This workshop brought together invited professionals from throughout Asia and North America with a wide range of environmental management perspectives (e.g. , ministries, regulatory agencies, the courts, private industry, voluntary organizations, academia and practicing lawyers). Our purpose was to consider how environmental laws in Asia may be designed to more effectively meet local conditions. While environmental law-making in the older industrialized nations provides useful models for emerging Asia, it is equally clear that conditions here, particularly the pace of development and the role of government in its promotion, presents a different context for environmental management.