The Impact of Expanding Population and Economic Growth on Food, Energy and the Environment (FEEEP): A Progress Report

Abstract

The decades-long economic boom that had made East Asia one of the main engines of the global economy has also given rise to concerns about the resource requirements and environmental impacts that the combination of Asian population sizes and Western consumption patterns would engender. In addition, concerns have been raised in Asia about the implications of the Bogor commitment to free trade in the Asia Pacific region for security of supply of basic requirements such as food and energy. Against this background, APEC Economic Leaders agreed at Osaka in 1995 to put the impact of fast-expanding population and rapid economic growth on food, energy and the environment (FEEEP) on APEC's long-term agenda. The paper reviews progress made in identifying and analyzing FEEEP issues, including separately on the food, energy and environmental issues, and on the cross-cutting aspects addressed at the 1997 FEEEP Symposium in Saskatoon, Canada. The importance of economies being adaptable in order to cope with changing circumstances and emerging constraints and opportunities is emphasized. Important factors that bear on adaptability are education, accessibility to technology and accommodation to technological change, and institutional flexibility. While various aspects of the FEEEP nexus of issues are politically sensitive, the voluntary, consensus-oriented nature of APEC has allowed these issues to be discussed constructively and creatively. Whether this same voluntary, consensus-oriented approach will work well in developing practical initiatives remains to be tested.

Keywords: APEC, Asia-Pacific, FEEEP, sustainable development

JEL Classification: F15, F18, Q01