Environmental NGOs, new information technologies and the demand for environmental improvement in the developing and industrializing nations of the Asia Pacific region

Generally, the demand for environmental improvement increases with average per capita national income, although many other factors have an influence. In most Asia Pacific Region (APR) countries, pressures from population growth and poverty have lent an urgency to the idea that economic growth is currently more important than environmental protection. However, the relatively recent widespread acceptance of the concept of sustainable development has weakened this belief, even in the poorest countries. As well, environmental problems may stifle economic development in some areas. In this context, we suggest that environmental non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) in the APR may play an influential role in shaping and directing demand for environmental improvement. Since the early 1980s they have taken on new roles as agents of public education and government accountability, and have increasingly formed domestic, regional and international linkages. Their activities have been helped by the growing power of communication and information technologies (CITs) simultaneously to strengthen the new roles and linkages and to increase public environmental awareness. However, government restrictions on environmental NGO activism and limited access to CITs, among other things, currently represent important limitations to the influence of NGOs in most APR nations.