Using Economic Policy to Improve Environmental Protection in Pakistan 1757. Faruqee studies Pakistan's major environmental problems, both green and brown, and assesses the extent to which economic policies affect incentives to protect the environment. Experience in other countries shows that nondistortionary economic policies that promote economic growth by improving the allocation of resources also create appropriate incentives for protecting the environment. Sound economic policies alone are not enough, of course.
Environmental policies designed to correct market failures are also necessary.
Pollution problems exist both in urban and industrial areas, as well as in marine and coastal zone waters. Subsidies for irrigation water, for example, encourage farmers to overuse water, exacerbating the problems of waterlogging and salinity that plague irrigated agriculture. Lack of property rights in communal forests and the failure to give local communities incentives to participate in forest-management decisions have contributed to the problems of deforestation and the degradation of Pakistan's rangeland. The full report is available in PDF format.