07/07/2016
Pollution is scourge that has not yet received enough focus, which kills slowly, silently, but massively, and takes far more human lives than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV combined. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Contaminated air, water and soil were responsible for 8.9 million deaths in 2012. That’s more than one in seven deaths worldwide, a greater number than is due to smoking, war or malnutrition. Pollution has been steadily growing, as has its health impact, so that it is now the leading cause of death. And, of course, it also damages economies, slowing down development in countries that sorely need to grow.
 |
|
Mr. Richard Fuller CEO of Pure Earth/Blacksmith Institute, New York |
“Tackling the health effects of pollution should be a core focus of development.”
Pollution comes in many forms, including particulates in smoke from wood-burning cookstoves, contaminated water from mining effluent, sewage in poor slums and belching smokestacks from poorly run industry. It rarely kills directly, but it causes a range of diseases, from cancer to asthma, and wreaks gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, immunological and neurological damage. One in seven deaths occur every year because of the damage we inflict on our environment. But they are preventable.
This is first and foremost a development issue: 94% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and most of the 6% that take place in high-income countries are in the poorer Eastern European Member States of the European Union (EU). Wealthy nations have generally managed pollution well in the last few decades. They have safe drinking water, clean air for the most part and good sewerage systems-especially compared to poorer countries, many of which have been industrializing with few or inadequate pollution controls. The results can be seen in pictures of Beijing (China) and Delhi (India) shrouded in toxic particles, in rivers filled with chemicals, garbage and sewage, and in poisoned fish and contaminated food around the globe.
It is possible to have clean and green economies: richer countries are already on such a trajectory. It is also possible to clean up the messes that have already been made. We could solve this issue in our lifetimes, saving millions of lives each year, and ensuring that children achieve their full potential. Part of the reason we have not done this so far is that we have abdicated responsibility for pollution to sectors other than health. Many think it should instead be considered as a focus of transportation, energy or climate change. Health systems focus on health service, such as treating diseases, and prevention rarely features in national strategies. Meanwhile, pollution has been fragmented into a list of innocent-sounding categories that fail to communicate the severity of the problem; the death and disease.
At first glance, tackling pollution appears overwhelmingly complex, but solutions are quite doable, and most are very cost effective. Communities blighted by chemicals from weapons manufacturing have also been made safe again. There have been successful efforts by many actors to bring clean water to cities and villages across the globe. Policies to control air emissions have worked in the richer countries, and should be replicable in the developing world. In general, it is not large international companies that cause the majority of these problems. Most of the pollution is created locally, by small-scale artisans or smaller domestic companies, or result from abandoned toxic sites.
Important things can be done on a strategic international level to make progress in managing pollution and improving health. While affected countries need to do the majority of the work, local capacities are usually inadequate. Donors can help with technical assistance and projects that build real on-the-ground capacity through learning by doing. The Global Alliance on Health and Pollution brings together agencies around the world to provide help to willing countries, and its efforts should be expanded and supported. Pollution must also be a focus of the Sustainable Development Goals. An International Commission on Pollution and Health (along the lines of the Stern Report on Climate Change) should define the economic and health costs, and bring attention to the problem.
Therefore, we need to evolve the way we think about pollution, seeing it as an interdisciplinary issue impacting health, the environment and economic growth, and thus a core focus in development assistance on to biodiversity or climate change. The global community has a chance to do something that is practical, doable and solvable. This is a problem with well-known and proven solutions, where we can really make a difference.
Hồng Nhung
(UNEP source)
