Green growth and pro-environmental behavior: Sustainable resource management using natural capital accounting in India

Abstract

The natural capital (NC) of India and its management system are essential conditions of the welfare path to the sustainable development of the country. We conduct an accounting process for India's NC to measure sustainability to ensure that future generations will have the equal total wealth per capita accessible to them as that available to the present generation. We then describe the combination of the renewable and non-renewable NC that is relevant within the concepts of welfare and sustainability. First, we note that India has successful forestation, which has enhanced welfare for its residents. However, the other renewables (e.g., cropland, fishery) and non-renewables (e.g., fossil fuels, minerals) are continuously degraded as a result of economic development and population growth. Second, we discuss the correlation between sustainable resource management and pro-environmental behavior (PEB) and explain the importance of considering these factors to achieve green growth. Third, to provide practitioners with useful information on how to promote PEB and to discover the determinants of PEB, we analyze the survey data of 5,200 respondents from all Indian states. We identify that environmental knowledge is an important determinant of individuals’ PEB in India. In the policy analysis, we evaluate the challenges to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) using NC accounting in India. We recommend several policy implications to maintain NC at a sustainable level and to achieve SDGs.