Evaluating Regional Environmental Governance in Northeast Asia.

Since the early 1990s, many regional and subregional environmental frameworks and programs have been created in Northeast Asia. In this article, the author assesses the extent to which these schemes have translated into a higher level of environmental governance. He argues that despite remarkable institutional development, regional environmental governance is at an embryonic stage. Its weakness stems from three factors in particular: (1) the primacy of national governments and the limited role of nonstate actors, (2) the lack of a coordinating mechanism among overlapping environmental initiatives, and (3) the lack of tangible outcomes in terms of mitigating environmental degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]