What is the Connection Between the Import Regulations in Southeast Asia and the 2019 Changes to the Basel Convention Regarding Plastic Waste? : A Study on Governance Solutions and National Policy Responses to the Issues of Marine Plastic Pollution and the

Abstract: Since the 2018 Chinese plastic waste import ban, the global plastic waste trade has been increasingly problematized, especially considering the correlated global environmental issue of marine plastic pollution. Therefore, governance approaches are required to curb marine plastic pollution and regulate the plastic waste trade to prevent situations of “waste dumping” in Global South countries. This thesis will examine the connection between the 2019 changes Basel Convention as a global governance approach and the tendency of Southeast Asian countries to implement import regulations due to an increase in plastic waste exports to the region and resulting environmental concerns.  The empirical context of both plastic problems and the central theoretical concepts of waste distancing and environmental justice associated with a postcolonial, environmental theory approach are discussed in the literature review. The 2019 changes to the Basel Convention will be first examined with a content analysis and then the changing international context resulting in national import regulations will be studied with a process-tracing approach focused on the cases of Malaysia and Thailand. To conclude the Basel Convention provided a regulative framework for certain plastic waste imports and can also be related to the Southeast Asian countries’ response of repatriating illegal imports.