Governing Climate Change in Southeast Asia

"Southeast Asia punches above its weight in terms of energy consumption, carbon emissions, and even geopolitical contests over natural resources. Translating the Paris Agreement into climate action in such a rapidly developing region like Southeast Asia requires context-specific knowledge about politics and institutions. This wonderful book tackles this challenge head on, offering critically important insights into how regional planners, developers and policymakers must balance their development priorities with international commitments. Must reading for anyone who truly cares about the future of our climate."

Benjamin K. Sovacool, Professor of Energy Policy, University of Sussex, United Kingdom / Distinguished Professor of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark

"This exciting volume surveys climate governance and practice in Southeast Asia, demonstrating the importance of examining climate governance in specific contexts, with reference to the material and social histories that shape those responses. The book looks beyond economic success stories in countries such as Singapore or Malaysia, to look instead at how climate governance is deployed in relation to increasing inequalities, human rights violations, and continuous environmental degradation. The book is also accessible and written in an engaging way, and it will be an excellent reference work for researchers working in climate governance and will provide abundant empirical material for undergraduate and postgraduate courses."

Vanesa Castan Broto, Professor of Climate Urbanism, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

"Climate change is a global challenge, but with distinctive local signatures. It ‘happens’ to people, in places, and is differentially governed locally, nationally and internationally. This important book takes the multi-level character of climate change seriously, acknowledges that governance is contested, and reveals what shape this global challenge is taking across and within the countries of Southeast Asia. All too often, such detail is lost as attention wanders to the global."

Jonathan D. Rigg, Professor of Human Geography, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

"Governing Climate Change in Southeast Asia: Critical Perspectives is an exciting and tremendously important book, as the regional experts, who have authored the chapters, have all adopted nuanced approaches to examining the challenges and complex politics associated with climate change in a highly diverse and rapidly changing region."

Ian G. Baird, Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States of America

"Southeast Asia has a higher concentration of nations with extreme exposure to the effects of climate-related events than any other world region. This nuanced and thought-provoking volume shows that governance responses to climate change challenges are nevertheless highly diverse and remain hotly contested, between as well as within countries."

Philip Hirsch, Emeritus Professor of Human Geography, The University of Sydney, Australia

"Compiled by a team of excellent scholars, this is an incredibly timely book on the post-Paris governance issues affecting Southeast Asia. A topical read for academics and practitioners interested in this region, as the detailed empirical overviews for each ASEAN nation yields cogent insights on the tricky socio-political challenges involved in adapting to, and mitigating for, a 1.5 °C world."

Winston Chow, Associate Professor of Science, Technology and Society, Singapore Management University, Singapore

"As millions of dollars of international aid continue to pour into Southeast Asia to support climate change mitigation and adaptation, national political will and climate governance within each country remain decisive factors that will make or break the region’s efforts in countering the climate crisis. In-depth perspectives in this book can help activists and international aid agencies strategize on how to engage more effectively with different layers of institutions in each Southeast Asian country and beyond."

Sopitsuda Tongsopit, Solar Expert and Consultant for USAID Clean Power Asia, 2016–2021 / Research Data Specialist for California’s Office of Sustainability, Department of General Services, United States of America