INDIVIDUAL FINAL ESSAY

Topic: Asia should prioritise economic growth for the present, and address the cost of

environmental damage in the future. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

This paper will show that in this day and age, Asia should not completely focus on economic

growth with the intention to invest in environmental damage at a future time. Many reasons will

be given to support this statement. First of all, the survival of human and biodiversity is being

affected negatively by the global warming. Secondly, what human have to pay for their inaction

when it comes to environmental issues is incredible. Thirdly, it is obvious that Asia is

responsible for releasing a huge amount of waste into the environment, especially plastics waste

which is a globally environmental problem. However, there are some arguments from the

opposite side stated that prioritising economic growth is essential for upgrading the living

standard of Asian people and catching up with the world economy. In response to this

counterargument, it is undeniable that Asia is unlikely to achieve sustainable development in

economy without paying attention to the changes in the environment.

Asia is the world’s largest and most diverse continent with forty-eight countries. Due to its

geographical location, Asia suffers the world’s widest climate extremes and as a result, Asia has

the highest number of different types of vegetation and animal species in the world (National

Geographic Society, n.d.). During the period of climate change, Asia gets hit hardest by the rise

in sea level and severe weather because the number of its people live in coastal area is much

higher than that all over the world (Conca, 2020). Besides, although Asian is one of the fastest

growing region in the world, the Asian outlook for 2021 has been degrade by more than 1
percent to 6.5 percent compared with the April 2021 World Economic Outlook due to the impact

of the pandemic with the highly contagious Delta variant (International Monetary Fund, 2021).

Firstly, environmental changes have a number of negative impacts on both human life and

biodiversity recently. Environmental pollution, especially air pollution, does harm human life

seriously. Air pollution is a great threat to human health and even more dangerous than smoking,

car crashes or HIV/Aids. In China, although the government has minimized contamination in the

air for the last seven years, polluted air is still reducing Chinese people’s lifespan by 2.6 years

(Carrington, 2021). Carrington (2021) also states that India is worst affected by the air pollution.

This country has up to 480 million people in the north who breathe pollution 10 times higher

than other places in the world. Not only human life has been affected but the biodiversity has

also been influenced dreadfully. There is a significant fall in the wildlife population due to the

destructive activities of human in both direct and indirect ways. Deforestation and poaching are

the two most concerned factors that contribute to the extinction of many species in Asia. The last

Sumatran rhino in Malaysia had died which is a signal of mass extinction crisis happens in

Southeast Asia (Hance, 2019). Unfortunately, tigers have become extinct in Laos, Cambodia and

Vietnam over the past few years; in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar over the past two decades; in

addition, the tiger populations in Thailand is decreasing (Cowan, 2021). Besides, recent research

estimates that around 13 to 42 percent of species in Southeast Asia will be lost in the subregion

by 2100 and half of them could be global extinction (Khatri & Howard, 2021).

Secondly, what human have to pay for the delay in tackling environmental issue like climate

change is incredible. Many events such as droughts, fires, heatwaves and storms have tendency

to harm economy in the long run due to their impacts on human living standard. Recent study

shows that by 2100, global GDP could be 37% lower than it would be without suffering the
effects of climate change caused on economic growth (Calder, 2021). According to the Asian

Development Bank, Asia must spend $1.7 trillion per year for infrastructure investments,

including the cost of climate change, by 2030 (Conca, 2020). Conca (2020) also suggested that

about 2% of this investment funds which constitutes around $40 billion a year is used to adapt to

the climate change. Another point is that despite the adaptive ability of human is remarkable, that

climate change happens too quickly puts people at risk of suffering or death (Irwin, 2019).

Thirdly, Asia is also responsible for releasing a huge amount of waste, including plastic waste

which is a global issue related to environment. East Asia is considered to be the world’s fastest

region to produce waste (The World Bank, 2018). The World Bank (2018) also states that these

listed countries in East Asia – China, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam – are countries that

dump the largest amount of plastic pollution. Moreover, according to a study, most plastic waste

washed into the ocean by rivers and 90% of plastic waste comes from only 10 of those river

systems and 8 of them are rivers in Asia which includes the Yangtze, Indus, Yellow, Hai He,

Ganges, Pearl, Amur (Gray, 2018). Gray (2018) also indicates that although the Yangtze is the

longest river in Asia and also one of the most ecologically important rivers in the world, it is the

biggest carrier of plastic waste dumped into the ocean.

However, there are existing counterarguments on this topic. It is argued that the growth of

economy is vital for the upgradation of Asian people’s life. In addition, it is high time Asia’s

developing countries catch up with the development of worldwide economy, especially during

the period of pandemic. Ernest, David, and Irenee (2020) stated that Covid-19 could cost up to

$2.7 trillion of the worldwide economy. Therefore, there is a need for the world including Asia

to concentrate more on the economic growth.

In responding to these counterarguments, it is unlikely to meet the demand of people aiming for

both flourishing economy and eco-friendly life if Asia prioritises solely economic growth.

Furthermore, Asia needs to develop its economy in the long run not just for the sake of short-

term profits or unsustainable growth. Ultimately, focusing on both environment and economy

helps Asia gradually reach the sustainability of development. Taking the great impact of using

energy efficiently as a shining evidence, recent studies have shown that the improvement in

energy contributes in reducing production costs and increasing savings as well as enhancing

economic growth (Harrison, 2020).

In conclusion, environmental problems should also be considered as paramount factors in the

process of developing economy. Nowadays, the real situation of environment is alarming all over

the world and the consequences are dreadful if there is no solution being put in to practice.

Therefore, the world in general and Asia in particular must focus more on tackling

environmental issues along with the economic growth. Prioritising the development in economy

with the intention to pay for the environmental changes in the future is not a reasonable idea.

Unless Asia concentrates on environmental impact and economic development as well, it can

only gain short-term profits but in the long run, the damage caused by environmental changes is

extremely serious.

Reference list

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