Political Ecology in the Asia Pacific Region, Volume 1. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2019. xvii, 413 pp. (Tables, graphs, figures.) US$140.00, cloth. ISBN 978-90-04-37823-0.
The book Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia and ASEAN edited by Ronald Holzhacker and Dafri Agussalim was published in 2019, the same year the COVID-19 pandemic began in China. In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. There is no doubt that COVID-19 put most pressure on the health sector, but no one can ignore the magnifying effects of COVID-19 on economies and societies. In July 2020, the United Nations reported that “the world had been making progress [towards its sustainable development goals]—although uneven and insufficient” (https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/sustainable/sustainable-development-goals-report-2020.html).
In the context of Southeast Asia and the ASEAN region, this book emphasizes the region’s 17 sustainable development goals (known as the 17 SDGs): eradication of poverty; eradication of hunger; good health and well-being; quality education; gender equality; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; industrial innovation and infrastructure; reduced inequalities; sustainable cities and communities; responsible consumption and production; climate action; life below water; life on land; peace, justice and strong institutions; and partnerships for its goals. It does a first-rate job of covering the critical issues and challenges faced by Southeast Asia and ASEAN in achieving the 17 SDGs.
This book’s 17 chapters focus on different research ideas and approaches underpinning Southeast Asian and ASEAN countries’ work on achieving these 17 SDGs. Without a doubt, achieving the desired objectives is no easy task and will require extraordinary effort and leadership. The authors and editors of this book have done a fine job in portraying a complete picture of the 17 SDGs while also highlighting the grey areas, such as lack of technological transformation and involvement by the private sector at district and city levels.
The editors broadly advocate three primary audiences for this book: researchers, practitioners, and governmental bodies. They have structured the book into seven parts: Part 1, “Institutions and Governance for the Sustainable Development Goals”; Part 2, “Accountability to Citizens and Human Rights to Ensure Progress toward the SDGs”; Part 3, “SDGs and Progress on the Social Agenda in Middle-income and Developing Countries in Southeast Asia”; Part 4, “SDGs and New Urban Agenda, Cities, and Transport”; Part 5, “SDGs and the Environment, Clean Air and Water for All”; Part 6, “SDGs and the Economic Agenda for Inclusive Economic Growth and Decent Work for All”; and Part 7, “SDGs, Agriculture, and Community Development through Partnerships.” Not surprisingly, there is some overlap due to the integreation of the 17 SDGs, while the authors usefully reference back and forth where there are such similar discussions.
Among the many valuable and well-written contributions in this book are chapters by Ronald Holzhacker, N. H. Hassan and G. V. V. Yong, Dafri Agussalim et al., and Saikaew Thipakorn. The book begins to crystallize in tangible and thoughtful ways in chapters 2, 9, and 17.
Of the challenges and opportunities in cooperation between Southeast Asian states, which is also highlighted in the book, are the large differences in the human development index (HDI ranking), where Singapore is ranked 5 and Myanmar is ranked 145. Undeniably, it is an opportunity for lower HDI-ranked countries to learn from higher HDI-ranked ones; at the same time, it is a challenge for lower HDI-ranked countries to foster cooperation with higher HDI-ranked countries due to the former’s traditional political systems and lack of technological infrastructure, as well as other social and economic factors.
Chapter 5, by Ulrich Karl Rotthoff, emphasizes the violation of human rights and challenges to the sustainable development goals of ASEAN. He concludes that the Philippine judiciary, obviously in a derelict state, is incapable of adequately addressing the decades-long problem of extra judiciary killings. Second, ASEAN’s supranational structure, adhering to factually ancient doctrines of the Westphalian Order, has not established superordinated legal institutions. Third, in the (postnational) world order, a diversity of actors is engaged in defining and enforcing norms of expected behaviour. Rotthoff also highlights that by digging in its heels on sovereignty and non-intervention principles, ASEAN eventually narrows the scope for proactively approaching humanitarian crises like the Philippine drug war or the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar.
Possibly the most challenging chapter, chapter 11 by Helena Varkkey, discusses the anthropogenic activities that have created an alarming situation for the entire ASEAN region. The author provides examples of initiatives in different ASEAN countries to adopt clean energy and sustainable practices to mitigate the adverse effects on biodiversity, which is an integral part of the17 SDGs.
Overall, this book is useful in providing a complete and up-to-date overview of the 17 SDGs in the context of Southeast Asia and ASEAN. However, much more is needed, such as conducting empirical studies and comparative analyses, which would further help to determine the bottleneck in implementing the 17 SDGs at provincial, city, and district levels.
I have no hesitation in recommending this book to postgraduate students, researchers, and policymakers, as well as to the general reader seeking a detailed and proper perspective on the issue.
Syed Abdul Rehman Khan
Xuzhou University of Technology, Xuzhou
Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Spatial Information Engineering, Beijing