Search

The paper measures environmental efficiency and productivity change to then carry out a decomposition analysis of an environmental efficiency index and a productivity change index. The paper includes a novel comparative assessment to determine the drivers of environmental efficiency and the sources of productivity change of the manufacturing sector in Europe, Asia and the whole world. We explore the capability to convert in an environmentally efficient way, selected inputs into desirable and undesirable outputs. Our estimation results of environmental efficiency confirm that Europe is ahead the world's average. Our analysis shows, however, a slowdown of Europe compared with the productivity growth of Asia. The latter shows a better performance in management capabilities, optimal resource allocation, and economies of scale. The analysis carried out in a second stage using the dynamic effects of the generalized method of moments also shows that the annual growth rate of manufacturing value added and manufacturing exports positively influence the level of environmental efficiency in both Asia and Europe. Therefore, the internationalization and extroversion of manufacturing can be crucial for sustainable development in Europe and Asia. • Benchmarking the strategy for sustainable development in Asia and Europe. • Decomposition of environmental efficiency indices and productivity change. • Effect of manufacturing value added and exports on environmental efficiency. • Benchmarking the manufacturing sector in Asia and Europe. • Showing Asia's best practices and European pillar of industrial restructuring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loess-paleosol sequences have been used in Asia to study climate and environmental changes during the Quaternary. The scarcity of age control datasets and proxy indices analysis data for Asian loess has limited our understanding of loess depositional processes and the reconstruction of paleoclimatic changes from loess-paleosol records. In this study, we present a dataset that includes 1785 quartz optically stimulated luminescence ages and 1038 K-feldspar post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence ages from 128 loess-paleosol sequences located in different regions of Asia. We generate 38 high-resolution age-depth models of loess records based on the provided datasets. We provide data on 12,365 grain size records, 14,964 magnetic susceptibility records, 2204 CaCO3 content records, and 3326 color reflection records. This dataset contains the most detailed and accurate chronologies and proxy index data for loess records in Asia yet published. It provides fundamental data for understanding the spatial-temporal variations in loess depositional processes and climatic changes across the continent during the mid-late Quaternary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, economic growth along with environmental protection is important issue facing most economic societies. On the other hand, with the increase of new technologies and the trade openness, the effect of changing new and extensive structures on the environment has become very important. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of economic complexity and trade openness on the ecological footprint (as an indicator of environmental degradation). For this purpose, the data of 18 developing countries in Asia during the study period from 1990 to 2017 have been used with the Panel-Quantile approach. In addition, the variables of GDP per capita, globalization and financial development were considered as control variables. The results of this study show that the increase in economic complexity in different quantiles reports different results, so that with a one percent increase in economic complexity in the 10th quantile, the ecological footprint has decreased by more than one percent, but an increase in economic complexity in the 50th quantile has caused the deterioration of the quality of the environment. The results show that the increase in trade in all quantiles has helped to improve the environment. Moreover, with increasing globalization and financial development, the ecological footprint has increased in all quantiles. In addition, the results of this study indicate that the increase in per capita income has reported different results in different quantiles. In fact, with the increase of per capita income in the 0.1 quantile, the ecological footprint increases, but with the increase of the per capita income in other quantiles, the ecological footprint decreases. The results of this study provide important policy implications for environmental improvement in developing countries in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The well-functioning domestic institutions are very important for the global value chains to have its positive impact on environment. This article provides an empirical assessment of the impact of domestic institutional arrangements along the way to participate in global value chains on environmental performance index for sustainability goals for 41 Asian countries over 2001–2018 period. Most recent empirical studies assumes that causality runs to environmental measures through trade and governance but inverse relationship is also feasible and none of the previous studies have discussed about it. Using instrumental variable strategy to closing these gaps, we analyse the mechanism of direct and indirect impact of participation in global value chains on environmental performance index. Our results show that environmental performance index is negatively affected by participation in global value chains and this relationship overturns when participation in global value chains is accompanied by governance facilitation. Further, the findings suggest that governance-augmented participation in global value chains is a tool of environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the relationship between environmental rationality and economic activities that accelerate environmental indicators in Asia. In the ecosphere, the environment is a predator of human consumption. The continent Asia holding more than 60% of the world's population is vulnerable to environmental deployment. The purpose of the study is to find the link between economic growth, globalization, biocapacity, energy intensity, and renewable energy to the ecological footprint (EFP) in Asian countries for the period of 1990–2017. For empirics, the econometric techniques applied are panel OLS, fixed effects, random effects, fully modified-OLS, DOLS, and generalized methods of moments techniques. The results prove that by increasing the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption the environmental quality is improved. The Pedroni cointegration test shows a long-term relationship exists between globalization, economic growth, and the environment. The results of all techniques show the similar effectiveness of all used economic indicators in the model that disturbs the environment with different intensities in each test. The results of FM-OLS show that with a 1% increase in economic growth, globalization, biocapacity, and population density the ecological footprint increases by 0.55%, 0.08%, 0.06%, and 0.03%, respectively. However, renewable energy improves the environment by 0.04%. The Granger causality analysis revealed a bidirectional causality between ecological footprint and globalization and between EFP and energy intensity. This study recommends that Asian countries should make sustainable environmental policies to protect the environment from further damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As urban populations grow and climate exposure increases, more cities are introducing formal planning processes to adapt to climate change. This paper explains the process applied to eight cities in the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) for developing indicators for planning and monitoring local climate resilience. This process relied on transferring a common conceptual framework for climate resilience, together with a locally led iterative and collaborative process that engaged technical and planning authorities and vulnerable groups. The process varied slightly between cities and generated indicators that were chosen for their contextual fit and availability of data. The main benefit of developing resilience indicators in this way was the local capacity that the process built, in terms of understanding resilience, shared understanding of concepts and measurement and establishment of a common platform for future planning and monitoring of climate adaptation interventions at the city level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food security and its determinants are being targeted at various levels, i.e., individual, household, national, and regional levels. Our study contributes by two ways. First, it explores the role of political risk indicators along with other important factors in the food security of 35 Asian countries. Second, spatial effects are also considered while determining the factors affecting food security at the regional level. Spatial panel models are estimated using panel data of 35 countries ranging from 2000 to 2018. The significance of spatial effects is established by employing various diagnostic tests, and hence, direct effects and spatial effects are estimated using Spatial Durbin Model to analyze the phenomenon. Empirical results of the study show that rising political risk indicators as well as environmental degradation adversely affect the food security of the country. These adverse effects expand spatially to neighboring countries of the given affected country. Hence, the goal of food security urges UNO to devise an effective strategy to decrease the political risk, improve institutional quality, settle external and internal conflicts, and create religious and ethnic harmony in the affected countries of Asia. These efforts may focus on food security, health, education, and economic development at the regional level. Moreover, clean and sustainable environment must be part of all efforts to achieve food security at the global level. Spatial effects of environmental degradation indicate that the countries which are polluting the environment are adversely affecting food security at the regional level. Positive direct effects and negative spatial effects of trade openness point out the zero-sum game of the countries and hence, food insecure countries might be careful while adopting trade openness policy. Besides, strategies to control high population growth in Asia and economic growth are suggested to achieve food security in Asia. The results are useful for academia, policymakers, and international donor agencies alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The RIHN project “Human impacts on urban subsurface environments” aims to suggest improved development plans of urban centers for human well-being. This will be done by examining reconstructed past changes in urban environments, and by developing integrated nature-social models. Subsurface environmental indicators are developed from the points of view of: (1) human activities; (2) climate change; and (3) character of urban development and social policies. Water, heat, and material environments and transport vectors are being evaluated by a number of different approaches. Some of these include investigating changes in groundwater resources using satellite observations, reconstructing effects of climate change and urbanization using subsurface thermal regimes, and evaluating past contamination patterns from preserved subsurface records. In this overview paper, we describe the current status of urbanization in Asia, subsurface water conditions, material and contaminant transport to surface waters by groundwater, and subsurface thermal anomalies due to the heat island effect. The rapid pace of urbanization in Asia requires that we develop a better understanding of how to deal with environmental impacts, both above and below ground. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study estimates future changes in the early summer precipitation characteristics around Japan using changes in the large-scale environment, by combining Global Precipitation Measurement precipitation radar observations and phase 5 of the Coupled Models Intercomparison Project climate model large-scale projections. Analyzing satellite-based data, we first relate precipitation in three types of rain events (small, organized, and midlatitude), which are identified via their characteristics, to the large-scale environment. Two environmental fields are chosen to determine the large-scale conditions of the precipitation: the sea surface temperature and the midlevel large-scale vertical velocity. The former is related to the lower-tropospheric thermal instability, while the latter affects precipitation via moistening/drying of the midtroposphere. Consequently, favorable conditions differ between the three types in terms of these two environmental fields. Using these precipitation–environment relationships, we then reconstruct the precipitation distributions for each type with reference to the two environmental indices in climate models for the present and future climates. Future changes in the reconstructed precipitation are found to vary widely between the three types in association with the large-scale environment. In more than 90% of models, the region affected by organized-type precipitation will expand northward, leading to a substantial increase in this type of precipitation near Japan along the Sea of Japan, and in northern and eastern Japan on the Pacific side, where its present amount is relatively small. This result suggests an elevated risk of heavy rainfall in those regions because the maximum precipitation intensity is more intense in organized-type precipitation than in the other two types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the book "Measuring Environmental Quality in Asia." The book presents a new set of indices for monitoring environmental changes, which are the product of a research effort involving Harvard University and the Asian Development Bank and its collaborating agencies in China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia and the Marshall Islands. It addresses issues and problems in designing environmental indicators. The book also critically reviews the current status of environmental indicators. It further presents three new measures of environmental quality: cost of remediation, the environmental diamond and environmental elasticity.