THE IMPACT OF TRADE LIBERALIZATION ON DEFORESTATION IN ASEAN COUNTRIES
Susi Susanti, Professor Taku TERAWAKI
2012 | Tesis | S2 Magister Ek.Pembangunan-
In decades, many environmentalists and economists have argued that a greater economic openness causes a more serious problem of deforestation in developing countries. This problem is extremely serious for ASEAN countries, which are located in Southeast Asia region, because the region covers the third largest of tropical forests in the world, and their economic performance largely depends on the forest resources. Meanwhile, several previous studies have demonstrated that trade openness does not affect deforestation significantly. This implies that there is a possibility that the deforestation is reduced with the economic growth through the development or the import of environmentally friendly technologies. This study analyzes the panel data for ASEAN countries to give an answer to the question of whether trade openness in Southeast Asia region accelerates deforestation or not. The results show that trade openness in ASEAN countries leads to the increase in deforestation rate. This implies that the countries in this region being positive about trade liberalization have not been fully concerned about environmental aspects. The study also demonstrates that the EKC hypothesis is supported in ASEAN countries. In addition, it is detected that capital labor ratio positively affects trade openness, although trade policy or FTA has no effect on the openness. We suggest that ASEAN countries should pay more attention to the impacts of international trade on the environment. If the openness of trade is not accompanied by the implementation of appropriate environmental policies, ultimately it will cause serious environmental damage in the future.
Kata Kunci : trade openness, deforestation, FTA, ASEAN countries.
