The Nexus between Environmental Impact and Agricultural Sector Linkages: A Case Study of Pakistan

Abstract

Agriculture has a substantial environmental impact. However, little research has been conducted on the relationship between agriculture’s environmental impacts and linkages, particularly for the key agriculture-based Pakistani economy. Additionally, the literature on environmental linkages rarely estimates multiple types of linkages in a single study. This study fills these critical research gaps. The study estimates the land, water, nitrogen, and CO2 impacts and linkages of Pakistan’s agriculture sector using an input–output model and the hypothetical extraction method. The results indicated that agriculture directly accounted for approximately 27%, 93%, 92%, and 1% of Pakistan’s total sectoral land, water, nitrogen, and CO2 impacts (LWNC), respectively. While the sector indirectly contributed almost 2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, and 0.4% of Pakistan’s total LWNC. The bulk of direct LWNC impacts were caused by agricultural purchases from downstream sectoral importers. The majority of the indirect LWNC impacts were induced by agriculture’s re-imports. The agricultural purchases from the downstream sector of “Food and Beverages” induced the greatest environmental impact. To ensure sustainable agriculture, particularly in Pakistan, the agriculture sector’s direct and indirect environmental impacts should be reduced not only through better management practices and technology, but also by focusing on intermediate sectoral sources of direct and indirect environmental impacts.