Environment and Development: Dissecting the Connections

Abstract

The article investigates ways of understanding the relationship between the environment and development, and their implications for public policy. It argues that, in the absence of effective domestic environmental policies, participation in international trade may have adverse welfare consequences in exporting developing countries. Through a critique of environmental Kuznets curves, it is shown that environmental quality may be a precondition for and contributor to desirable developmental outcomes, strengthening the case for effective environmental governance in developing countries. Developing countries may need to adopt a different strategy than the developed countries in their environmental policy, placing more emphasis on solutions that will work in a difficult implementation context and on reforms that can transform that context.

Keywords:

• environment and development
• environment and trade
• environmental Kuznets curve
• environmental governance