Assessing the Role of Food Security and Governance on Environmental Sustainability in Malaysia

This study examines how food security, governance, and environmental sustainability interact in Malaysia using annual data from 1990 to 2023 and an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model that accommodates mixed integration orders. The contribution lies in explicitly incorporating governance indicators into the food security and environment nexus. Results show a short-run trade-off, improvements in food security are associated with higher CO 2 emissions, implying a temporary erosion of environmental quality. Over the long run, the effect becomes neutral, consistent with technological upgrading that helps decouple production from emissions. Governance is decisive across horizons; stronger rule of law and greater political stability significantly reduce emissions and enhance sustainability in both the short and long term. By contrast, faster economic growth and deeper trade openness are linked to environmental deterioration, while population growth is associated with gains in sustainability, plausibly through innovation and more advanced agricultural practices. Policy priorities follow accelerate the diffusion of low-carbon, resource-efficient agri-food technologies to raise yields without raising emissions (advancing SDG 2); strengthen governance, especially regulatory quality and government effectiveness to enable credible climate action (advancing SDG 13); and integrate food security and environmental goals within a governance-led framework. The findings offer actionable evidence for aligning Malaysia’s food security strategies with robust governance to balance development with long-term environmental stewardship.