This research attempts to identify the issues which make it more difficult to safeguard transboundary protected areas in the ASEAN countries. The research has found that national forest law, which relates only to the territory of each country, is not sufficient to safeguard the transboundary protected areas that spread across the boundaries of two or more countries. There is no national law, regional convention, or bilateral agreement among the ASEAN countries which directly provides for the conservation of transboundary protected areas. This author has adopted a legal approach to the protection of transboundary protected areas in Europe and has proposed that a regional convention or agreement should be used as an instrument to promote cooperation and sustainable management for the conservation of transboundary protected areas and to deal with problems that do not stop at national borders. The relevant domestic laws should be consistent with such a prospective regional convention or agreement.

This paper aims to examine the progressive development process of the ASEAN under the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. As of 2022, the ASEAN Member States have a total population of 622 million people and a combined GDP of USD 3.2 trillion. The ASEAN’s main focus is integration by connectivity which has been facilitated by “the ASEAN Way.” The ASEAN connectivity was upgraded into a single community through the ASEAN Vision 2020 comprehensively formalized by the Bali Concord II in 2003. The ASEAN has been geographically expanding towards Northeast Asia (ASEN+3) and then Oceania with India (ASEAN+6). It was also connected to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which is the biggest mega FTA in the contemporary world. With the Vision 2025, furthermore, the ASEAN Community reset its direction to sustainable development goals which are the main objective to attain for the Association under the Master Plan 2025.

As the ASEAN moves towards its vision of a ‘Community,’enforceability and consistency of legal standards, broadly the “rule of law,”have drawn attention due to their impact on the predictability of social environments, with consequences for markets, people, and policy makers. This paper draws together recent findings and suggests ASEAN States have made significant progress but remain in a state of transition. These findings support Barry Weingast’s prediction that developing countries are more likely to create consistent rules and move to“ open access orders” in line with requirements for development, rather than install artificial enforcement mechanisms before growth.