A HARBINGER OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: REFLECTIONS OF PRACTITIONERS ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CPEC ON GILGIT BALTISTAN

Abstract

Gilgit-Baltistan, an environmentally disaster-prone region embarked upon a 21-century mega development project through the CPEC initiative. CPEC is considered to be a harbinger of socio-economic development for Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, and beyond. The CPEC route is passing through an extraordinary landscape and immensely rich natural resources region of Gilgit Baltistan that provides the land bridge between the host countries of the corridor. The mega-project of CPEC was initiated in 2013 with a worth of 62 billion USD, one of the Chinese largest overseas investments to date. It is considered the game changer and fate changer of the region but to the larger extent of its benefits, it has also some negative impacts as well among which are its environmental hazards which could destroy the God-gifted nature of Gilgit-Baltistan. Therefore, this research is to be conducted to probe the short-term and long-term measurements that could be a handful to protect its adverse effects.