Spatial and temporal assessment of sustainable development indicators for the China-Pakistan transportation corridor

ABSTRACTThe China-Pakistan Transportation Corridor (CPTC) has long faced great challenges in natural disasters and sustainable development. This study develops a localised indicator evaluation system for the CPTC sustainable development. It contains 27 Tier I and 8 Tier II indicators, covering 11 sustainable development goals. Based on this evaluation system, a single-goal, multidimensional, and comprehensive evaluation of the CPTC sustainable development level is conducted for 2015, 2017 and 2020. The results show that, in terms of single goals, Xinjiang has the highest sustainable development level. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the poorest level of sustainable development. The Islamabad Capital Territory is better developed for all goals, especially in SDG5, SDG8 and SDG9. Besides these three goals, SDG6, and SDG11 are more prominent in Punjab, whereas SDG2 and SDG3 performed worst. From a multidimensional evaluation, the CPTC sustainable development level has been steadily increasing. However, the social and environmental dimensions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have experienced a ‘regression’. The comprehensive evaluation results show that the level of sustainable development in all provinces of the CPTC increase, except for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This study identifies CPTC sustainability issues and proposes targeted recommendations for sustainable development.