Bank Says Environmental Abuse in Asia Must End

Bank Says Environmental Abuse in Asia Must End
MANILA (Reuters) - Environmental degradation in Asia and the Pacific is pervasive, accelerating and unabated and policy makers have to respond to the problem now, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday.

Among 41 cities ranked by particulate pollution in the atmosphere, 13 of the worst 15 are in Asia, the ADB said in its Asian Environment Outlook 2001 report.

One in three Asians has no access to safe drinking water close to home. In Asian rivers, the levels of human waste are three times the world average and 50 times higher than the World Health Organisation's recommended maximum.

The Manila-based multilateral lending institution said there was a worrying nexus between development and harm to the environment.

``Economic changes such as large increases in population, agricultural output, industrial production and capital, and advances in science and technology have transformed the region's natural resource base, both as a source of material inputs and as a sink for pollution,'' the report said.

``Declining environmental quality and continued dependence on natural resources are constraining the economic growth that is needed to reduce poverty in the region over the next 20 years,'' it said.

Asia is home to two-thirds of the world's poor. About 900 million people in the region live on less than $1 a day.

The ADB said the region has already lost up to 90% of its original wildlife habitat to agriculture, infrastructure and deforestation.

More than 350 million hectares (865 million acres) of land in China, India and Pakistan have been degraded. It also said that the Philippines has lost 70% of its mangrove forests while Vietnam has lost 50%.

Ely Anthony Ouano, senior environment specialist at the bank, said at the launching of the report Asia's rising population and urbanisation will make existing environmental problems worse over the next 15 years.

Asia's population is expected to grow by 700 million over the next 15 years, with more than 50% living in cities by 2020, he said.

Ouano said that urban population will triple to over a billion in 2020 from 360 million in 1990.

The ADB said a new approach, including integrating environmental concerns with economic development to reduce poverty, should be pursued.

``Abundant opportunities exist to redirect underlying driving forces to change, create new and effective institutions, establish markets for ecosystem services where none exist today, and integrate environmental policies into mainstream economic planning and management,'' it said.

``In this context, an abiding political will is essential to translate rhetoric into action,'' the report said.

``Political will, policy integration and development by design will become meaningless slogans unless all stakeholders act in concert to ensure long-term sustainable development in the region,'' it added.



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Được sửa chữa bởi - despi on 22/12/2001 07:30