Citation

Waheed A, Fischer TB, Kousar S, Khan MI. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. Int. 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11356-023-29310-1

PMID

37715041

Abstract

Economic and social development, the state of the environment and a propensity for disasters are closely intertwined. Therefore, environmental policy integration (EPI) across development and disaster management (DM) policies and plans is important. Pakistan as a country is highly vulnerable to climate-induced environmental changes and associated disasters. In this paper, the extent to which its national environment and climate change policy, disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy as well as disaster management (DM) plans are aligned is established, based on a review of government documents and expert opinions. In this context, a particular emphasis is put on China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that led the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Plan (CPEC; 2017-2030). While environmental assessment (EA) is currently not conducted for any DM policies and plans, DM and EA are well integrated into provincial environmental protection acts, in national as well as most provincial DM plans. It is concluded that a regulatory framework to guide EPI in DM for BRI and CPEC projects is needed.

Language: en

Keywords

Disaster management; China–Pakistan Economic Corridor Plan; Disaster risk reduction; Environmental assessment; Environmental policy integration