Abstract
AbstractUntil recently, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has overlooked many of the social and environmental dimensions of its projects and actions in favor of more immediate economic and sociopolitical considerations. The main focus of investments under BRI has largely been to improve transport, telecommunication, and energy infrastructures. However, in Central Asia, biodiversity is not only foundational for the livelihoods and socioeconomic wellbeing of communities, it also shapes people's culture and identities. Furthermore, ecosystem services derived from functioning landscapes bring enormous benefit for millions of people downstream through integrated and transboundary water systems. Already under pressure from climate‐induced melting of glaciers, the fate of ecologically important areas is considered in light of the potential harm arising from large‐scale linear infrastructure projects and related investments under China‐led BRI. Following review of some of the anticipated impacts of BRI on mountain environments and societies in the region, we highlight several emerging opportunities and then offer recommendations for development programs—aiming fundamentally to enhance the sustainability of BRI investments. Leveraging new opportunities to strengthen partner countries’ priority Sustainable Development Goals and enhancing their agency in the selection of collaborations and the standards to use in environmental impact and risk assessments are recommended.
Highlights
China’s ambitious and ever-expanding Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is arguably the single most significant development program being undertaken this century
We review the challenges for sustainable development in the mountain regions of Central Asia in the context of China’s BRI
Relevant risk and impact assessments are most significant for vulnerable areas, such as ecologically important areas identified as having little/no protection yet are directly intersected by linear infrastructure projects under BRI and any overlapping territories and areas that are conserved by indigenous peoples and local communities
Summary
China’s ambitious and ever-expanding Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is arguably the single most significant development program being undertaken this century. A significant portion of biodiversity may be transformed by BRI (Hughes, 2019), including critical ecosystem services such as the provision and regulation of water, stable and fertile soils, biocultural diversity and agrobiodiversity, and carbon sequestration (Ascensão et al, 2018; Teo et al, 2019). These mountain environments and their inhabitants are vulnerable to rapid disruptions (Foggin, 2016; Price, 2015; Stone, 1992), including externally induced changes and resulting pressures on well-adapted mountain social– ecological systems. The objective of this paper is to propose a way forward—to better advance sustainability with equity in Central Asia, with enhanced conservation of biodiversity through leveraging existing opportunities already recognized in China’s commitment to biodiversity (see Li, 2019; Niu, 2021; Wang et al, 2020; and see Foggin, 2020b; He & Cliquet, 2020; Sayer et al, 2021)
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