The success of the Belt and Road Initiative would be good for the peace and prosperity of many regions. The initiative is a transcontinental project aiming to promote connectivity, trade and exchanges among a great variety of peoples, places and systems. It has the potential to break the infrastructure bottlenecks and to multiply business opportunities in many places, especially in the landlocked and remote territories.

Among the Western European countries so far only Switzerland, Greece and Italy have shown an interest in the Belt and Road Initiative. Cooperation from European governments and from the intergovernmental European Union would ensure the initiative's success. So far, the vast majority of Europe's institutions and communities seem skeptical about the Belt and Road Initiative, skepticism not just because of geopolitics or ideology or doubts about China's technical and financial capabilities, but skepticism stemming from concerns about the ecological and sociocultural side-effects of large-scale development efforts - the initiative's sustainability.

The Belt and Road Initiative needs to be designed, implemented and narrated in a way that fits well with the emerging global cultural paradigm of sustainability. The initiative's sustainability credentials are missing, and must urgently be acquired, which can be done through the active support of an anthropology-led interdisciplinary panel.

The Belt and Road Initiative's sustainability strategy should begin with those places where humanity and nature are integrated, that is the remote and marginal but historically inhabited human settlements in the spectacular vastness and wilderness, in the extreme lands, where a great variety of wildlife and a multitude of native ethno-cultural realities coexist.

The trajectory of the Belt and Road Initiative includes almost all the extreme lands of Eurasia such as the mountains, high and rugged plateaus, deserts, steppes and taiga. The native populations preside over harsh terrains where physical conditions are adverse, needs are uncommon, a sense of isolation haunts the residents, whose demands and accountability are pretty weak, and where market forces do not function well.

Change in weather patterns is causing additional difficulties for local livelihoods in these areas. Urban-centered development has been pulling away the native youths, devitalizing their communities. With the improvement in transportation the outbound migration from marginal human habitats is likely to accelerate. The inhabitants in these remote and marginal lands are increasingly vulnerable. Where they are not properly supported, they tend to move away causing problems in land-care and in the protection of local resources, arts, crafts and traditional know-how. The exodus of local people and their assimilation into urban centers means the absence of ecological sentinels in the remote areas as well as the irreversible loss of ethno-diversity and cultural heritages. More migration away from the remote areas means more downstream pressure, more urban problems.

The great challenge is how to ensure ecologically sound, culturally sensitive and economically viable development to raise the living and working conditions of marginal communities in remote areas involved in large-scale development projects. The marginal human habitats represent the critical test-fields for sustainable development in the 21st century.

The ultimate success of the Belt and Road Initiative depends upon the strategy of sustainability. The negative externalities must be minimized; tensions with native populations must be prevented, and local participation in the projects must be assured. Training and credit facilities to help native entrepreneurs, market access for their products/services and fair trade may help. But may not be sufficient. Marginal communities need additional care and support in order to protect their local environments and landscapes and their unique identities. Protection and promotion of the uniqueness of marginal human habitats may create distinct "place-brands", that could be attractive for tourism and trade.

Belt and Road Initiative projects must therefore be attentive to the uniqueness of marginal human contexts and become the champions of sustainability. For the Belt and Road Initiative, a sustainability strategy should put constant focus on four dimensions: the economic and financial viability of projects; security and public welfare in the project areas; preservation of the project area's cultural identity, environmental resources, and the aesthetic integrity of local landscapes and native structures; as well as the moral legitimacy of the development actors (institutions, corporations) through stringent anti-corruption measures, behavioral standards and transparency.

This sustainability-centered strategy can be crafted by an anthropology-led interdisciplinary team, a sustainability commission. If the commission is international and intercultural in its character (experts from China as well as from outside), then it is likely to confer global credibility and to produce useful inputs for project management.

The Belt and Road Initiative is about connecting diverse peoples, institutions, economic systems, social structures and cultural traditions. Scientific understanding of local human and environmental realities and constant monitoring of the sociocultural dynamics of the places in the Belt and Road Initiative's trajectory are practical necessities, not intellectual exercises. Anthropologists may help in understanding better the operational contexts in order to avoid cultural blunders and to manage better the environmental and social risks. It can also help to prevent the controversies regarding environmental questions, ethnicity/indigenous issues, human rights and so on.

There is a pressing need for a positive public opinion about the Belt and Road Initiative. The marginal human habitats in the initiative's trajectory provide unique opportunities to design and implement an effective sustainability-centered Belt and Road Initiative strategy. Formulation of a sustainability strategy is possible only by bridging the gap between the economic-financial and technical analysis based on the "hard data" of numbers and the sociocultural analysis based on "soft data" such as historical and ethnographic notes, social reports and local narratives. Anthropology is best suited to bridge the knowledge gap between the soft and hard data; because it combines information derived from multiple sources in order to produce a comprehensive insight into the human realities. The Belt and Road Initiative needs constant strategic support from anthropologists - before, during and after the investment.

The author is professor of the School of Economics and Management at Università Carlo Cattaneo (LIUC), Italy. 

The author contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.

All rights reserved. Copying or sharing of any content for other than personal use is prohibited without prior written permission.