Suchergebnisse

Energy is an important need of human life. It is the life blood of all economic activities. Due to increase in population and economic activities, the need for energy is increasing at a faster rate. Without having sufficient energy, the goal of economic and social development and the Millennium Development Goals in particular cannot be achieved. Most of the rural areas in different parts of the world are without electricity. About 1.6 billion people in the world who are living in rural areas are without electricity [Greenstone (2014)]. The reason is that it is too costly to provide electricity services to rural communities through conventional means due to remote location and low density of population. Moreover, due to poverty and low income the rural inhabitants are not in a position to afford the main grid electricity. The use of diesel and gasoline has been used for decades for provision of electricity to rural areas. But it was not so successful due to economic, technical and environmental problems [Woodruff (2007a)].

This study estimates the impact of major climate variables (temperature and rainfall) on crops' productivity across four agro-ecological zones of Pakistan. The crops selected were rice, wheat, maize, cotton and sugarcane. The study used panel data from 1991 to 2010 and applied panel least square techniques. The results revealed that the effect of climatic variables on crops yield varied across agro climatic zone due to differences in their climate conditions. Temperature and rainfall were the important determinants affecting crops productivity across agro climatic zones of Pakistan. Wheat productivity has been impacted more in Northern Irrigated Plain-a by average temperature and in Northern Dry Mountains by rainfall than the other zones. Rice productivity has been impacted more in Dry Mountains by average temperature and in the Indus Delta by rainfall than other zones. Sugarcane productivity has been impacted more by average temperature and rainfall in Indus Delta than zone IV. Maize productivity has been impacted more by average temperature and rainfall in Northern Dry Mountains than other zones. Finally the study recommends proper mitigative and adaptative strategies to enhance the positive and lessen the adverse impact of climate change on crops productivity across agro climatic zones of Pakistan. JEL Classifications: Q15, Q54, Q57 Keywords: Climate Change, Agro-ecological Zones, Rainfall, Temperature, Productivity

This paper estimate the impact of sectoral FDI on economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan. To this end, it uses time series secondary data from 1972 to 2011 and applies Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) models. The results showed that FDI inflows in manufacturing, transport, storage and communication sectors and energy consumption have positive effect on the GDP growth of Pakistan. Besides, FDI inflow in manufacturing, transport, storage and communication sector and population density are responsible for the CO2 emissions in Pakistan. The results also validate Environmental Kuznet Curves in both long and short run. JEL Classification: E2, O4, Q5 Keywords: Sectoral FDI, CO2 emissions, Environmental Kuznet Curves, Gross Domestic Product Growth