Page 147 - The Ethics of ASEAN

How ASEAN’s ethical future could fail

If human development ethics are preserved in ASEAN, the future of work will be a
development experience where people pursue their aspirations and build fulfilling lives in a
diverse community, as well as creating world-class economic value.

Losing sustainability ethics

Sustainability is an emerging ethic but the concept itself is more than 50 years old. The
first conference on the environment was convened by the United Nations in Stockholm in
1972 when world leaders discussed how the accelerating growth of the world economy and
population was using up resources, polluting the environment and eliminating life systems
to the point where they had become unsustainable. The ethical principle of meeting
human needs today while maintaining sustainable resources for the human needs of
future generations has been discussed and debated since that time.
As everyone knows today, we have not taken sufficient ethical responsibility. As I write
this chapter in July 2023, I see on the news that it is the hottest month on the planet since
records have been kept and likely the hottest for the past 120,000 years. Estimates for the
next 50 years forecast that areas in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Eastern China, the Persian
Gulf, the Red Sea and Brazil will become too hot for human habitation.
The reason climate change is at the top of any list of challenges facing humanity is
because of global warming and also changes in biodiversity, habitat, precipitation, air
quality and many other areas.
ASEAN is also one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet but ASEAN is also one
of the regions with the most to lose. Its many islands make sea level change a threat and
population concentrations in low-lying areas are prone to droughts, floods, typhoons, and
heat waves.
ASEAN’s life systems are at risk through overfishing, wildlife poaching, deforestation
and loss of wilderness areas.
In our dialogue on biodiversity, Mary Kristerie Baleva of the ASEAN Biodiversity
Centre in Philippines pointed out that the well-known ASEAN animals and plants at risk
may disappear by our grandchildren’s generation. In that same dialogue, Ian Benedict
Mia underlined that the region has already lost 95% of its original habitat and ASEAN
ecosystems are in steep decline.
What happens if we don’t take action? Ethical dissonance allows ASEAN to embrace
the need to act and continue to avoid effective action at the regional level. If this continues
much of ASEAN’s unique resources and economic progress will go into reverse. Moreover,
ASEAN’s vulnerable populations will be more strongly impacted which leads to greater
inequality and potential social conflicts.
This ASEAN ethical dilemma requires a difficult shift in our sense of time for what is
urgent. Prioritising the long view of sustainability over the short view of economic growth
and political expediency is not psychologically how humans make decisions.
Implementation and enforcement of strong measures at the transboundary, national
and local level can no longer be weakened by national indifference and corruption or gaps
in investment and compliance.

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