The fledgling Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Journal for Development Studies, published under the auspices of the Phnom Penh Plan (PPP) for Development Management, moves a step ahead with the second issue. In what might be considered as "ascending steps," GMS scholarship is moving forward, slowly but surely. The PPP's commitment is to ensure that we continue to make strides towards our goal of bridging the gap between research and capacity building and to propagate the gospel of balanced socioeconomic development in the GMS.
These five articles attempt to portray that balance. Three articles are concerned with the broad issue of regional cooperation through various trade mechanisms. The other two focus on environmental concerns: one specifically addresses the relationship between environmental management and poverty and the other on solid waste management practices. Both articles, while concerned with the major issue of environmental management in the GMS, are unified by the theme of market-based policies and practices for environmental conservation. This approach ties in neatly with the first three articles on trade and regional cooperation where concerns for economic growth through trade are filtered through the more important consideration of poverty reduction.