Social-ecological resilience and regional development for the countries along the Belt and Road

Abstract:

In 2013, the Chinese government launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to respond to the United Nations' call for sustainable development. Since then, China have worked with countries along the Belt and Road to improve the green development and promote sustainable development of these countries. As one of the representative nation, Nepal has experiencing huge changes with regards to its social-ecological resilience for recent years. Against the backdrop of rising risks of global geopolitical conflicts and the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, countries along the Belt and Road face significant opportunities and challenges as well. It is crucial to assess the resilience of social-ecological systems and diagnose development dynamics in countries along the Belt and Road. Given this, we build an evaluation system for energy investment risks, evaluated the impact of COVID-19 on energy investment risks, and analyzed the correlation between COVID-19 and energy investment risks in countries along the Belt and Road. The results of the study form a new scientific judgment on the socio-ecological resilience assessment, energy investment risk assessment, and development opportunities and challenges of the representative countries. It also provide a reference for decision-making on the sustainable development of the countries along the Belt and Road.