Southeast Asia faces escalating economic challenges, including global fragmentation, geopolitical shifts, and the climate crisis. To tackle these issues, the region must adopt new economic models beyond extractive industries, such as the restorative economy, which restores ecosystems to support local economies.
Environmental degradation from extractive practices has severe global impacts, with 87% of wetlands lost since the Industrial Revolution, harming biodiversity, water resources, and flood prevention. Land degradation affects 3.2 billion people and costs the global economy $9.4 trillion annually.
