Environmental Impacts of Infrastructure Development under the Belt and Road Initiative

• DOI: 10.3390/environments6060072
• Publication Date: 2019-06-19T14:43:32Z
• Authors: Hoong Chen Teo; Alex Mark Lechner; Grant W. Walton; Faith Ka Shun Chan; Ali Cheshmehzangi; May Tan-Mullins; Hing Kai Chan; Troy Sternberg; Ahimsa Campos-Arceiz
• Keywords: Geopolitics

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the largest infrastructure scheme in our lifetime, bringing unprecedented geopolitical economic shifts far larger than previous rising powers. Concerns about its environmental impacts are legitimate threaten to thwart ambitions, especially since there little precedent for analysing planning of massive development at scale BRI. In this paper, we review under BRI characterise nature types demonstrate how social, political factors can shape these impacts. We first address ambiguity around defined. Then describe interdisciplinary framework considering impacts, showing interact aggregate across multiple spatiotemporal scales creating cumulative also propose a typology infrastructure, socio-political drivers influence Increasingly, policies associated with being designed implemented, although concerns will translate effectively into practice. Planning addressing issues immensely complex multi-scaled. Understanding environment step China countries along routes ensure assumed positive socio-economic sustainable.