Applying the Korean EIP program for sustainability and natural resource management: Industrial synergies under CPEC

Industrial development plays an important role in economic growth but also results in resource depletion, environmental emissions and increased pressure on industries to respond to climate change. To address these challenges from a systems perspective, the concept of Eco-Industrial Parks (EIP) and Industrial Symbiosis (IS) has been applied at several industrial complexes around the world producing significant economic, environmental and social benefits. The EIP development uses IS as a driving force which tends to optimize resource flows by considering waste from one company as a raw material for another within the boundaries of an EIP. The experience of South Korea, a highly industrialized country and having more than 1,000 industrial complexes (72% share in the national economic output), provides an exemplary case for most developing countries including Pakistan. With a goal restructuring traditional industrial infrastructure, Korean government initiated a 15-year, 3-phase national EIP program in 2005 which focused on synergistic opportunities among co-located firms rather than the traditional end- of-the-pipe approaches (usually considered inefficient both economically and environmentally). The Korean EIP program was institutionalized under regional EIP centers at five demonstration sites which played an important role in bringing together all stakeholders including businessmen, government officials and researchers. Pakistan’s industrial base (24% of GDP), has been facing several challenges including technological inefficiencies and higher environmental pollution. Eco-industrial development becomes more important for Pakistan considering the recent development of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with an estimated investment above 40 billion US$ which is intended to modernize local infrastructure and economy along with the creation of special economic zones consisting of manufacturing and processing industries. Therefore, the successful symbiotic exchanges under the Korean EIP model can be thus applied in Pakistan for modernizing local industry by transforming them into EIPs that are economically beneficial, environmentally cleaner and technologically efficient.Industrial development plays an important role in economic growth but also results in resource depletion, environmental emissions and increased pressure on industries to respond to climate change. To address these challenges from a systems perspective, the concept of Eco-Industrial Parks (EIP) and Industrial Symbiosis (IS) has been applied at several industrial complexes around the world producing significant economic, environmental and social benefits. The EIP development uses IS as a driving force which tends to optimize resource flows by considering waste from one company as a raw material for another within the boundaries of an EIP. The experience of South Korea, a highly industrialized country and having more than 1,000 industrial complexes (72% share in the national economic output), provides an exemplary case for most developing countries including Pakistan. With a goal restructuring traditional industrial infrastructure, Korean government initiated a 15-year, 3-phase national EIP program in 2005 w...