Agriculture and Green Economy for Environmental Kuznets Curve Adoption in Developing Countries: Insights from Rwanda

Jean Niyigaba,Clemence Uwimbabazi,Jessica Ya Sun,Daiyan Peng

doi:10.3390/su122410381

Jean Niyigaba, Clemence Uwimbabazi + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410381

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Abstract

Development and climate change are crucial global concerns with significant contrasts between developed and developing nations. Contrary to several developing countries, Rwanda opted for a green growth policy pathway while struggling with its economic emergence through the alternative green sectors, including agriculture. No research has yet been conducted on the choice’s performance on emission sequestration or the country’s income, allowing the formulation of strategies accordingly. The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), mostly adopted by developed countries, is applied for the Rwandese scenario to verify its adoption in developing countries. The within and between effects of the agricultural sector (AGRc) and gross domestic products (GDPc) on CO2 emission (CO2) are examined with an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration and coupling methods in January 2008−December 2018 period. Results confirm the short-run and long-run cointegration relationships of variables, where CO2-GDPc and CO2-AGRc are relatively decoupling and absolute decoupling, respectively. The EKC adoption to CO2-GDPc relationship, and the significant negative causality from GDPc and AGRc to CO2, are confirmed. The performance resulted from the country’s environment conservation policies, and Rwanda is a learning example as a developing country. However, the green economy through the agro-economy is at a low level and should be reinforced.

Highlights

Nowadays, sustainable development and environmental protection are crucial worldwide concerns, where transitions towards sustainable production and consumption are buzzwords [1]
A green economy is largely analyzed through the CO2 emissions with the nexus of income growth determinants [3]; the linkage was revealed by the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory supporting an inverted U-shape relation [4]
Lighting from the EKC fundamental theory, the CO2-gross domestic products (GDPc) short and long-run relations described are on an inverted-U shape curve, where the coefficient associated with the linear term of CO2 is positive, while its associated on the quadratic term CO2 is negative

Summary

Introduction

Sustainable development and environmental protection are crucial worldwide concerns, where transitions towards sustainable production and consumption are buzzwords [1]. The agriculture sector produces several environmental protection services, including greenhouse gas sequestration. A green economy is largely analyzed through the CO2 emissions with the nexus of income growth determinants [3]; the linkage was revealed by the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory supporting an inverted U-shape relation [4]. That theory assumes that the environment tends to worsen as new economic growth occurs until the income average reaches a specific development point. Several developing nations argue that it is reasonable for them to anticipate economic growth by environmental degradation as their degradation is minimal compared to the advanced nations [5]

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