The Nexus Between Development and Environment

Development and its interrelationship with the environment are complex. Environment plays a vital role in a country’s development by supplying natural resources. However, human negligence toward the environment during development activities causes environmental degradation. As a result, economies have increasingly faced the dual challenge of achieving higher economic growth while limiting environmental harm. Governments and international organizations, including the United Nations, have made achieving environmental sustainability and minimizing environmental degradation a top concern. In this paper, we discuss the relationship of various aspects of development, namely infrastructural development, financial development, economic growth, human development, social development, and political development, with the environment. We also present solutions to shift from ‘environment versus development’ to ‘environment and development.’