Selective border permeability: Governing complex environmental issues through and beyond COVID-19

Wastewater surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 genomic populations on a country-wide scale through targeted sequencing

“…pandemic and informal border crossings such as those occurring across dry frontiers are hard to capture using clinical testing [39]. Uruguay has a ~1,100 km uninterrupted dry frontier with Brazil and although Uruguayan borders were closed, there was a flow of people across the border [23].…”

Closing the loop or widening the gap? The unequal politics of Thailand's circular economy in addressing marine plastic pollution

“…This nationwide problem has been aggravated since 2020 by the diversion of central state funds to deal with the domestic exigencies of the COVID-19 pandemic and a severe Mekong Basin drought that led to a state of emergency being declared in 12 Thai provinces (Miller et al, 2022). These rapid onset emergencies, which, in 2021, led to a 47% reduction in central state spending on environmental issues (Wipatayotin, 2022), further reduced already low levels of political will to tackle the slower onset crisis of marine plastic pollution.…”

“…A World Bank (2022) study found that less than one-quarter (21%) of Thailand's aggregate plastic is reutilised, totalling material value losses of around US$3.6 to US$4 billion annually (World Bank Group, 2021). The progression of the COVID-19 pandemic has added to these transboundary flows of marine pollution through the consumption and disposal of single-use face masks, takeaway food containers and other packaging (Miller et al, 2022). Depressed global oil prices during the pandemic-induced recession have additionally reduced demand for recycled plastics by 50% in Southeast Asia as oil firms have heavily invested in producing cheaper, fossil fuel-derived plastics (Brock, 2020).…”

Transboundary environmental governance: Emerging themes and lessons from Southeast Asia

“…The progression of the COVID‐19 pandemic has fundamentally altered the nature of transboundary environmental governance arrangements throughout Southeast Asia. Governments across the region, seeking to recover from the pandemic‐induced recession, have selectively reopened national borders to resume flows of trade and finance while rolling back or scaling down key cross‐border environmental agreements and programs, with important implications for environmental (in)justice, democracy and activist networks (Miller et al, 2022). Pandemic‐related border disruptions have similarly impacted Southeast Asia's substantial population of migrant workers, contributing to a region‐wide pattern of return urban–rural migration that has significant implications for the depletion of finite natural resources in rural and agrarian communities across the region (Suhardiman et al, 2021).…”