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SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION: EVIDENCE FROM NIGERIA
Abstract
This study examined the trade-off between economic growth and environmental degradation in Nigeria. This is against the postulation of Simon Kuznets’ inverted-U hypothesis in 1955 that pollution and other environmental degradation first rises and then falls with increase in income per capita. The study adopted the Vector Auto Regressive (VAR) approach in addition to the granger causality test to estimate this relationship using time series data from 1986 to 2015. The findings of this study reveal that the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) does not fit the Nigerian data and contradicts the inverted-U hypothesis. This implies that at low income levels, the environment improves while at high income levels, the environment worsens. The empirical results reveal that an increase in GDP per capita leads to a rise in CO2 per capita which denotes environmental degradation. Conversely, an increase in CO2 emissions does not contribute significantly to growth which is contradictory. The study concludes that there is no significant trade-off between economic growth and environmental degradation – as both variables do not meaningfully affect each other. The study recommends that unless a meaningful reconciliation is done between fostering economic growth and protecting the environment, the goal of sustainable development will continue to be impaired by the overlaps. Further studies are recommended on estimating the balance between sustained economic growth and environmental sustainability.
Keywords: Economic Growth, Environmental Degradation, Kuznets Inverted-U Hypothesis,
Sustainable Development