Introduction

The author of this conference paper aims to respond to two questions posed in this conference: "Can we have efficient legal instruments without sanctions?" and "Is implementation possible if problems such as capacity and financial resources are not addressed?" It will be argued that regional environmental cooperation without fear of and tears from sanctions is possible. Moreover, it will also be suggested that the initial implementation of a regional environmental agreement can be done even in the midst of financial and logistical scarcities. These arguments are taken from the experiences of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in implementing its Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP), a soft law instrument, since 1997. ASEAN, for the past over six years (1997-present), has shown that the spirit of volunteerism, the rule of no-fault-finding, and offer of specialized assistance based on the cooperating countries’ expertise and/or capability5 within the context of the region’s "ASEAN Way" could prevent the repeat of the 1997 -1998 transboundary haze pollution (THP) disaster caused by land and forest fires6 mostly from Indonesia. For lack of a better term to use, the perceived three pillars (i.e., spirit of volunteerism, rule of no-fault-finding, and offer of specialized assistance) of ASEAN regional environmental cooperation which were observed from the implementation of the RHAP is collectively but tentatively called by the author the rule/principle8 of "non-obligatory specialized assistance" or NOSA for short.

The Case of the Asean Regional Haze Action Plan [.pdf, 90.8Kb]