APEC's approach to the environment has focused on practical, voluntary initiatives. In the first six years, however, the substantive results have been meager, in part because trade and environmental diplomacies ran on parallel, rather than integrated,...
APEC's approach to the environment has focused on practical, voluntary initiatives. In the first six years, however, the substantive results have been meager, in part because trade and environmental diplomacies ran on parallel, rather than integrated, tracks. This article surveys and evaluates APEC's work on the environment in the 1990s. The first section outlines pressing environmental problems in Asia-Pacific and develops a theoretical framework to show why regional economic integration requires the coordination of environmental policies. The second part describes APEC's environmental initiative between 1991 and 1998. The third section examines the politics of environmental diplomacy at APEC and the "sofr law" character of APEC as an institution. The last section evaluates APEC's overall environmental work and concludes that a more robust, politically grounded approach is needed for a regional trade regime-whether or not under the aegis of APEC-to promote sustainable development. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, there could be political openings for such a new approach.