Overview

The Asia-Pacific region faces acute and escalating environmental justice challenges driven by rapid industrialization, urbanization, climate vulnerability, and socio-economic inequalities. With six countries ranked lowest on the 2024 Environmental Performance Index and over 60% of global GHG emissions originating in the region, legal and institutional responses remain fragmented and often insufficient. Weak environmental governance, lack of access to justice, and limited legal protections disproportionately affect marginalized groups—particularly women, Indigenous peoples, and those in ecologically vulnerable zones—who face heightened risks of displacement, pollution, and rights violations. 

 

In response to these intersectional challenges, UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub is undertaking a Regional Study on Environmental Justice focusing on five countries in the region China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Indonesia, and Thailand as part of its effort to strengthen the environmental rule of law and enhance legal empowerment across the region. The study examines substantive and procedural environmental rights, and assesses legal and policy frameworks. It applies an intersectional lens to assess gaps in environmental justice in respect of critical environmental issues facing impacted communities, and considers legal avenues and governance mechanisms to improve domestic and transnational corporate accountability

 

Building on the regional analysis, the session highlights four country experiences—China, Thailand, Indonesia and the Maldives—as illustrative examples of how governance gaps and polluter accountability challenges emerge in different national contexts.

 

1.    China

China is undergoing a significant transition in its environmental governance, shifting from a focus on rapid industrial expansion toward a “high-quality development” approach anchored in the constitutional principle of “Ecological Civilization”. Over the past decade, the country has established an extensive network of specialized environmental courts and tribunals, numbering more than 2,400, which reflects a strong institutional commitment to improving environmental adjudication. At the same time, the rapid expansion of these institutions presents implementation challenges, including the need for enhanced scientific and technical capacity among judges and clearer guidance for navigating complex issues such as biodiversity protection, climate mitigation, and Environmental Public Interest Litigation. As the legal landscape evolves, balancing public, private, and state interests remains a central consideration in strengthening environmental justice within the national context.

 

2.    Thailand

Thailand faces growing tension between agro-industrial development and the public’s right to health and a clean environment, with northern regions experiencing severe transboundary PM2.5 pollution linked to agricultural practices that extend across the borders. Despite constitutional protections, current legal and regulatory mechanisms remain insufficient to address the cross-border and diffuse nature of haze, and affected communities have limited avenues for remedy, while smallholder farmers often remain economically vulnerable within these supply chains. Progress on the Clean Air Act, the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register Bill, and recent court rulings affirming state responsibilities signal growing recognition of the need to strengthen accountability, though significant governance gaps remain and coordinated national and regional action will be required.

 

3.    Indonesia

Indonesia’s forestry sector faces longstanding environmental justice challenges, as the benefits of timber, genetic resources, and non-timber forest products are unevenly distributed, while Indigenous Peoples and rural communities—who have traditionally stewarded these ecosystems—experience persistent exclusion from decision-making and disproportionate exposure to deforestation, land pressures, and environmental degradation. These inequities are reinforced by tenure insecurity stemming from the incomplete legal recognition of hutan adat（customary forests）, overlapping institutional mandates, limited access to information, and insufficient consultation processes. The absence of clear documentation for customary land rights further restricts community participation in governance and Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) arrangements, and women remain largely excluded from decision-making and opportunities to benefit from resource management systems despite their central role.

 

4.    Maldives

The Maldives faces acute environmental justice challenges as climate vulnerability, rapid development, and ecosystem degradation intersect. As a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), the country must navigate rising sea levels, land reclamation pressures, concentrated tourism development, and persistent waste and pollution issues—all of which strain fragile marine and coastal ecosystems. While the Maldives has a constitutional foundation for environmental rights, existing legal and institutional frameworks face significant challenges. Implementation gaps remain due to limited enforcement capacity, competing development priorities, and recent institutional changes that have raised concerns about weakened regulatory oversight. At the same time, evolving jurisprudence has highlighted obstacles to public interest litigation and access to remedies, underscoring the need for stronger safeguards to balance economic growth with environmental protection and community rights.

 

This session presents the key findings from the regional study and examines how polluter accountability can be strengthened across Asia to protect communities and address environmental damage It will bring together speakers from across the region to illustrate national experiences of environmental justice challenges, highlighting how environmental harm intersects with governance gaps, legal and institutional constraints, and limited access to justice. Through case examples from China, Indonesia, Maldives and  Thailand, the session will explore common patterns, country-specific dynamics and the need for transnational coordination, enabling reflection on accountability mechanisms, barriers to effective enforcement, and opportunities for policy and institutional reform. The discussion aims to provide practical insights that can inform national strategies, regional cooperation, and UNDP’s ongoing work to advance environmental justice and strengthen polluter accountability in  the Asia-Pacific.

 

Objectives

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• Present key findings from UNDP’s regional environmental justice study, highlighting regional trends and cross cutting accountability gaps.

• Share national perspectives on justice challenges through interventions from experts from China, Indonesia, Maldives and Thailand, drawing on country cases as illustrative examples.

• Facilitate an interactive dialogue to identify common priorities and opportunities for strengthening polluter accountability and access to justice in the region.