Jain Panika, Rakshit Bijoy, Raina Bisma, Bardhan Samaresh
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology Ropar India.
Int Soc Sci J. 2021 Aug 25. doi: 10.1111/issj.12291.
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.
南亚地区近三分之一的人口生活在极端贫困和饥饿之中，该地区受到了新冠疫情前所未有的影响。这场疫情破坏了该次区域在实现可持续发展目标方面所取得的进展。本研究认为，在认识到未来与气候相关风险的同时，促进南亚地区的环境可持续性对于“更好地重建”至关重要。由于准备不足、全球供应链崩溃以及区域一体化受到限制，该地区的各个国家缺乏有效实施可持续发展目标的财政和技术能力。因此，基于区域一体化的分析方法，本文探讨了区域一体化在确保南亚环境可持续性方面的潜在作用。此外，本研究还阐述了新冠疫情如何在区域层面影响了清洁能源、灾害风险减少和废物管理等多个环境方面，并展示了区域合作如何在疫情后应对这些挑战。虽然先前的研究主要关注欧盟的区域一体化，但本研究旨在探讨南亚区域合作在实现环境可持续性方面的至关重要性。
