Regional integration and environmental sustainability during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Evidence from South Asia

Abstract

South Asia, a sub‐region with nearly a third of the world's population living in extreme poverty and hunger, has been affected by the COVID‐19 pandemic in an unprecedented way. The pandemic has undermined the progress achieved by the subregion towards attaining sustainable development goals. This study argues that fostering environmental sustainability in the South Asian region is crucial to “Building Back Better” while taking cognisance of future climate‐related risks. With the low level of preparedness, the collapse of global supply chains, and restrictive regional integration, the individual country in the region lacks the fiscal and technical capacity to implement sustainable development goals effectively. Therefore, based on the analytical approach to regional integration, this paper explores the potential role of regional integration in ensuring environmental sustainability in South Asia. Additionally, this study illustrates how the COVID‐19 pandemic has affected several environmental aspects at the regional level, such as clean energy, disaster risk reduction, and waste management, and shows how regional cooperation can address these challenges post pandemic. While previous studies mainly focus on regional integration in the European Union, this study targets the crucial importance of regional cooperation in South Asia in achieving environmental sustainability.

Societal practices as predictors of sustainable outcomes: Evidence across 57 countries

“…Examples are: garbage classification, water and electricity conservation, recycling, participating in activities about environmental protection publicity or making suggestions about these issues, social media activism on environmental topics, green consumption choices, preference towards sustainable advertising messages, volunteering for corporate sustainability initiatives, commuting by green vehicles, being willing to pay a premium for green goods, etc. (Reich, 2005; Pahl‐Wostl et al., 2008; Nelles et al., 2014; Mi et al., 2020; Jain et al., 2021). The public's willingness to be involved and to be responsible has ensured that governments have put in place legislations that ensure compliance for green sourcing, green production, fair labour practices, sustainable foreign direct investments, etc.…”