ASEAN's effort in cooperation on environment led to establishment of institutional structure as well as various declarations and plans of action for environmental cooperation.
ASEAN was established in 1967 by ASEAN Declaration. As of end-2001, it consists of ten members : Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. The primary purposes of ASEAN are to accelerate economic growth and to promote matters of common interest in economic fields. Although there was no mention about the cooperation in environment in the above declaration, increasing awareness in the world in the area of the environment culminating with Stockholm Declaration 1972 which called for regional cooperation in environment, led to the launch of ASEAN's Sub-regional Environment Programmes (ASEPs) since 1977.