*2.1. Environmental Degradation in South Asian Countries*

The South Asian region faces large-scale environmental issues compounded by the overlapping factors of growing industrialization, urbanization, population growth, and increasing international trade [10]. In recent years, countries in South Asia have seen growing urbanization and industrialization, which has led to rising rates of greenhouse gas emissions and increasing levels of environmental degradation [11,12].

This region has enjoyed some successes in reducing poverty. This was possible thanks to rapid industrialization and the implementation of liberal economic reforms. India and Bangladesh have been overly involved in expanding heavy industries due to their partial adoption of the development model. This has led to an increased industrial output and acceleration of environmental deterioration. According to Mehmood and Tariq [13], globalization led to an increase in CO2 emissions in South Asian nations. This trend was observed from 1972 to 2013. It does not mean that rising production is always positively connected with environmental degradation indices; instead, environmental degradation depends on the use of contemporary technology and regulations adopted to protect the environment.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted that during the next few decades, the demand for energy in the South Asian region would increase at a rate more than twice as fast as the average growth rate for the entire world. The rise in economic activity results in higher energy demand, contributing to the economy's expansion and growth. Rahman and Velayutham [14] examined the effect of consumption of renewable and non-renewable energy, and the effect of fixed capital formation on economic growth for a panel of five South Asian countries over the period of 1990–2014. Their findings indicated that these factors positively contributed to economic growth. In this scenario, increased economic activity may hasten the exhaustion of natural resources and lead to environmental deterioration in the absence of sufficient regulations. Greater consumption of resources results in a rise in carbon dioxide emissions and a decline in environmental quality, negatively influencing human health [8,15].

Increasing population growth, widespread poverty, lack of public awareness of environmental issues, failure to properly and robustly implement environmental laws and regulations, and failure to monitor environmental conditions—all these factors contribute to the deterioration of the environment. The vast majority of the unemployed in South Asia are low-skilled workers earning daily wages in the informal sector. One could argue that widespread poverty is the most significant contributor to the deterioration of the environment in this region. People who live below the poverty line are highly reliant on the services provided by ecosystem services, for their livelihoods [16]. They focus on satisfying their immediate needs rather than achieving future security regarding resources. People are driven to desperate measures by lack of financial resources. As a result, they are cutting down forests for fuel, encroaching on marginal lands, and overgrazing grasslands with livestock. A lack of laws and regulations in this area may be linked to the deterioration of the local environment.

As in many other parts of the world, environmental degradation is becoming so severe that it undermines economic growth in South Asia. According to the World Bank [17], South Asian countries should take immediate action to reduce their carbon emissions. If this is not done, the impact will become even more severe. Growth in the economy, which can be encouraged through liberalization and industrialization policies, brings gains from a short-term perspective. In the long run, however, it increases the vulnerability of South Asian countries to environmental deterioration and the risks that are associated with it. The article presents some newly released research results on the relationship between economic expansion and environmental degradation in that region. These results are shown in Table 1.


**Table 1.** Literature review on environmental degradation in South Asian countries. Recently published papers.
