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The impact of sustainability awareness and moral values on environmental laws

  • Rita Yi Man Li
    ,
  • Yi Lut Li
    ,
  • M. James C. Crabbe
    ,
  • Otilia Manta
    ,
  • Muhammad Shoaib
  • Hong Kong Shue Yan University
    ,
  • Hastings & Co.
    ,
  • University of Oxford
    ,
  • Shanxi University
    ,
  • Romanian-American University
    ,
  • Polytechnic University of Milan
Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

We argue that environmental legislation and regulation of more developed countries reflects significantly their moral values, but in less developed countries it differs significantly from their moral values. We examined this topic by using the keywords “sustainability” and “sustainable development”, studying web pages and articles published between 1974 to 2018 in Web of Science, Scopus and Google. Australia, Zimbabwe, and Uganda were ranked as the top three countries in the number of Google searches for sustainability. The top five cities that appeared in sustainability searches through Google are all from Africa. In terms of academic publications, China, India, and Brazil record among the largest numbers of sustainability and sustainable development articles in Scopus. Six out of the ten top productive institutions publishing sustainable development articles indexed in Scopus were located in developing countries, indicating that developing countries are well aware of the issues surrounding sustainable development. Our results show that when environmental law reflects moral values for betterment, legal adoption is more likely to be successful, which usually happens in well developed regions. In less-developed states, environmental law differs significantly from moral values, such that changes in moral values are necessary for successful legal implementation. Our study has important implications for the development of policies and cultures, together with the enforcement of environmental laws and regulations in all countries.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Article number

5882

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 5882-(5907)

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Sustainability (Switzerland) (Volume 13, Issue 11)

Publication milestones

  • Accepted/In press - 18/05/2021
  • Published - 24/05/2021

Publication status

Published - 24/05/2021

ISSN

2071-1050

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/624990
  • Scopus: 85108090251

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