Human well-being versus ecological footprint in MENA countries: A trade-off?

• Published in: Journal of environmental management 2020-06, Vol.263, p.110405-110405, Article 110405
• Main Authors: Kassouri, Yacouba, Altıntaş, Halil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ecological footprint; Human development index; Human well-being; MENA countries; Sustainable development goals; Trade-off
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110405

How to improve environmental quality and achieve human development remains major sustainability issues, particularly in the MENA region (the Middle East and North Africa). Most of the empirical literature fails to consider human well-being and environmental quality together although these concepts are fundamentally similar in their concern for distributive justice. This inquiry uses panel data for 13 MENA countries over the period 1990–2016 to examine the association between human development and ecological footprint and test whether trade-off nexus holds between these two sustainability-based indicators. To increase the policy relevance of this inquiry, the MENA region is divided into two sub-groups of countries: seven oil exporting countries and six non-oil exporting countries. The highlights pointed out the presence of a strong trade-off between the ecological footprint and human well-being captured by human development index for the whole sample and across the two subsamples. The crucial role played by economic institutions may help the MENA countries to mitigate the trade-offs to achieve simultaneously both targets of human well-being and environmental protection. Our empirical insights have important implications for achieving human development sustainability through the pursuit of the individual SDG targets. •This study aims to examine the trade-off between human well-being and environmental concerns.•13 MENA countries divided into 7 oil exporting and 6 non-oil exporting countries were investigated.•Interactive Fixed Effects (IFE) and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) are used for estimation.•Our main findings confirm the trade-off nexus between human well-being and environmental concerns.•Economic institutions reverse the trade-off between human development and ecological footprint.