Energy and Environmental Outlook for South Asia

Muhammad Asif

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000298253
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Scienze fisiche
• Subtopic: Energia

South Asia constitutes a key geography in the world today considering its large population and related daunting energy and environmental challenges. Many countries in the region are faced with a growing gap between energy demand and local resources, resulting in an increased dependence on imports. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the energy demand in South Asia will grow at a rate more than double that of the world average in the coming decades. This book addresses the critical subject of energy and environmental outlook for South Asia and presents the wider challenges and the responses at the national and regional level.

Features:

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• Discusses and addresses the ongoing energy and environmental challenges faced by almost a quarter of the global population

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• Includes dedicated chapters for each country and presents analysis and recommendations by regional experts

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• Examines how deteriorating air quality and persistent natural disasters are severe environmental challenges for the region

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• Discusses the implications of global warming and climate change for South Asia

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• Includes practical case studies throughout

Energy and Environmental Outlook for South Asia will benefit a wide range of stakeholders from various fields including but not limited to energy, environment, economics, national security, and sustainable development. It also serves as a valuable resource for academics, researchers, analysts, policymakers, and representatives of utilities, industry, professional bodies, financial institutions, think tanks, and developmental organizations to better plan their initiatives, activities, and policies. It will help countries in the region and also those around the world by learning from shared experience, and ideally by collaborating for energy and environmental prosperity.

1

Introduction

Muhammad Asif

Contents

• 1.1Energy, Environment, and Sustainable Development
• 1.2South Asia in Perspective
• 1.3Energy and Environmental Challenges
• 1.4Regional Geopolitics and Conflicts
  • 1.4.1Territorial Disputes
  • 1.4.2Water Disputes
• 1.5Structure of the Book
• References

1.1 Energy, Environment, and Sustainable Development

Energy is a precious commodity that goes through a wide range of flows and transformations that are pivotal for the existence of human life on the planet. Increasingly extensive and efficient utilization of energy has played a critical role in the evolution of societies, especially in the post-industrial revolution era. Energy has become a prerequisite for almost all facets of life, i.e., agriculture, industry, mobility, education, health, and trade and commerce. The provision of adequate and affordable energy services is crucial to sustain a modern lifestyle, ensure development and eradicate poverty. The per capita energy consumption is an index used to measure the socio-economic prosperity in any society. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) has a strong relationship with energy prosperity (Asif 2011; BP 2019). A correlation between electricity consumption per head and economic well-being in a range of countries, for example, has been shown in Figure 1.1. It can be observed that an increase in electricity consumption up to 4,000 kWh/capita has a strong relationship with human welfare.

FIGURE 1.1 Relationship between electricity use and HDI of a wide range of countries.

The global demand for energy is experiencing a rapid growth. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA 2019), the world energy requirement will grow by 50% by 2050. This growth is mostly expected to come from the developing world as the countries outside the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are likely to account for over 60% of this growth in energy demand (EIA 2017). The rapid growth in energy demand in developing countries is driven by factors such as burgeoning population, urbanization, modernization, and economic and infrastructure development. By the end of 2019, the world population grew to more than 7.7 billion (UN 2019). In 2008 for the first time in history nearly half of the global population lived in urban areas. It is estimated that by 2050 approximately 68% of the population will be living in urban areas. Projections also suggest that most of the urbanization is set to take place in the lesser developed part of the world—by 2030, the towns and cities of the developing countries will make up 81% of the urban population (Kennedy 2008). Satisfactorily meeting the expected growth in energy demand is a major challenge for the international energy scenario especially when fossil fuels making up almost 80% of the global supplies are depleting.

A healthy and safe environment is important for human well-being, socio-economic prosperity of a society, and biodiversity at large. Global warming is arguably the biggest challenge faced by the mankind. In a survey, 50 Nobel laureates described climate change as the biggest threat facing mankind ahead of issues such as disease, nuclear war, and terrorism (Grove 2017). Climate change as a result of global warming is resulting into wide-ranging problems such as seasonal disorder, a pattern of intense and more frequent weather-related events such as floods, droughts, storms, heatwaves, wildfires, health problems, and financial loss. The United Nations (UN) warns that climate change can also lead to a global food crisis (Flavelle 2019). It has been reported that since the advent of the 20th century, natural disasters such as floods, storms, earthquakes, and bushfires have resulted into an estimated loss of nearly 8 million lives and more than US$7 trillion of economic loss (KIT 2016). Future projections suggest that by 2060 more than one billion people around the world might be living in areas at risk of devastating flooding due to climate change (McMillan et al. 2014). The majority of those affected will be from developing countries with limited resources to mitigate the challenges and to rebuild their lives after extreme environmental events.

Adequate and affordable energy, healthy natural environment, and biodiversity are vital for addressing the socio-economic challenges including poverty, hunger, disease, and illiteracy. Poor and inadequate access to secure and affordable energy is hindering the progress of developing countries. Electricity, for example, is vital for providing basic social services such as education and health, water supply and purification, sanitation, and refrigeration of essential medicines. Electricity can also help support a wide range of income-generating opportunities. Although during the past 25 years, more than 1.5 billion people living in developing countries have been provided access to electricity, more than 800 million people still do not have access to it. Furthermore, more than 2.8 billion people rely on traditional biomass, including wood, agricultural residues, and dung, for cooking and heating. Statistics also suggest that more than 95% of the people without electricity live in developing regions, and four out of five live in rural areas of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Climate change in terms of implications is also a concern mainly for developing countries. Though climate change is a global issue by its very nature and will affect all countries, the poorest will suffer the earliest and the most (Stern 2007). Ironically, the poor and developing countries, despite having a marginal contribution toward greenhouse gas emissions, are mainly at the suffering end when it comes to the consequences of climate change. Low-lying island nations are particularly facing serious challenges from the rising sea level. The grave ramifications of global warming and climate change call for an urgent paradigm shift in human activities and the use of natural resources.

With the growing world population and people's innate aspirations for an improved life, a central and collective global issue in the 21st century is to sustain socio-economic growth within the constraints of the Earth's limited natural resources, while at the same time preserving the environment. This target—sustainable development—can only be met by ensuring energy and environmental sustainability. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN in 2015 as part of its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development have also placed a strong emphasis on the energy and environmental sustainability. The SDGs focusing on the energy and environmental sustainability are highlighted in Table 1.1 (UN 2020).

TABLE 1.1 Overview of the Key SDGs Targeting Energy and Environmental Sustainability

Sustainable Development Goal	Description
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation	Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy	Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities	Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production	Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
SDG 13: Climate Action	Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
SDG 14: Life Below Water	Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
SDG 15: Life on Land	Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt bio...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Forewords
• Preface
• Editor
• Contributors
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Afghanistan’s Energy and Environmental Scenario
• Chapter 3 An Overview of Energy Scenario in Bangladesh: Current Status, Potentials, Challenges and Future Directions
• Chapter 4 100% Renewable Energy Strategy: Bhutan’s Energy and Environmental Perspective
• Chapter 5 Sustainable Energy and Environmental Outlook: Indian Perspective
• Chapter 6 Energy and Environmental Development in Maldives
• Chapter 7 Energy Security in the Context of Nepal
• Chapter 8 Pakistan’s Energy Transformation Pathway and Environmental Sustainability
• Chapter 9 Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Futures in Sri Lanka
• Chapter 10 South Asian Dual Challenges: Energy and Environment
• Chapter 11 Conclusion
• Index