Abstract:
The region of South Asia, inhabited by one fifth of the world population, is faced with
the common problems of underdevelopment, poverty, population pressure, and
environmental degradation. Environmental problems have made life almost
unmanageable for a considerable proportion of the population. Air pollution, a
significant environmental problem, is damaging the region’s natural resources. India
and Nepal are prominent contributors to trans-boundary air pollution in the region due
to industrialization, population growth, and weak implementation of air pollution
policies. This paper explores the puzzle of why South Asian countries such as India
and Nepal do not cooperate for the environment, compared to Europe’s successful
regulatory regime, even though both regions have borne similar conditions in terms of
atmospheric problems. Regional cooperation must take place in South Asia through
an examination of the factors that shape the environmental foreign policy of the
sovereign states. The acid rain of Europe has been investigated through the lens of the
epistemic community approach and the interest-based approach. The investigation has
resulted in a successful regional cooperation in Europe. The main objective of this
paper is to identify a successful environmental cooperation method in South Asia to
address the trans-boundary air pollution problem in India and Nepal. Due to the
existence of a knowledge-based community perspective, some self-interested states
have difficulties in defining their interests and development goals and preferences. It
finds that a lack of a domestic and regional consensus on the shared ecological
vulnerability to trans-boundary acid deposition and the high economic costs involved
in reducing toxic emissions have contributed to the slow development of
environmental cooperation in South Asia.
