ABSTRACT
Growth for the outward-looking economies of Southeast Asia was extremely rapid during the past four decades, driven by expanding world trade and a seemingly insatiable appetite for primary commodities in the industrialized world. The countries of Southeast Asia played a key role in worldwide economic growth throughout the postwar period as suppliers of raw materials.1 For example, by 1974 ASEAN members accounted for 83 percent of the world’s supply of natural rubber, 80 percent of palm oil, 68 percent of tin and 67 percent of coconut products (Sien and MacAndrews 1979). During this period and well into the 1970s and 1980s, concern for the environment was secondary to the goal of economic growth, which was pursued primarily through natural resource extraction (Howard 1993).
