The hybrid workplace is a concept on the lips of every industry trend in the world today. With digitalization becoming more normalized across every sphere in the global village. Every workplace needs to maximize and transcend obstacles and innovations to ease into the hybrid workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic brought a wave for an increased need for a hybrid workplace. Although some countries have relaxed the lockdown in their states, businesses are taking their time to set up a more formidable work arrangement. Many are already operating the hybrid system while others are running fully remote. The pandemic has taught the work a lesson of preparation and planning. Beyond that is also the lesson of flexibility and adaptability in the workplace. In prioritizing the future of work, there is the need to embrace the hybrid workplace model. Indeed, the future of work would likely be the hybrid workplace model.

COVID-19 struck the world, and nothing has remained the same. The various industries of the world can attest to how much effect the abrupt disruption amounted to their various sectors and how much it affected them in terms of revenue generation, human resources, and flow of operation. Although some were eventually able to gain their footing by being able to leverage technological solutions, tourism felt the brunt of the pandemic as the operations were brought to a sudden halt, and the tourism sector found it very challenging to cope. Many were let off their jobs, and what used to be a great source of revenue generation for several economies suffered a great loss. The pandemic without any doubt served as a wakeup call to the reality of the not-so-effective state of the tourism sector. Technology brought about the solutions with which other industries withstood the ravaging challenges of the pandemic. The digital world is the new normal for the world, and for the tourism industry to grow, it must find the best way to leverage technological solutions.

The United Nations SDGs Report 2020 revealed that climatic variability victimized masses across the globe in 2018 and the global average temperature would rise to 3.2°C during this century. The GHG emission reduction targets for 2030 were prioritized under the Paris Climate Agreement (PCA) of 2015 to keep the rise in global temperature below 1.5°C. Here, parallel action for climate adaptation is on top of it. However, targets for both adaptation and mitigation are lagging. Climatic variations will continue more likely with similar trends thus influencing the development needs vis-à-vis environmental security and sustainability of resources. It entails climate compatibility, particularly for the water security agenda for SDG-13 and Paris Climate Agreement (PCA), which requires an inclusive governance regime and ownership for national and sub-national scenarios. In this context, this paper aimed to assess existing water sector governance for climate compatible development (CCD) by taking the case of Pakistan which is among the top 10 countries vulnerable to climate change. Considering the limitations of available methodologies due to the involvement of various aspects and concepts of governance, an integrated multivariate mix-method model was formulated by combining rules and rights-oriented approaches. This MCDA-based model integrates six novel climate governance principles against six basic components of the basic institutional governance framework; Simple Multi-attribute Rating Technique (SMART) with a set of sectoral indicators of 09 criteria of climate compatible development (CCD). It proved well for this water sector case study with cross-sectional data from 340 key informant interviews (KIIs) and 17 focus group discussions (FGDs) in Pakistan, validated statistically. It can be used for periodic sectoral governance assessments for CCD.

Land is one of the most vital nonrenewable resources that guarantee the survival and development of humans on planet Earth. In the 21st century, rapid population growth accompanied by expeditious industrialization and urbanization has led to land degradation and irreparable damage. In Pakistan, land degradation has affected the livelihood of 3.58% of the total population. This study aimed to identify the soil erosion-based land that is degraded in Pakistan through an analytical hierarchal process (AHP). For this purpose, climatic parameters such as vis-a-vis precipitation, temperature, land use/land cover, soil parameters (i.e., soil pH, soil texture, soil bulk density, and soil moisture content), and topographic parameters (i.e., slope, elevation, aspect, and drainage density) were taken into the consideration. Weights and scores were assigned in integration with a weighted overlay analysis (WOA) to the prioritized parameters. The findings revealed that Zone A comprising high mountains is severely affected by land degradation, followed by Zone D and E (Sindh and Balochistan). Key factors operating in Zone D and E are hyper-arid climatic conditions along with inefficient land management practices. The overall results validated the hypothesis that soil erosion strongly correlates with an increase in the magnitude and severity of land degradation.

Sustainable maritime development needs coherent governance, particularly for the shipping sector, to ensure a stable maritime economy. However, maritime governance in Pakistan is considered inadequate and incoherent and thus poses a serious challenge to sustainability. The National Maritime Policy (NMP) was launched two decades ago, in 2002, to provide an overarching governance framework for long-term benefits, but it is now outdated. This study aimed at analyzing the extent to which the NMP of 2002 is coherent with provincial, national, and international obligations and addresses emerging requirements for the development of a sustainable shipping sector in Pakistan. An analytical framework based on three (03) guiding principles, seven (07) criteria, and twenty-eight (28) indicators was employed using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Coherence across twenty-one (21) governing instruments was analyzed, scored (0–5), and rated on a ratio scale to represent the coherence index for each indicator. Thus, a matrix representing the coherence index score for each indicator individually and in pairwise comparison with the NMP was developed. An overall coherence index was calculated as 2.1, which shows poor coherence across governing instruments. This indicates that the NMP 2002 is unable to address emerging governance needs for sustainability issues such as climate response, pollution control, ballast water management, ecosystem conservation, social well-being, stakeholder engagement, and economic diversification, thus requiring revision to meet the challenges created by incoherent governing instruments at all levels and among segments of the maritime economy.

The external influence due to the severe repercussions of unprecedented and un-attended pollution has put vulnerable marine ecosystems at high risk of irreversible damage. This business-as-usual scenario could render them unfit to offer sustenance along with innumerable ecosystem services. Since the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment 1972, there have been global efforts to raise awareness, build capacity, and govern the pollution issue for a sustainable solution. However, there is a growing concern about the adequacy of the desired level of mobilization and readiness so far achieved at the level of various stakeholders to respond to the issue of maritime pollution. In this context, the present study was aimed at assessing the relationship between knowledge, perception, and attitude of the stakeholders regarding their engagement towards maritime pollution at sea, beach, and coastal environments, by incorporating multi-criteria quantitative analysis method for a case study of Karachi area in Pakistan. The structured questionnaire incorporates Knowledge, Perception, and Attitude as three key variables for three principles; four standardized criteria each, with eighteen indicators transformed into queries by applying MCDA’s Simple Multi Attribute Rating (SMART) technique for scoring to quantify the feedback of 304 respondents through a ratio scale having nominal qualifiable classes. The analysis has offered insight into the ways the stakeholders are perpetrating pollution and how their respective actions are important in the abatement of marine pollution. One-tailed Pearson Correlation analysis reveals insignificant relationship between the variables, indicating that the level of understanding of the stakeholders has not developed opinions to an extent that would enable an appropriate behavioral approach toward the abatement of the pollution. It suggests inducing awareness, mobilization, and reforms to encourage collective action by all actors.