Southeast Asian civil society groups have criticized ASEAN’s newly adopted declaration on environmental rights as inadequate and exclusionary, calling instead for a people-centered regional transformation that addresses the climate and biodiversity crises.
Environmental and human rights groups said the ASEAN Declaration on the Right to a Safe, Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment, adopted during the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 27–28, marks a milestone but falls short of meaningful commitments to protect defenders, Indigenous peoples, and vulnerable communities.
“This is not the inclusive and rights-based declaration that the public and civil society have called for. It also overlooks environmental defenders who stand at the frontlines of protecting our planet,” said Rocky Guzman, deputy director of the Asian Research Institute for Environmental Law.
The declaration, which came after months of consultations, drew frustration from civil society organizations that had earlier submitted recommendations for a stronger, rights-based document.
Lia Mai Torres, coordinator of the Asia Pacific Network of Environmental Defenders, said it is “not only disappointing but unjust to ignore” the 354 land and environmental defenders in Southeast Asia who have been killed or forcibly disappeared.
She lamented that “there is no mention about the recognition and protection of environmental human rights defenders in the declaration.”
Celine Lim, managing director of SAVE Rivers in Malaysia, said that while the declaration acknowledges Indigenous peoples, it still “lacks strong language that addresses the urgent needs to safeguard and protect the environment and the people that defend it, including many of the Indigenous Peoples’ environmental defenders that are criminalized for their work in the region.”
“ASEAN must halt the lean towards authoritarian governance within its member states if it is to effectively uphold real, just and inclusive human and environmental rights,” Lim said.
Raynaldo G. Sembiring, executive director of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law, described the declaration as “an important first step in acknowledging environmental protection as a fundamental human right within ASEAN.”
Sembiring said the declaration’s impact would depend not on its language but on how ASEAN members turn their commitments into measurable action through clear national plans and stronger regional cooperation to ensure inclusive, rights-based, and accountable environmental governance.
Civil society groups urged the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights to adopt “a meaningful process for public participation in the development of the Regional Plan of Action,” according to the Mekong Legal Network.
Civil society proposes alternative vision
A day after the summit, over 20 organizations—including the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), EarthRights International, Caritas Philippines, World Animal Protection, and the Office on Human Development and Climate Change Desk of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences—released the 2025 ASEAN People’s Agenda on Climate, Biodiversity, and Energy.
The Agenda calls on ASEAN leaders “to pursue a bold, people-centered transformation that protects biodiversity, addresses the climate crisis, and upholds the rights and dignity of all.”
“Southeast Asia stands at the forefront of the climate and biodiversity crisis,” the groups stated. “Our region—home to the Coral Triangle and some of the world’s richest ecosystems—faces worsening heatwaves, floods, and rising seas. Addressing these crises is no longer optional; it is essential for our collective survival.”
The document urges ASEAN to align national climate commitments with the 1.5°C goal and calls on Global North countries to “acknowledge and act on their historical responsibility for the climate crisis,” upholding the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities.
Responding to the growing threat to marine ecosystems, the Agenda demands the declaration of “key biodiversity areas and wildlife corridors, such as the Coral Triangle, Verde Island Passage, Tun Mustapha Park, and Mekong Delta, as no-go zones for destructive and extractive activities.”
While acknowledging Malaysia’s adoption of the ASEAN environmental rights declaration as a “starting point,” the groups urged ASEAN to “establish and adopt a legally binding framework for environmental rights.”
“We further demand that environmental goals be made central, the need for inter-pillar integration and implementation through the frameworks of the social and economic pillars of the ASEAN framework,” the statement added.
