ABSTRACT
The Pacific region encompasses the largest oceanic expanse on earth, an extraordinary diversity of natural areas and wildlife, and a collection of countries faced with environmental challenges that pose grave threats to both human communities and ecosystems in the region. This chapter examines these environmental challenges and the efforts of Pacific countries to develop effective policies for environmental protection. It examines the role of population growth in the environmental problems of the Pacific Basin, and then proceeds to consider the issues of pollution, climate change, and the protection of natural areas and wildlife. Industrialization has resulted in extraordinary air and water pollution problems in the Pacific Basin. However, environmental policies have produced starkly uneven results in environmental performance in different Pacific Basin countries. By contrast, efforts to promote environmental progress in China are often impeded by limited governmental capacity for environmental policy implementation in a developing, undemocratic country.
