Asia’s Wicked Environmental Problems

Stephen Howes and Paul Wyrwoll
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Stephen Howes: Asian Development Bank Institute
Paul Wyrwoll: Asian Development Bank Institute

No 348, ADBI Working Papers from Asian Development Bank Institute

Abstract: The developing economies of Asia are confronted by serious environmental problems that threaten to undermine future growth, food security, and regional stability. This study considers four major environmental challenges that policymakers across developing Asia will need to address towards 2030: water management, air pollution, deforestation and land degradation, and climate change. We argue that these challenges, each unique in their own way, all exhibit the characteristics of “wicked problems”. As developed in the planning literature, and now applied much more broadly, wicked problems are dynamic, complex, encompass many issues and stakeholders, and evade straightforward, lasting solutions.

Keywords: asia environmental problems; food security; water management; air pollution; deforestation; land degradation; climate change; wicked problems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O10 O44 O53 Q28 Q53 Q56 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cwa, nep-env, nep-pke, nep-res and nep-sea
Date: 2012-03-01
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0348

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