Biopiracy, largely defined as misappropriation and intellectual property control of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge, has long had profound adverse impacts on the lives of the people and communities in developing countries, including Southeast Asia, one of the global biodiversity hotspots. Given that patents are the main means used in most biopiracy cases to exploit resources and knowledge, this article will discuss its feasibility as the other policy instrument to tackle biopiracy in Southeast Asia and suggest how it should be established and/or improved. For this purpose, this article examines two policy instruments in the patent regime that can be and have been used to address the aforementioned problem: compulsory licensing and the disclosure requirement. Based on the analysis of these two instruments, this article discusses why compulsory licensing is an unlikely means of tackling the problem and suggests how a disclosure requirement can be established or improved to tackle biopiracy in the region.

Since the Japanese government recently unveiled a plan to release radioactive water into the ocean, the neighbouring countries have expressed concerns. In particular, certain environmental groups claimed that the execution of this operation would have a significant impact on the marine environment in the region. In light of significant potential risks, this article argues that such an operation is likely to trigger an international dispute at an international court or tribunal for several reasons. Accordingly, this article would like to explore the highly likely international litigation. First, the background of this potential international litigation, including the reasons why the operation may end up at an international court or tribunal are addressed. Subsequently, certain legal and factual issues that are expected to be contested between the parties at the court or tribunal are discussed. Finally, this article discusses some of the expected outcomes of this likely international litigation, including reparation.