An Assessment of Environmental Policy Implications under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor: A Perspective of Environmental Laws and Sustainable Development

Mehran Idris Khan and Qianxun Xu
Additional contact information
Mehran Idris Khan: School of Law, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China
Qianxun Xu: School of Law, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: Environmental issues know no boundaries and are recognised as a matter of regional and/or global concern, and neighbouring countries have to face shared environmental effects. Environmental laws internationally, particularly in the last thirty years, have grown significantly and have contributed to environmental protection in a variety of national, regional and international management strategies. In recent years, environmental legislation has entered into a responsible and mature phase in several non-Western countries, particularly in Asia. The present study examines the shared environmental obligations of regional or neighbouring countries using China and Pakistan as a case study and provides references from international (environmental) laws as well as states’ best practices. This study adopts a well-defined analytical methodology to not only investigate the implications of environmental laws but also to define the gaps in the existing framework of environmental laws in the region and recommend appropriate grounds to systematically fill these gaps through much-needed legal cooperation before it is too late. The study provides a detailed analysis and pertinent knowledge horizons, and concludes that there is an abrupt need for China and Pakistan to revise their trade agreements and include the environment as an integral part of each mega-infrastructural activity, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Most of the potential outcomes are already known but there is little academic discussion available concerning the perspective of cross-boundary environmental laws, and the present study intends to fill this gap.

Keywords: international environmental law; environmental policy and practice; legal challenges; regional cooperation; China-Pakistan Economic Corridor; states’ practices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11223/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/20/11223/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:20:p:11223-:d:654088

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().