TITLE:
China’s Efforts in Sustainable Development: A Test Case for Nigeria’s Environmental Sustainability Goals
AUTHORS:
Akubue Jideofor Anselm
KEYWORDS:
Environment, China, Nigeria, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.8 No.5,
May
26,
2017
ABSTRACT: The drive by nations to attain economic and social
developments adversely affects the ecological balance of the environment. The
challenges of maintaining a balance in the state of the global environment have
become the major focus of many governments and the committee of nations at
large. The global tool for measuring Environmental Sustainability ranks China
among the highest on the global ecological footprints. It shows that a country
like the United States draws its place due to its large consumption per person,
while China on the other hand draws its place largely due to its enormous
population. The complex nature of this value with regards to the increasingly
fragile worldwide environment, suggests that the old paradigms of growth cannot
work for China where the available resources face critical challenges of
sustainability. China therefore presents a paradigmatic test case for
environmental sustainability studies. Nigeria on the other hand shares
peculiarity with China as the largest country in Africa with regards to
population. Though Nigeria is presently a low technology based economy,
however, with its abundant natural resources and the vision to joining the
league of emerging global economies, Nigeria faces increasing challenges with
the management of its share of environmental pollution. This paper aims at
identifying the various resource and environment related challenges facing the
Chinese and the actions put in place towards achieving a cleaner environment as
a model for addressing sustainable environment issues in emerging economies
like Nigerian.