Examining Growth Transitions and Environmental Quality Through Dynamic Threshold Modeling in Southeast Asia

This study aims to examine the effect of financial market development, investment, and trade openness on the environmental quality of East Asian and Southeast Asian countries from 1991-2017. Differences in the influence of the East and Southeast Asian region on environmental quality indicators are accommodated by using the dummy variable of the region. All data is sourced from World Development Indicators - World Bank. The results of this study reinforce the notion that per capita income (GDPCap), the environmental effects of financial market development (FMDev), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), trade openness (TL), influence according to the hypothesis. The Empirical Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis was empirically proven in both regions. Capital inflows and trade openness negatively affect environmental quality, while financial market development (FMDev) has a positive effect on environmental quality in both regions

The aging of oil and gas reservoirs in South East Asia (SEA) presents opportunities for their repurposing for use in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS); to our knowledge, there are currently no operational CCS projects in SEA. Multiple CCS projects have been announced recently in SEA, targeting storage in depleted reservoirs. In this paper, we share technical lessons learned while working on CCS projects in SEA. The paper first provides an overview of engineering factors that should be considered for the transport and storage of CO2 in depleted reservoirs. We will then focus our discussion on four of the challenges faced while assessing these factors. Firstly, we highlight the impact that regional geothermal gradients have on storage capacity; particularly, we show that higher geothermal gradients due to the proximity to the ring of fire reduces storage capacity in reservoirs in SEA. Secondly, challenges surrounding the dynamic modelling of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) injection into depleted reservoirs will be discussed; the large difference between the composition of the injected gas and native reservoir gas necessitates the use of compositional dynamic models. In this regard, many depleted reservoirs either do not have dynamic models at all, or only have black oil models; both circumstances will require significant time and resource investments to construct compositional dynamic models. Next, we will discuss the reusability of regional gas pipelines for CCS projects; we discuss factors that may prevent a pipeline from being convertible for CO2 transport. Finally, we will discuss the challenge of managing CO2 phase transitions at injection sites. The phase transitions are a result of CO2 being transported at high pressures and then injected into depleted reservoirs with low pressures and high temperatures. We argue in the paper that the phase transition should be engineered to occur in the reservoir to minimize facilities costs.

This study examines the important manifestations of economic globalization, such as increased international trade, inward foreign direct investment (FDI), and air passenger transport (PAX) on economic growth and environmental quality in Southeast Asian countries. The results of data analysis for the period 1990–2019 using the panel autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) have confirmed the long run impact of these factors on economic growth and environmental quality (the reduction of CO2 emissions into the environment per unit of production) in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, international trade and PAX positively affect economic growth in both groups of lower-middle-income countries and upper-middle and high-income countries. Inward FDI, however, only has a positive effect on economic growth for the group of lower-middle-income in the short run. In the long run, it has a negative impact. On the other hand, when the manifestations of economic globalization increase, they lead to an increase in CO2 emissions, but there is a decrease in this ratio per unit of production in the long run and in most countries in the short run. These findings are the basis for making economic growth and environmental quality improvements in different regions and countries of Southeast Asia.

Tropical regions such as Southeast Asia are more vulnerable to food insecurity because climate change causes disruptions in the food supply chain. An extreme increase in the population exacerbates this condition. Southeast Asia also often experiences extreme weather, adversely affecting the farmers’ livelihood. Climate change that has occurred for decades has forced smallholder farmers to adapt. This study aims to identify the impact of climate change and adaptation strategies of smallholder farmers and other Southeast Asian stakeholders. The methods used in this study are bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review (SLR). The result explains that climate change significantly impacts the decline in agricultural productivity, food nutrition, environmental quality, and resource instability. Climate change has also contributed to the increase in poverty. The adaptation strategies at the upstream level include sustainable agricultural practices, agroforestry, circular economy, crop-livestock integration, forest recovery, environmentally-friendly technology, changes in sowing and planting dates, traditional water irrigation practices, and smart farming. At the downstream level, many rural farmers migrate to cities because they cannot continue farming. The government has implemented social protection and climate risk insurance schemes for farmer households at the downstream level.

In empirical studies, the disparity between financial development and environmental quality has prompted us to examine the impact of credit growth on environmental quality in ASEAN countries. These countries have experienced phenomenal credit growth over the past three decades due to their adoption of financial liberalisation, integration and innovation. In this study, we investigated the role of credit growth on environmental quality while controlling for several macroeconomic variables, including regulatory quality, natural resources, foreign direct investment, globalisation and per capita gross domestic product growth. Using static models (ordinary least square [OLS], random effect model, Panel Corrected Standard Error and partial spatial cross correlation) and dynamic models (dynamic OLS, dynamic random effect and two‐step system generalised methods of moments (GMM) on data spanning from 1984 to 2019, we observed a nonlinear association between credit growth and environmental quality. The findings suggest that credit growth may simultaneously have favourable and detrimental effects on environmental quality. High credit growth can lead to increased emissions and environmental degradation through the promotion of fossil fuel‐driven energy consumption, production and distribution of economic resources. However, if the government promotes regulatory quality and encourages lenders to invest more in green technologies and renewable and sustainable energy sources, credit growth may contribute to improved environmental quality. These results carry important policy implications.

BackgroundThe prevention of tuberculosis (TB) is key for accelerating current, slow declines in TB burden. The 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on eligibility for preventive therapy to treat latent TB infection (LTBI) include people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV), household contacts of TB patients including children, and those with clinical conditions including silicosis, dialysis, transplantation, etc. and other country-specific groups. We aimed to estimate the potential impact of full implementation of these guidelines in the WHO South-East Asian (SEA) Region, which bears the largest burden of TB and LTBI amongst the WHO regions.MethodsWe developed mathematical models of TB transmission dynamics, calibrated individually to each of the 11 countries in the region. We modelled preventive therapy in the absence of other TB interventions. As an alternative comparator, reflecting ongoing developments in TB control in the region, we also simulated improvements in the treatment cascade for active TB, including private sector engagement and intensified case-finding. Relative to both scenarios, for each country in the region, we projected TB cases and deaths averted between 2020 and 2030, by full uptake of preventive therapy, defined as comprehensive coverage amongst eligible populations as per WHO guidelines, and assuming outcomes consistent with clinical trials. We also performed sensitivity analysis to illustrate impact under less-than-optimal conditions.ResultsAt the regional level, full uptake of preventive therapy amongst identified risk groups would reduce annual incidence rates in 2030 by 8.30% (95% CrI 6.48–10.83) relative to 2015, in the absence of any additional interventions. If implemented against a backdrop of improved TB treatment cascades, preventive therapy would achieve an incremental 6.93 percentage points (95% CrI 5.81–8.51) of reduction in annual incidence rates, compared to 2015. At the regional level, the numbers of individuals with latent TB infection that need to be treated to avert 1 TB case is 64 (95% CrI 55–74). Sensitivity analysis illustrates that results for impact are roughly proportional to ‘effective coverage’ (the product of actual coverage and effectiveness of the regimen).ConclusionsFull implementation of WHO guidelines is important for ending TB in the SEA Region. Although future strategies will need to be expanded to the population level, to achieve large declines in TB incidence, the uptake of current tools can offer a valuable step in this direction.

Economic development and pollution emissions in Singapore: Evidence in support of the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis and its implications for regional sustainability

In the preceding two decades, the expansion of financial services has played a vital role in pursuing economic growth agendas in the developing Asian nations. However, its harmful effect on environmental quality cannot be denied. In this backdrop, in the present study, we investigated whether the financial sector development moderated the ecological footprint, carbon footprint, and land footprint in the eight developing nations of South and Southeast Asia from 1990 to 2015. In doing so, we included the per capita income, energy solutions, and trade expansions as determinants of the ecological indicators. The results of the second-generation unit root tests and Westerlund's cointegration test reported the long-run stability and cointegration, respectively. To navigate the possible cross-country dependency, we employed the cross-sectional augmented autoregressive distributed lag approach (CS-ARDL). The results confirmed that per capita income, energy solutions, trade expansion, and financial sector development invigorated the ecological footprint, carbon footprint, and land footprint in the long run. Further, it is reported that the development in the financial sector has a significant moderating impact on the nexus between energy and environmental footprints. In other words, the financial sector development drove the association between the overall environmental quality and energy solutions in the long run. Similarly, we observed that the financial sector development worked as a significant mediator between environmental proxies and trade expansion. By including the ecological footprint, carbon footprint, and land footprint as environmental proxies, the study provides the wider environmental spectrum. Based on the outcomes of the study, we proposed a novel scheme, which may help to address the harmful environmental impacts of the financial sector development in the selected developing nations.

We have extended the literature on how information communication technology (ICT) and renewable energy relates to environmental quality in South-East Asia. Earlier literature has mostly focused on individual country cases, and regional investigations, especially in South-East Asian, are largely absent from the existing body of knowledge. The use of ICT and renewable energy are among the top priorities of each economy in this region. We pursued this study with the intention of identifying trends in the way these countries use ICT and renewable energy, and how these emerging factors contribute to their environmental performance. We analyzed the annual data of six countries from between 2000 and 2018, using Panel Quantile Regression, and Dynamic Fixed Effect estimation techniques to test both the hypothesized short-run and long-run relationship between ICT and renewable energy use and environmental quality. Our empirical results reveal the non-mitigating effect of ICT on CO2 emission, confirming that ICT use in this region does not improve environmental performance, but rather causes more environmental degradation. Renewable energy, on the other hand, results in a significant contribution to environmental quality in this region. Our results are consistent with multiple studies in the existing body of knowledge. The findings are very meaningful and useful for policymakers in these countries to help them to frame strategies for renewable energy and ICT use practices that favor the environment.

Demand for environmental quality information and household response: Evidence from well-water arsenic testing

Any assessment of the opportunities and constraints to urban aquaculture requires that a clear idea of the concept is in hand. Definitions of urban aquaculture that reflect current thinking about urban development and urban food production, more specifically in South and Southeast Asia (SSEA), are initially discussed. The importance and specific characteristics of both aquaculture development and urban growth in this part of the world leads to the concepts of both 'extended metropolitan regions' (EMR) and the 'waste economy' model being used to explain the nature of urban aquaculture. Three main trajectories are advanced to explain the conditions under which urban aquaculture develops in the SSEA region: (i) opportunistic development of aquaculture within the changing physical aquatic landscape occurring through urbanization, (ii) continuation of existing aquaculture, often in a highly modified form, as urbanization occurs around it and (iii) strategic locating of new enterprises in urban areas to take advantage of specific resources such as nutrients, markets, information or some combination of these. The multiple roles that urban aquaculture performs at a household, local and municipal level are explained. Benefits extend far beyond the producer households and, because of urban-rural links, far beyond urban areas per se. In particular, the poor benefit through their role as service providers and consumers. Trading of wastes and other inputs, and processing and sale of aquaculture products, are important sources of employment. Migration for employment has affected market niches for products of urban aquaculture in urban areas and influenced consumption in rural areas. At a local community and municipal level, benefits accrue from the role of urban aquaculture in waste disposal and treatment, food production, flood control, employment, environmental quality and recreation. A variety of factors constrain the development of urban aquaculture, including loss of suitable physical locations and changes in waste disposal, that are often influenced by broader development trends. Changing attitudes and expectations in urban areas, especially as they become more affluent, are also related to changing demand. The 'openness' of aquatic systems make urban aquaculture particularly vulnerable to contamination and theft, both of which discourage investment, although successful examples demonstrate how aquaculture may remain viable in urban areas. The dynamic role of entrepreneurs in urban aquaculture, reusing urban-derived wastes, is particularly important. Intensification strategies are also varied, and proven to maintain the competitiveness of aquaculture within the urban environment in the SSEA region.

At the beginning of the 21st Century, South-East Asia is gradually becoming one of the major hubs for international tensions and conflict on a global scale. With surge of People Republic of China capabilities connected with Soft and Hard Power, and re-igniting interest of remaining global players, this region is witnessing adaptation of new strategies and tools not only for war, but also for political and economic expansion. The main aim of this paper is to examine development of tools and strategies associated with sea power, which were developed to manage and exploit during standoff and potential conflict in the region. New quality of international environment is introducing change and evolution to the classical concept associated with classical understanding of sea power – how it is produced, measured, and exploited in contemporary situation. Main hypothesis of this paper will state, that with surge in cost and sophistication of sea power platforms, the primary users are devising new avenues to project their influence in disputed areas of South-East Asia. However, its final usefulness still needs to be tested in real-space entanglements. The paper will be subdivided on four separate parts. First will be devoted to original concepts of Sea Power, according to its founders, such as Alfred Thayer Mahan, Julian Corbett and John Fisher, whose created foundations of what is contemporary known as a Sea Power. Second will embrace the specifics of South-East Asia as a particular region for deployment of Sea Power. It will investigate its political, economic, social, and cultural landscapes ant their ties to Sea Power. Third will investigate the potential change in the nature, strategies and tools associated with Sea Power. And fourth part will encompass possible scenarios for Sea Power implementation in the South-East Asia conflict zone.

The effect of environmental information disclosure on environmental quality: Evidence from Chinese cities

This paper presents an alternative approach to integrate static and dynamic data for construction of the three-dimensional (3D) dynamic reservoir model. The integrated workflow was applied to a complexly structured and heterogeneous carbonate reservoir, in Zaakher Gas Field, Southeast Asia. In this study, the number of faults which crossed along critical flow paths through fault zones were defined and modeled. Subsequently, fault zone transmissibility was calculated and modeled to be incorporated into the dynamic model. In addition, a novel methodology to determine and define the rock region model was also proposed. Construction of the dynamic model was conducted by incorporating the upscaled static geological model, fault zone transmissibility, rock region model, reservoir characteristics, and production and pressure history, as well as well completion data into the simulator. The simulation results show that the integrated workflow for 3D dynamic modeling proposed in this study has successfully improved history matching results and have a good acceptable match.

We consider a population of infinitely-lived households split into two: some agents have a high discount factor (the patients), and some others have a low one (the impatients). Polluting emissions due to economic activity harm environmental quality. The governmental policy consists in proposing households to vote for a tax to maintain environmental quality. By studying the voting equilibrium at steady states we show that the equilibrium maintenance level is the one of the median voter. We also show that (i) an increase in total factor productivity may produce effects described by the Environmental Kuznets Curve, (ii) an increase in the patience of impatient households may foster environmental quality if the median voter is impatient and maintenance positive, finally (iii) a decrease in inequality among the patient households leads to an increase in environmental quality if the median voter is patient and maintenance is positive. We show that, when the median income of the median voter is lower than the mean (which is empirically founded), our model with heterogeneous agents predicts a lower level of environmental quality than what the representative agent model would predict, and that increasing the public debt decreases the level of environmental quality.