Abstract:
South Asia, a sub-region with nearly a third of the world’s
population living in extreme poverty and hunger, has been
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in an unprecedented
way. The pandemic has undermined the progress achieved
by the subregion towards attaining sustainable development
goals. This study argues that fostering environmental sustainability in the South Asian region is crucial to “Building Back Better” while taking cognisance of future climaterelated risks. With the low level of preparedness, the collapse of global supply chains, and restrictive regional integration, the individual country in the region lacks the fiscal
and technical capacity to implement sustainable development
goals effectively. Therefore, based on the analytical approach
to regional integration, this paper explores the potential role
of regional integration in ensuring environmental sustainability in South Asia. Additionally, this study illustrates how
the COVID-19 pandemic has affected several environmental aspects at the regional level, such as clean energy, disaster risk reduction, and waste management, and shows how
regional cooperation can address these challenges post pandemic. While previous studies mainly focus on regional integration in the European Union, this study targets the crucial
importance of regional cooperation in South Asia in achieving
environmental sustainability
