Chapter 14 - Environmental sustainability in Asia: insights from a multidimensional approach

Abstract

Remarkable economic growth and urbanization in Asia have lifted millions out of poverty and improved people's essential services. However, the environmental degradation in the region is increasing and has negative impacts on human life. There have been very few studies that evaluate multiple dimensions of environmental sustainability for Asia. This study thus aims to extend the line of research on environmental sustainability for the case of Asia. For this purpose, our paper employs a multivariate quantitative evaluation framework as the mainstream of analysis. We then conduct an overall environmental sustainability index based on seven indicators to depict the trend across 31 Asian countries over the period 1992–2016. Overall, the results indicate that even for countries belonging to the same income group, the trend of environmental sustainability varies. The trend of decreasing environmental sustainability is mostly observed in this study sample. The findings expect to generate significant implications on various dimensions of actions that need to be taken for Asia to improve its overall environmental sustainability.