Overview
Since 1977, ASEAN has cooperated closely in promoting environmental cooperation among its member states and its partners. In 2015, ASEAN leaders adopted ASCC Blueprint 2025 which envisions an ASEAN Community that engages and benefits the peoples and is inclusive, sustainable, resilient, and dynamic. The Blueprint guides ASEAN cooperation to include the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and natural resources, promotion of environmentally sustainable cities, climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as promotion of sustainable consumption and production towards circular economy.
Through the leadership of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment (AMME), the ASEAN Senior Officials on Environment (ASOEN) together with its thematic working groups and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, continue to identify and implement regional policies, measures and programmes to promote environmental protection and sustainable development. ASOEN also promotes coordination, collaboration and/or partnerships with other ASEAN sectoral bodies, ASEAN Dialogue Partners, international organisations, and relevant stakeholders.
ASEAN continuously makes collective efforts in environmental protection through policy dialogue and harmonisation, research, capacity building, technical assistance, scaling up and replication of good practices across ASEAN countries; and awareness raising.
Some flagship initiatives include the ASEAN Heritage Parks Programme, ASEAN SDG Frontrunner Cities Programme, and ASEAN Eco-schools and Youth Eco-champion Award Programmes. ASEAN also regularly develops ASEAN State of Environment Reports and recently developed an ASEAN State of Climate Change Report to support evidence-based policy decision making process in ASEAN.
Moving forward, ASEAN is exploring ways to support the region’s transition to circular economy by taking into consideration the recommendations from the gap analysis study on circular economy for plastics.
ASEAN is also working towards establishing a climate resilient ASEAN by taking into consideration the outcomes and recommendations of the joint study on drought.
To further support ASEAN’s efforts to move towards into a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly meeting setup, ASEAN adopted ASEAN Guidelines on Green Meetings.
Guided by ASEAN Vision 2025, ASEAN continues to work hand in hand to strive for clean and green environment for the peoples of ASEAN.
Priority Areas of Cooperation
Major Sectoral Bodies/committees
ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment (AMME) is a sectoral ministerial body listed under Annex 1 of the ASEAN Charter. Established in 1981, AMME now meets once every two years to provide policy and strategic guidance related to ASEAN cooperation on environment.
AMME is assisted by ASEAN Senior Officials on Environment (ASOEN), who meets annually, and provide strategic guidance in advancing ASEAN cooperation on environment. The chairpersonship of ASOEN is rotated among ASEAN Member States alphabetically every 2 years.
Under the ASOEN, subsidiary thematic Working Groups lead the technical and operational implementation of their respective Working Group Action Plans. There are seven (7) working groups to oversee the priority areas of ASEAN environmental cooperation. The Working Groups are chaired by an ASEAN Member State based on expression of interest, with a tenure of 3 years:
- ASEAN Working Group on Nature Conservation and Biodiversity (AWGNCB)
- ASEAN Working Group on Coastal and Marine Environment (AWGCME)
- ASEAN Working Group on Water Resources Management (AWGWRM)
- ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally Sustainable Cities (AWGESC)
- ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC)
- ASEAN Working Group on Chemicals and Waste (AWGCW)
- ASEAN Working Group on Environmental Education (AWGEE)
The AWGNCB is supported by the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) which facilitates cooperation and coordination on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity in the region. ACB is overseen by a Governing Board which consists of the members of the ASOEN and the Secretary-General of ASEAN.
The working groups also provide support to relevant cross-sectoral issues beyond the environment sector such as on the issues of drought, climate resilience, forestry, single-use plastics, etc.
In supporting collaboration in sustainable development and greening the regional economy, the ASEAN Institute for Green Economy (AIGE) was launched under the leadership of Myanmar in 2014. The AIGE is to serve as a centre of excellence on green economy through capacity building, fostering research, catalysing and facilitating green technologies, improving management practices and promoting national and international cooperation.
Also listed under Annex 1 of the ASEAN Charter is the Conference of Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (COP), consisting of the ASEAN Ministers responsible for environment. The two sectoral ministerial bodies, e.g. AMME and COP, operate under their respective mandates. However, the cross-cutting nature of their work mutually reinforces each other in implementing environment-related aspects of the ASCC Blueprint 2025.
The environment sector also regularly meets with dialogue/development partners to strengthen partnership and explore collaboration through, among others, ASEAN-Japan Dialogue on Environmental Cooperation (AJDEC), ASEAN-EU High-Level Dialogue on Environment and Climate Change, ASEAN Plus Three Senior Officials Meeting (APT SOME), ASEAN Plus Three Environment Ministers Meeting (APT EMM), East Asia Summit Environment Ministers Meeting (EAS EMM), and partnership conferences on thematic areas of cooperation such as climate change or marine debris pollution.
Key Documents
ASEAN plays an active role in the implementation of the global agenda and goals of multilateral environmental agreements. From time to time, ASEAN articulates and reiterates its commitments to contribute to these Conventions through joint statements. ASEAN also adopts ministerial statements or declarations, policy documents, publications and media releases to inform the public of the progress of ASEAN environmental cooperation. The media releases of ASEAN Ministerial Meetings on Environment and other key environmental meetings / events can be accessed here. The outcome documents such as statements / declarations can be accessed here. Recent documents include:
- Inputs from Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Climate Action (SAMCA) to the Talanoa Dialogue under UNFCCC (2018)
- ASEAN Joint Statement on Biodiversity to CBD COP-14) (2018)
- Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris in ASEAN Region and the ASEAN Framework of Action on Marine Debris (2019)
- ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change to UNFCCC COP-25 (2019)
- ASEAN Joint Statement on Climate Change to the United Nations (UN) Climate Action Summit 2019 (2019)
- ASEAN Inputs to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (2019)
Further information on ASEAN cooperation on environment, including publications, strategies, guidelines, and media releases, is available at https://environment.asean.org/.
Other ASEAN environment-related websites:
The SEA-MaP project aims to reduce plastics consumption, increase recycling, and minimize leakages to prevent land and sea based marine plastics pollution in Southeast Asia.
It will provide support to develop and harmonize regional policies as well as create regional platforms for innovation, investments, knowledge and partnerships.
The SEA-MaP project is comprised of the following three components:
1) Strengthening Regional Policies and Institutions for Plastics Circularity
2) Establishing Regional Platforms to Promote Innovations, Knowledge, and Partnerships for Plastics Circularity
3) Project Management and Capacity Building
Environment and Social Risk Management
To effectively manage the environmental and social risks associated with the SEA-MaP project, the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP) and the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF), including the Stakeholder Engagement Plan and Grievance Mechanism (SEP) and Labor Management Procedures (LMP), have been prepared by the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC). Following public consultation, the documents have been updated.
Project Grievance Redress Mechanism
The SEA-MaP Regional Project has a Grievance Redress Mechanism to allow an avenue for project participants, community members, other interested parties of the project, and other stakeholders to comment on or express concern on matters relating to project implementation.
How do I file a grievance? Grievance register from is available here. Please fill in the form and send it to the following email address:
The Project team will acknowledge the receipt of the grievance within 1-3 working days. Depending on the type of grievance, the Project team may seek clarification and investigate the case and provide a solution. Cases that require minimal processes should be concluded in 7-14 days, and cases that require an investigation in 14-21 days. If the complainant is not satisfied with the solution, an appeal can be made through the same address, and the grievance will be elevated to the Project Director and the Project Steering Committee.
All information provided is treated with the appropriate confidentiality. If the complainant requests to be treated anonymous, that is also possible. If the complainant is worried about confidentiality or safety, he or she should describe specific concerns in the submission.
Filing a grievance is free of any charges.
