Region’s economic boom model and warning for developing world (Montreal, April 7, 2005) -- The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) announced today an investment of $2.5 million in a research project to study the local and global implications of Southeast Asia’s phenomenal economic growth. Future development of the densely populated and ethnically diverse region will not only shape the lives of 550 million Southeast Asians, but also global security and environmental sustainability. An international team, led by Université de Montréal’s Rodolphe De Koninck, will focus its research on the agricultural sector, which, since the 1960s, has fuelled much of the region’s economic development. At the same time, increasing urbanization and industrialization are tying the region’s economy closer to global markets. While poverty rates are falling, the explosion of development has caused serious environmental damage and is exerting pressure on areas already subject to ethnic, religious and cultural conflicts. “The powerful forces at play in Southeast Asia have serious implications for the world’s economic and social stability,” said Bernard Patry, member of Parliament for Pierrefonds-Dollard, who made today’s announcement of behalf of Minister of Industry David L. Emerson. “Professor De Koninck’s impressive team will not only shed light on the positive aspects of the region’s development, but may well point the way to balancing economic interests with social and environmental concerns.” Highland areas, which are home to many of the region’s minority populations, are of particular interest to the research team. This land is increasingly sought after, and in some cases, expropriated, for new farms. The Vietnamese, for example, are destroying forests and displacing communities in order to produce and sell coffee, a major cash crop, on the lucrative international market. The growth in agricultural productivity has been greatest in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Phillipines and Vietnam, where more and more land that once fed communities now produces export crops such as coffee, rubber and palm oil. “The rush for development has left many of the countries in the region vulnerable to floods, water pollution and soil erosion—the tragic consequences of which we saw first-hand in the recent tsunami,” said De Koninck, a geography professor and Canada Research Chair in Asian Studies. “Deforestation and poor coastal management certainly contributed to the destruction the tsunami caused in Thailand. By contrast, in Malaysia, where there is better environmental protection, there was also far less devastation.” Researchers from nine Canadian universities are participating in the five-year study, as well as researchers from Australia, France, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philipines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Non-governmental organizations in Southeast Asia are also collaborating. “This research will be of enormous value, not only in the countries being studied, but in neighbouring countries such as Cambodia and Laos, where agricultural expansion and industrialization are much less advanced,” said Marc Renaud, president of SSHRC. “The results will also help determine whether countries in Latin America and Africa can avoid some of the problems now confronting Southeast Asia.” - 30 - For additional information on this release and other SSHRC research projects, please contact: Doré Dunne Media relations officer Telephone: (613) 992-7302 E-mail: dore.dunne@sshrc.ca
