1 million people die annually in South Asia, including Bangladesh, due to air pollution: World Bank
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As many as one million people die annually in South Asia, including in Bangladesh, due to air pollution, while clean air can improve the lives of nearly one billion people across the region, according to a recent report of the World Bank.
The report said air pollution across the parts of South Asia known as the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan Foothills (IGP-HF) is causing major losses in health and productivity and remains one of the region’s most severe development challenges.
Economic losses are estimated at close to 10 per cent of regional GDP annually.
The report titled “A Breath of Change: Solutions for Cleaner Air in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan Foothills”, released Monday by the World Bank, found that a handful of actions—if taken across a range of sectors and jurisdictions—can significantly reduce pollution, improve public health, and support stronger economic growth.
Air pollution in the IGP-HF—which comprises parts of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan—comes from five key sources. These include households burning solid fuels for cooking and heating, industries burning fossil fuels and biomass inefficiently and without appropriate filter technology, motorists using inefficient internal combustion vehicles, farmers burning crop residues and inefficiently managing fertilizers and manure, and households and firms burning waste.
The report highlights solutions that can be readily adopted and scaled up, including electric cooking; electrification and modernization of industrial boilers, furnaces, and kilns; non-motorized and electric transport systems; improved crop residue and livestock waste management; and improved waste segregation, recycling and disposal.
The report groups clean-air solutions into three mutually reinforcing core areas.
First, abatement solutions that reduce emissions at their source in cooking, industry, transport, agriculture, and waste management. Second, protection measures that strengthen health and education systems, so children and vulnerable communities are safeguarded during the transition to clean air.
Third, strong institutions supported by regulatory frameworks, market-based instruments, and regional coordination that sustain multi-sector and multi-jurisdictional progress over time, said the report.
“This report shows that solutions are within reach and offers a practical roadmap for policy and decision makers to implement coordinated, feasible, and evidence-based solutions at scale. There are strong financial and economic rationales for South Asian enterprises, households, and farmers to adopt cleaner technologies and practices, and for governments to support them,” said Martin Heger, Senior Environmental Economist at the World Bank, in a media statement.
“Achieving cleaner air will require continued collaboration, sustained financing, and strong implementation at local, national and regional levels. By acting together, governments can follow this pathway to cut pollution, save millions of lives, and deliver cleaner air for all,” said Ann Jeannette Glauber, World Bank Practice Manager for Environment, South Asia.