Environmental Performance and Vulnerability to Climate Change: A Case Study of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan

Abstract

Relatively little scholarly work has focused on a comparative evaluation of South Asian countries’ environmental performance (EP) in addressing issues of vulnerability to climate change. It is an accepted fact that climate change induced problems in South Asia have been increasing over many years, but their effects have largely been blamed on extreme poverty and uncontrolled population growth. Scholarly works and government reports indicate that the countries are both individually and collectively aware of the severity of climate change and have taken some initiative aimed at adaptation and mitigation. However, it is still unknown how effective those initiatives are and how they are being implemented. This research broadly examines these countries’ EP by modelling a comparative matrix in the global as well as in the regional context. The author is interested in how India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan actually engage in addressing environmental severity caused by climate change. This research utilises (plot) various years’ data from the public domain, e.g. Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI); Environmental Performance Index (EPI). EP is presented in the framework of comparative scores on (1) environmental burden of disease; (2) water resources for human health; (3) air quality for human health; (4) air quality for ecosystems; (5) water resources for ecosystems; (6) biodiversity and habitat; (7) forestry; (8) fisheries; (9) agriculture; and (10) climate change respectively. The specific findings of this research will reflect on the efforts of the respective countries and also provide an opportunity to evaluate the cause of success or failure.