Cost Of Environmental Degradation Research Articles

HESS Opinions: The unsustainable use of groundwater conceals a “Day Zero”

Abstract. Water scarcity is a pressing global issue driven by increasing water demands and changing climate conditions. Based on novel estimates of water availability and water use in Chile, we examine the challenges and risks associated with groundwater (GW) withdrawals in the country's central-north region (27–35° S), where extreme water stress conditions prevail. As total water use within a basin approaches the renewable freshwater resources, the dependence on GW reserves intensifies in unsustainable ways. This overuse has consequences that extend beyond mere resource depletion, manifesting into environmental degradation, societal conflict, and economic costs. We argue that the “Day Zero” scenario, often concealed by the uncertain attributes of GW resources, calls for a reconsideration of water allocation rules and a broader recognition of the long-term implications of unsustainable GW use. Our results offer insights for regions worldwide facing similar water scarcity challenges and emphasize the importance of proactive and sustainable water management strategies.

Evaluation and Driving Forces of Ecosystem Service Change in Maqu Alpine Wetland: An Emergy Approach

Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, providing various key ecosystem services to humans and other organisms. However, an insufficient understanding of the economic value and importance of wetland resources has seriously weakened the ecosystem service value of wetlands. Thus, a more comprehensive understanding of wetland ecosystem services must be revealed in order to propose appropriate conservation policies. Therefore, to achieve the abovementioned goals, we used the emergy value accounting method to account for the ecosystem service value of the Maqu alpine wetlands, and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index was used to analyze the driving forces affecting changes in ecosystem services. The results indicate that the ecosystem service value of the Maqu alpine wetlands showed a trend of decline and then rebound during 1990–2020; its unit area emergy value decreased from 3.85 × 1010 sej/m2/y to 3.04 × 1010 sej/m2/y during 1990–2000, and after 2010, it began to gradually rebound. Moreover, the monetary ecosystem service value of the Maqu alpine wetlands continued to rise during the study period, reaching 41.45 USD/m2/y in 2020, thus reflecting the great potential value of wetland ecosystems. Based on our analysis, the key drivers affecting the changes in ecosystem services include economic scale and emergy benefit. Rapid and intensive human activities have boosted local economic development, but these developments have come at the cost of environmental degradation. Finally, some suggestions are proposed. This study suggests that the alpine wetlands in Maqu occupy an important ecological position within the whole Yellow River basin. Therefore, it is worthwhile to invest a significant amount of funding in their restoration and protection.

Nitrogen uptake in lentil cultivar mixtures is not predictable from pure stands performance but is correlated with agronomic parameters and experimental conditions

BackgroundIn the context of rising costs of raw materials and environmental degradation caused by livestock farming, the agri-food sector faces significant challenges in sourcing sustainable proteins. Grain legumes have emerged as cost-effective protein sources, with lower water footprint and GHG emissions compared to animal sources. However, their cultivation is threatened by strong yield fluctuations. Leveraging intra-specific diversity through cultivar mixtures in cropping systems can effectively buffer biotic and abiotic stresses, hence increasing yield stability. In this study, we investigate the effect of intra-specific diversity on lentil nitrogen uptake under pot (2020) and field conditions (2021). We hypothesize that cultivars with higher affinity for nitrogen fixation influence the other components of the mixture, and that nitrogen uptake dynamics are a possible driver in modulating cultivar mixture behaviour. We designed two-, three-, and four-cultivar mixtures with a trait-blind approach and compared them to sole cultivars.Results and conclusionsOur results show inconsistencies across the two experimental years, indicating that lentils may shift their nitrogen source from the atmosphere to the soil when grown in pots. Mixtures 15N enrichment was not always consistent with pure stand performance, suggesting that cultivar mixtures may have an unpredictable cumulative effect on nitrogen uptake. Regarding correlations with agronomic parameters, we observed a significant correlation between nodules number and nitrogen concentration, regardless of experimental conditions. Finally, we found that 15N excess emerged as a significant predictor for pure stands’ yield, but the differences were diluted with the increase in diversity levels. The findings on 15N enrichment responses, cultivar impacts, and complex mixture effects on soil microbiota underscore the need for further research.

Heterogeneous environmental consciousness, carbon permit adoption, and endogenous growth: A case of China

Motivated by low participation rate in China’s pilot Emission Trading Schemes (ETS), yet there being ample empirical evidence of carbon permit activities having an impact on firms’ technological innovation choice, we develop a novel endogenous growth model with carbon accumulation where both the green behaviors of non-corporate individuals and carbon permit adoption choice of corporate owners are influenced by heterogeneous environmental consciousness. Calibrated for China based on ETS price data, we examine the impacts of both long-run policy experiments and short-run cyclicality associated with carbon permit prices. we find that long-term greater ETS trading affordability would incentivize more firms to participate and bring about a reduction in carbon ratio, though it is still largely bounded by the conventional environment-growth trade-off that it requires supplementing it with other policies. In the short run, we find that higher carbon permit trading price would be procyclical to economic expansion but at the cost of environmental degradation too. In combination, this presents a policy dilemma: while improving ETS trading affordability is a long-run policy priority in China, in the short-run, absent fundamental changes, the procyclicality between carbon permit price and economic growth would serve as counteracting forces to this.

Societal sustainable development and long‐run economic growth: How do we stand?

AbstractThe United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development proposes the ambitious goal of an inclusive and sustainable economy. Thus, a realistic assessment of individual countries' possibilities to implement the Sustainable Development Goals might provide helpful insights. We seek to contribute to the existing literature by proposing a working framework for assessing, at the individual country level, the impact of long‐run economic growth on societal sustainable development. The framework is based on composite models from the Structural Equation Modeling‐SEM with a Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS‐PM) estimator. In contrast, societal sustainable development is viewed as emerging from its various dimensions (environmental protection, human development and public health). Based on the analyses of an extended sample of 99 countries, including data for thirty years (from 1990 to 2019), we find that economic growth matters in explaining societal sustainable development, and different countries have benefited unequally from this situation. The key finding reveals that countries aiming to follow the SDGs should recognize their significant disparities and engage in profound structural, institutional, functional and cultural transformations. Thus, a more holistic approach to societal sustainable development is currently needed to enhance government effectiveness as a transmission channel for the impact of growth. In addition, governments need to adjust their economic mechanisms to internalize the costs of environmental degradation and negative externalities for human development and public health.

Green Growth, Environmental Quality, Energy Consumption Nexus in OECD Countries

Sustainable economic development is desirably terrible for improving social welfare. It implies that economic development should not be at the cost of environmental degradation, but rather environmental sustainability should be maintained. This study has examined the green growth, environmental quality, and energy consumption nexus in 38 OECD countries using panel data from 1991 to 2020. We have estimated two models. The first model explores the impact of green growth on environmental quality and the second model probes the link between non-green growth and environmental degradation. For this purpose, the ARDL technique has been used to estimate the results. Green growth has not followed the environmental Kuznut Curve theory while Non-Green growth has validated the environmental Kuznut Curve theory. Furthermore, Environmentally friendly technological innovation, renewable energy consumption, environmental-related tax, and human capital turn out with negative signs while foreign direct investment and trade openness are positively related to environmental degradation. The study also suggests policies to decarbonize or minimize the emissions in the economies.

Role of mineral-based industrialization in promoting economic growth: Implications for achieving environmental sustainability and social equity

This research's problem statement centers on balancing economic development with environmental protection and social well-being. As mineral resources represent a crucial driver of economic growth in these regions, examining how their exploitation impacts economic indicators and the broader dimensions of sustainability and equity is imperative. Over the past decade (2010–2020), the role of mineral-based industrialization in fostering economic growth has garnered significant attention, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This study delves into the complex interplay between mineral-based industrialization, environmental sustainability, and social equity in these regions, employing the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model as a critical analytical tool. The results of this study reveal multifaceted insights. While mineral-based industrialization has indeed contributed to economic growth in these regions, the environmental implications are significant. Often, the extraction and processing of minerals come at the cost of environmental degradation, posing challenges to sustainability. Moreover, the distribution of benefits from this growth is often unequal, exacerbating social inequities. This research underscores the complex dynamics surrounding mineral-based industrialization in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It highlights the need for a nuanced approach considering economic growth, environmental sustainability, and social equity. Policymakers and stakeholders must carefully navigate these challenges to ensure that mineral resources serve as catalysts for comprehensive and inclusive development in the future.

Drivers of green economy in an emerging market: Generic and sector-specific insights

The study examines the drivers of the green economy generally and with a focus on sectors regarded as environmental-sensitive hotspots like waste, agriculture, forestry, energy, and transport sectors. The study was grounded on both the natural resource-based view and institutional theories. Creswell's (2014) thematic analysis and the graphic framework of Miles and Huberman (1984, 1994) were used to address the respective objectives of the study. A total of 10 interviewees were selected purposively based on their expertise and the institutions in question who provided responses that were analysed. The results show that the three generic drivers of the green economy include pollution prevention revealed by the impact of climate change, and environmental degradation cost, environmental stewardship portrayed by inefficient resource utilization and global demand for change, as well as, sustainable development manifesting from a futuristic drive, a focus on people-planet-profit, and rejection of environmentally unfriendly development models. The findings further reveal the differences and interrelatedness of the drivers of the green economy within the 5 hotspot sectors under investigation. The results of the study reveal that there are different and sector-specific strategies that policymakers and practitioners have to apply in their quest to drive a green economy at the central government, local government and grassroots levels. The study proposes the development of a comprehensive national green economy policy and also the promotion of peer-to-peer knowledge transfer networks structured as Communities of Practice. This study is one of the few that explores the concept of the green economy within the macroeconomic level and is novel in attaching theoretical lenses.

Green GDP Calculation Methods and Practical Applications Based on an Environmental Perspective

In using the traditional GDP to measure the health of the country, the impact of ecological pressures is ignored. As the economy grows and the ecological environment deteriorates, it forces us to shift to green GDP to measure the health of the economy so that it can reflect sustainable growth in the economic environment. To address the many challenges of green growth and sustainable development, this paper evaluates the relationship between GDP and resources and the environment by using the development of a green GDP model. We have chosen an accounting model of (GGDP), using which we include the cost of environmental pollution, the cost of resource depletion, and the cost of environmental improvement. This model is then monetized and the final model obtained provides a new method for quantifying the cost of environmental and resource degradation, demonstrating that GGDP can be used as a primary measure of economic health and can measure the impact on climate mitigation.

A study of the GeGDP problem base on the LightGBM regression

This study uses AHP hierarchy analysis to select three indicators as the measurement standard of green GDP: GDP, resource consumption and reduction cost and environmental degradation cost, and analyzes the weight of green GDP indicators and the importance of the three indicators. With GeGDP as the main indicator of a country's economic health, a Lasso regression model is established to analyze the predicted global climate mitigation impacts. Then, this paper establishes LightGBPGBM regression model to predict the future GeGDP and GDP of the United States, and uses r square and other indicators to test the accuracy of the model, and makes a human correlation analysis of GeGDP and GDP before and after the prediction, to analyze the degree of correlation between the two. Finally, taking the United States as an example, we substituted relevant data into the LightGBM regression model developed above, predicted its value, and conducted one-way analysis of variance on it to determine the degree of change before and after. This study uses AHP hierarchy analysis to select three indicators as the measurement standard of green GDP: GDP, resource consumption and reduction cost and environmental degradation cost, and analyzes the weight of green GDP indicators and the importance of the three indicators. With GeGDP as the main indicator of a country's economic health, a Lasso regression model is established to analyze the predicted global climate mitigation impacts. Then, this paper establishes LightGBPGBM regression model to predict the future GeGDP and GDP of the United States, and uses r square and other indicators to test the accuracy of the model, and makes a human correlation analysis of GeGDP and GDP before and after the prediction, to analyze the degree of correlation between the two. Finally, taking the United States as an example, we substituted relevant data into the LightGBM regression model developed above, predicted its value, and conducted one-way analysis of variance on it to determine the degree of change before and after.

The Grim Cost of Economic Growth and Environmental Degradation: A Comprehensive Panel ARDL Study of Public Debt in the ASEAN-5 Countries

This study uses panel ARDL analysis to investigate the connections between GDP growth, environmental degradation, and public debt in the ASEAN-5 countries (Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Indonesia) from 1996 to 2021. It appears that economic development can increase public debt, but investment can reduce public debt in the long run. Moreover, there is a positive correlation between savings and public debt, but only in the short run. These findings raise important considerations for policymakers in striking a balance between economic development, environmental sustainability, and public debt. This study also suggests that savings may positively affect public debt in Indonesia. In contrast, investment may raise debt in the short term in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. The possible effects of corruption on public debt in the Philippines and environmental damage in both that country and Thailand are also highlighted. Keeping public debt at a manageable level requires policies that balance economic development and environmental protection, as emphasized by this research.

Biodiversity and pollination benefits trade off against profit in an intensive farming system.

Agricultural expansion and intensification have boosted global food production but have come at the cost of environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. Biodiversity-friendly farming that boosts ecosystem services, such as pollination and natural pest control, is widely being advocated to maintain and improve agricultural productivity while safeguarding biodiversity. A vast body of evidence showing the agronomic benefits of enhanced ecosystem service delivery represent important incentives to adopt practices enhancing biodiversity. However, the costs of biodiversity-friendly management are rarely taken into account and may represent a major barrier impeding uptake by farmers. Whether and how biodiversity conservation, ecosystem service delivery, and farm profit can go hand in hand is unknown. Here, we quantify the ecological, agronomic, and net economic benefits of biodiversity-friendly farming in an intensive grassland-sunflower system in Southwest France. We found that reducing land-use intensity on agricultural grasslands drastically enhances flower availability and wild bee diversity, including rare species. Biodiversity-friendly management on grasslands furthermore resulted in an up to 17% higher revenue on neighboring sunflower fields through positive effects on pollination service delivery. However, the opportunity costs of reduced grassland forage yields consistently exceeded the economic benefits of enhanced sunflower pollination. Our results highlight that profitability is often a key constraint hampering adoption of biodiversity-based farming and uptake critically depends on society's willingness to pay for associated delivery of public goods such as biodiversity.

The impact of private equity investment and renewable energy on environmental degradation: evidence from BRICS countries

PurposeLarge-scale industrialization, growth and development have come at the cost of severe environmental degradation, primarily measured in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. Apart from the several measures taken to reduce enviornmental degradation, provision of private capital is a necessity apart from the public capital. There is a debate on impact of carbon dioxide emissions with increase in affluence, technology, population and renewable energy. The purpose of the study is to look into the role of private equity investment on renewable energy and technological patents.Design/methodology/approachThe study extends the use of stochastic impact by regression on population, affluence and technology model to include another factor for investments and capital, i.e. private equity along with renewable energy, population, technology and GDP growth on carbon emissions for the BRICS countries. The time period for the study is from 2002 to 2021, and the relationship between the variables has been tested using pooled mean group/autoregressive distributed lag, fully modified ordinary least squares and panel quantile regression.FindingsFirst, the results depict a log-run relationship between the variables across the panel using cointegration. Private equity investments do not have a significant impact on carbon emissions. The study proposes important policy implications. There are two schools of thought on the impact of private equity on carbon emissions. For example, inherently private equity investments come with higher stakes and a shorter holding period because of which their primary focus remains on having higher returns instead of responsible investing. However, as private equity adds up to capital, which leads to an increase in productivity and eventually higher economic growth, this could affect carbon emissions. This study supports the first thought. Additionally, renewable energy also affects carbon emissions positively. The policymakers should look into the role and intent of the private equity investors in green investments and invest in technologies and patents that can lead to energy consumption.Originality/valueThe paper is the first of its kind, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to look into the impact of private equity on renewable energy and technological patents.

Offshoring the scarring causes and effects of environmental challenges faced by the advanced world: an empirical evidence.

In contemplating the prospects of advanced world countries, researchers stand divided among two groups: one group crying "melting of glaciers" and the group denying global warming as a significant concern while reaping the fruits of growth. One persistent concern for the other group is much desirable economic growth at the cost of environmental degradation, which is now reaching a scale where the global climate is become not only unsustainable but also causing a significant threat to our existence. In our opinion, environmental degradation should be taken very seriously now, particularly by pointing out the necessary variables causing it so that effective policy designs are formulated. The present study also gives a brief overview of the environmental repercussions with references to technology-led growth in developed countries. We have incorporated the direct composition effect captured by the capital-labor ratio (K/L), indicating that advanced countries use environmentally friendly technology for production processes. We propose that the most vulnerable impact of economic activities on environmental degradation (measured through carbon dioxide emissions) are urbanization, trade, and energy use. The latter is probably more policy-oriented, is undoubtedly more easily measured, and could be deeply analyzed for policy formulation. Whereas, in the urban areas, emissions of carbon dioxide particulate with an increase in population and development and serve as a significant concern for global environmental sustainability.

Wastewater and Solid Waste Environmental Degradation Cost in Mohammedia City

Wastewater and Solid Waste Environmental Degradation Cost in Mohammedia City

A study on the impact of GGDP on climate mitigation based on grey prediction

GGDP is a new measurement standard. It can deduct the cost of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation from GDP, and make us more aware of the resource depletion and environmental degradation caused by economic development. the modeling of GGDP value is in line with the development needs of the times and is important for coping with economic growth and sustainable development for the well-being and future of human beings. We deducted the cost of natural resource depletion and environmental degradation from GDP, developed a GGDP estimation model, and calculated GGDP for China in the last decade. global warming is an important factor contributing to climate deterioration, so we used CO2 emissions to measure global climate change. Three indicators affecting CO2 emissions were selected as independent variables, and GDP and GGDP were treated as independent mentionable. Two CO2 emission prediction models based on multiple regression equations were developed separately, and the expected global impact on climate mitigation when GGDP is used as the main measure of a country's economic health was estimated by comparing different CO2 emission calculations of the two models. To further analyze the impact of GGDP on climate change, we developed a dynamic climate projection model based on the quadratic regression equation of the EKC-like curve and verified the global applicability of the model. Our calculations show that GGDP can reduce more CO2 emissions, slow down climate warming, and slow down glacier melting.

Fossil fuel racism in the United States: How phasing out coal, oil, and gas can protect communities

Fossil fuels — coal, oil, and gas — lie at the heart of the interconnected crises we face, including climate change, racial injustice, and public health. Each stage of the fossil fuel life cycle — extraction, processing, transport, and combustion — generates toxic air and water pollution, as well as greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions that drive the global climate crisis. Addressing the harmful effects of energy decisions, including unequal risk distribution across various governance levels, supply chains, and political jurisdictions, is a complex task for policymakers and society. A deeper understanding of how harms are embodied within fossil fuel life cycles is needed. This paper provides a narrative review of recent studies within the United States (U.S.) that document both public health harms and disproportionate impacts along the fossil fuel life cycle. In the U.S. the public health hazards from air and water pollution, and risks associated with climate change, fall disproportionately on Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor communities. “Sacrifice zones” and systemic racism are deeply intertwined within the fossil-fuel based economy. We argue systemic racism subsidizes the fossil fuel industry by enabling it to externalize the costs of pollution and environmental degradation onto communities of color. We position “fossil fuel racism” as a subset of environmental racism and argue that this framing is useful because it shifts analytical and political focus to the systems and structures which are actively protecting and promoting continued production of fossil fuels. We discuss the implications of this body of research for climate policy, and outline how poorly designed “carbon-centric” policies—which focus narrowly on GHGs reduction—could fail to alleviate the racialized disparities or potentially worsen it for some communities. We emphasize the need to move beyond carbon-centric approaches to climate solutions to more integrative approaches to policy design that can improve public health, tackle the global climate crisis, and rectify our legacy of fossil fuel racism. Specifically we call for a managed phase out of fossil fuel production and the enactment of wider programs of social, economic, and democratic reforms via a Green New Deal. Adequately addressing the climate crisis and fossil fuel racism require political and policy solutions that disrupt the power and actions of the fossil fuel industry and their state allies.

Does environmental degradation matter for poverty? Clarifying the nexus between FDI, environmental degradation, renewable energy, education, and poverty in Morocco and Tunisia.

Poverty is the curse for sustainable and equitable development worldwide by detreating environmental sustainability, economic instability, and inequality. However, as a remedy for poverty reduction, researchers over the past decade have examined the key macro determinants and established positive associations, implying the contributory role in poverty reduction. The study explores the environmental, energy, education, and foreign direct investment (FDI) effects on poverty reduction in Morocco and Tunisia from 1991 to 2020. We employed autoregressive distributed lagged (ARDL) and nonlinear ARDL frameworks to document the explanatory variables' elasticity on poverty reduction in both the long- and short-run horizons. According to linear assessment, the study documented that education, energy, and FDI support poverty reduction. At the same time, the cost of environmental degradation has a detrimental effect on poverty augmentation. Referring to asymmetric assessment, the study established a long-run asymmetric association between asymmetric shocks of education, FDI, and energy with poverty. For directional association, the study has implemented a casualty test with the Fourier TY causality test and revealed a bidirectional association between education and poverty, and energy and poverty. Moreover, the unidirectional casualty was unveiled between FDI and poverty, and poverty and environment.

ADVANCES IN SOLAR COOKING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES - A REVIEW

Increased energy demand has forced societies to rely on traditional fuel sources with negative health andenvironmental impacts. In most developing countries, solar energy is available for long hours and in ranges thatif exploited can reduce dependence on biomass and fossil fuels. However, despite its potential, uptake of solarcooking devices is low due to intermittent radiation, technological challenges, lack of awareness and slowercooking rates compared to other energy sources. There are four traditional types of solar cookers, box, panel,parabolic and tube. The latest technology is the PV conversion to electricity. Since the advent of solar cooking,numerous experiments, designs and improvements of solar cookers have been successfully developed. Researchhas focused on improving solar cooker performance such as; improved design, sun tracking mechanisms, solarthermal storage or “hybrid” designs that remove limitation of nighttime cooking or periods of poor irradiance.These improvements have increased the efficiency, reduce the cost of the solar cookers, and addressedsociocultural challenges such as sheltered cooking, visual appearance, and the ability to cook traditionalrecipes. However, more needs to be done to increase ease of adoption, the capacity of energy storage andflexibility. The cost of domestic workloads and environmental degradation should also be a factor in energypolicy formulation.

Environment and female entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia: investigation of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis

This paper examines the relationship between female entrepreneurship and environmental implications in ASEAN economies. While economic growth and affluence benefit society, they come at the cost of environmental degradation, particularly rising carbon dioxide levels and ecosystem concerns. Women entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia can potentially support their families and contribute to societal development by starting their own businesses. Their ventures provide fresh perspectives on societal challenges and enable active participation and contribution to creative endeavors, leading to economic and social empowerment with ripple effects on families and communities. To assess the environmental consequences of women’s entrepreneurial activities, the study applies the bias-corrected method of moments and tests the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis across ten ASEAN nations from 1980 to 2021. Results show cross-sectional dependence in all variables and confirm a long-term relationship within the EKC model. The fixed-effects estimator with bias correction is deemed the most suitable model. Findings indicate that GDPpc leads to decreased emissions, while the square of GDPpc contributes to increased emissions; however, the cubic term of GDPpc leads to decreased CO2 emissions, supporting the “inverted N” curve distribution of emissions across ASEAN nations proposed by the EKC theory. Additionally, the study reveals that higher percentages of female entrepreneurs are associated with increased carbon dioxide emissions, potentially due to increased efforts to support and develop female entrepreneurs. Conversely, a reduction in the gender gap in marriage, divorce, remarriage, and domestic violence leads to a shift away from entrepreneurial activities among women, positively impacting the environment.