Selective border permeability: Governing complex environmental issues through and beyond COVID-19

Michelle A Miller; Rini Astuti; Philip Hirsch; Melissa Marschke; Jonathan Rigg; Poonam Saksena-Taylor; Diana Suhardiman; Zu Dienle Tan; David M Taylor; Helena Varkkey

doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102646

Selective border permeability: Governing complex environmental issues through and beyond COVID-19

Polit Geogr. 2022 Aug:97:102646. doi: 10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102646. Epub 2022 Mar 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Asia Research Institute AS8, #07-22, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, 119260, Singapore.
² Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Postal address: 132 Lennox Crossing, Canberra, A.C.T, 2600, Australia.
³ School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, 224 Mu 5, Nong Kwai, Hang Dong, Chiang Mai, 50230 , Thailand.
⁴ School of International and Development Studies, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Social Sciences, 120 University Private, Social Sciences Building, Rm 8005, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.
⁵ School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Faculty of Science, University of Bristol, BS8 1SS, United Kingdom.
⁶ Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, 1 Arts Link, #03-01 Block AS2, 117570, Singapore.
⁷ International Water Management Institute, IWMI-SEA, P.O. Box 4199, Vientiane, Laos.
⁸ Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya, B-6-23, 10 Semantan, Jalan Semantan, Bukit Damansara, 50490, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Abstract

COVID-19 has changed the permeability of borders in transboundary environmental governance regimes. While borders have always been selectively permeable, the pandemic has reconfigured the nature of cross-border flows of people, natural resources, finances and technologies. This has altered the availability of spaces for enacting sustainability initiatives within and between countries. In Southeast Asia, national governments and businesses seeking to expedite economic recovery from the pandemic-induced recession have selectively re-opened borders by accelerating production and revitalizing agro-export growth. Widening regional inequities have also contributed to increased cross-border flows of illicit commodities, such as trafficked wildlife. At the same time, border restrictions under the exigencies of controlling the pandemic have led to a rolling back and scaling down of transboundary environmental agreements, regulations and programs, with important implications for environmental democracy, socio-ecological justice and sustainability. Drawing on evidence from Southeast Asia, the article assesses the policy challenges and opportunities posed by the shifting permeability of borders for organising and operationalising environmental activities at different scales of transboundary governance.

Keywords: ASEAN; Borders; COVID-19; Critical geopolitics; Selective permeability; Transboundary environmental governance.