Uncovering the rural-urban gap in determinants of infant mortality in Punjab-Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this research is to observe the various socio-economic, demographic, health-seeking, and environmental factors influencing infant mortality and the rural-urban division in Punjab, Pakistan. METHODS: The study used the data of 38,405 households from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey that was conducted by the Bureau of Statistics Punjab during 2017-18. This survey assessed 125 indicators i.e., health, education, etc. created by UNICEF to assess the well-being of mothers and children in Punjab, Pakistan. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The mother, the child, and the family are the three main risk factors for infant death, according to our research in Pakistan. The socioeconomic position of the household, social practices, environment, and usage of medical services are the key factors that help in reducing infant death. Women's education, birth spacing, and household economic position all played a significant role in the decline in infant mortality. The health of infants born in rural Punjab is at risk due to a large rural-urban gap in the determinants of infant mortality. Uncovering and addressing this disparity has become a pressing health priority in Pakistan.

Food, Energy, and Water Nexus at Household Level: Do Sustainable Household Consumption Practices Promote Cleaner Environment?

Governments around the globe are trying to find sustainable solutions for lessening pressure on natural resources and reducing carbon emissions. Daily household consumption of food, energy, and water has an impact on stocks of natural resources, environmental quality, and climate change. Households have significant potential for increasing conservation actions for efficient use of natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions. Households could contribute to a clean and healthy environment by adopting sustainable household practices through lower per capita consumption and carbon emissions. This study explored the role of different sustainable household consumption practices in promoting a clean environment as well as the factors affecting the adoption of these practices in Pakistan. Factor analysis and an ordered probit model were used to analyze the data from 1424 participants chosen through a multistage random sampling technique. The factor analysis identified 35 sustainable household practices for sustainable consumption. These 35 practices were grouped into the underlying factors of "Food" (14 items), "Energy" (12 items), and "Water" (9 items). The results from the econometric model showed a significant relationship between gender, education, residential area, family size, and income and the adoption of sustainable household consumption practices. Statistically, higher levels of reported sustainable consumption practices were apparent among females, households living in urban areas, more educated people, individuals of large family sizes, and more affluent households. Therefore, public policies for taking care of the environment need to put households at the center while at the same time promoting mass uptake of sustainable consumption practices related to food, energy, and water. In addition, the sector-specific policies also need to be augmented through focus on household-level consumption and production dynamics for achieving the UN's SDGs.

Examining the impacts of future land use/land cover changes on climate in Punjab province, Pakistan: implications for environmental sustainability and economic growth.

Land use and land cover changes (LULCC) significantly affect the climate at regional and global levels through different biogeophysical and biogeochemical processes. However, the effects of biogeophysical aspects of LULCC on climate have been often ignored, which may overestimate the biogeochemical effects on climate change. Thus, understanding the biogeophysical influence of land use changes on climate change in future potential scenarios is crucial. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the mechanism and land use change impacts on future climate under different scenarios through changes in underlying surface and surface energy balance. In order to fill this research gap, three simulations are performed by Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) model for the year 2010-2030 under Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, Rapid Economic Growth (REG) scenario, and Coordinated Environmental Sustainability (CES) scenario to evaluate the influence of future LULCC on temperature projections for the Punjab province in Pakistan. Results show that land use conversions under three scenarios induce overall climate cooling in the region. The decrease in annual average temperature in CES scenario (- 0.02 °C) is slightly greater than that in BAU and REG scenarios (- 0.01 °C). The responses of temperature to future LULCC vary in different months in all scenarios, with greater responses in warmer months, causing climate cooling. In each scenario, the response of temperature is found to be sensitive to different land transitions. The findings of the study can be a reference for policy makers, researchers, and development practitioners in their pursuit to understand the effects of land use change on climate.