditional crop to produce the extra cash they need.

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The World Bank supports economic develop in Cambodia. In order to improve the lives of the many people living in poverty, the World Bank also supports efforts to decentralize government so that people living in rural areas have a say in government and the economic development that is going on around them. Communes are administrative divisions in Cambodia.