Noise policies in Southeast Asia

In Southeast Asian countries, noise pollution continues to grow due to the increase in motor vehicle and aircraft fleets and industries. Population growth, urbanization, and to a large extent technological development, are the main driving forces. In some of these countries, impacts of extensive noise exposures have already been observed in terms of hearing impairment, sleep disturbance, and annoyance. In this article, policies for the abatement of noise in several Southeast Asian countries are described and critically discussed. The most important problems in the control of noise pollution include lack of public awareness, stakeholder participation, inadequacy of noise emission standards, and lack of enforcement of existing laws and regulations. Often current rules offer little in the way of control measures or penalties. The difficulty of proving that noise has adverse effects on health and hearing is also a reason for the lack of attention to noise problems. A consistent approach to noise pollution management based on the principles of precaution, the polluter pays and prevention is, therefore, necessary to address these challenges.