[sustran] Re: What's new at CSE, India

[Wendell Cox]

Re the excerpt below, I have been trying to obtain this UN list of 20 most
polluted cities, but have unsuccessful. Do you have a source or a web
reference that I could consult? Thank you.
Wendell Cox

>>>snip>>>>
>
> >Most people tend to think that Delhi is one of the most polluted
> >cities in the world. The high levels of deadly particles in
> >Delhi's air probably make it the worst in the world. Mexico City
> >looks like a kitten in front of Delhi. All this is relatively
> >well known because the World Health Organization monitors air
> >pollution in some 20 metropolises of the world and Delhi indeed
> >comes out pretty bad in this sample of cities. The Indian media
> >has also publicised this fact.



----- Original Message -----
From: SUSTRAN Resource Centre <sustran at po.jaring.my>
To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2000 9:11 PM
Subject: [sustran] What's new at CSE, India


> Several new transport-related items at the CSE web site.
>
> >From: "webadmin" <webadmin at cseindia.org>
> >Organization: Center For Science and Environment
> >To: <CSE-LIST at cse.org>
> >Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2000 16:28:30 +0530
> >Subject: What's new at CSE, India
> ...
> >
> >What's new at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New
> >Delhi, India
> >
> >Among the glitzy cars and short skirts that are the usual
> >attractions of the annual auto expo held in New Delhi, CSE's
> >exhibition on air pollution stood out as a grim reminder that
> >there is a hidden price behind the expanding automobile sector.
> >An indication comes from the statistic that every time the GDP
> >in India doubles, air pollution rises by 8 times. CSE's press
> >release is at
> >
> >http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/au/au4_20000113.htm
> >-------------------------------------------------
> ...
> >
> >Dirty rich city
> >
> >It will take $3.8 billion to clear the thick haze of dirty
> >particles in the Hong Kong air. Check it out at
> >
> >http://www.oneworld.org/cse/html/dte/dte2000115/dte_srep1.htm
> >-------------------------------------------------
> ...
> >
> >A message from the Director, Anil Agarwal:
> >
> >
> >Conspiracy to kill
> >
> >
> >THE total lack of interest and foresight that the Atal Bihari
> >Vajpayee government is showing while dealing with the country's
> >growing pollution is downright appalling, to say the least. An
> >excellent indicator of this came recently when the government
> >reconstituted the council on trade and industry to set up eight
> >working groups ranging from good governance to education and
> >health with the full participation of India's industrial
> >leaders. But there was not one group that dealt with industrial
> >growth and environmental pollution, almost as if this issue does
> >not figure on the Vajpayee government's political agenda.
> >
> >All over the world, experience has shown pollution rises
> >extremely rapidly with industrial growth. A study carried out by
> >the World Bank showed that when the Thai economy doubled during
> >the 1980s, the total quantity of poisonous pollutants released
> >went up ten times. The Centre for Science and Environment found
> >that during the period 1975-1995 during which the Indian economy
> >grew by about 2.5 times, the total quantity of pollutants
> >increased by eight times. Not surprisingly, almost every Indian
> >town and city is choking because of vehicular pollution today.
> >
> >Most people tend to think that Delhi is one of the most polluted
> >cities in the world. The high levels of deadly particles in
> >Delhi's air probably make it the worst in the world. Mexico City
> >looks like a kitten in front of Delhi. All this is relatively
> >well known because the World Health Organization monitors air
> >pollution in some 20 metropolises of the world and Delhi indeed
> >comes out pretty bad in this sample of cities. The Indian media
> >has also publicised this fact.
> >
> >But what is not well known is that when Delhi's air pollution is
> >compared with the air pollution in other Indian cities, this
> >capitally polluted city appears quite clean. The Central
> >Pollution Control Board has just released data on air pollution
> >levels recorded in 90 cities in 1997. This data shows that
> >Shillong is the only town that has clean air round the year. The
> >Prime Minister's own constituency, Lucknow, suffers from
> >pollution that is worse than Delhi.
> >
> >Should all this be surprising? Not at all. Within just 15 years
> >of what economists call the post-Second World War economic boom
> >(1945-1960), a period during which the Western world created
> >unprecedented material wealth, literally every Western city from
> >Tokyo to London and Los Angeles began to gasp for clean air and
> >every Western river from the Rhine to the Thames had become a
> >sewer, much like our Yamuna. And Japan was reeling under unknown
> >and crippling neurological disorders like the frightening
> >Minamata disease. The same is happening in India today and, in
> >fact, all across Asia.
> >
> >The growing pollution in the West led to a powerful
> >environmental movement that then forced Western politicians to
> >take the matter seriously. They did two things. During the 1970s
> >and 1980s, these countries poured in enormous sums of money to
> >control pollution. According to one estimate, nearly 25 per cent
> >of the industrial investment in Japan in the post-70s period
> >went towards pollution control. And the governments strictly
> >enforced their pollution control laws. As a result, the air and
> >water had become a lot cleaner by the late 1980s and early
> >1990s, that is, in a period of about 20 years or one generation.
> >The battle is, however, still not won. The West still has to
> >find ways to deal with carbon dioxide pollution of the
> >atmosphere, disposal of hazardous industrial waste (which often
> >gets shipped to developing countries), growing groundwater
> >pollution and disruption of the nitrogen cycle because of
> >largescale use of fertilisers and manure, among a number of
> >other vexing problems.
> >
> >The question that we need to ask ourselves is whether we will be
> >able to see a turnaround in India in the next 20 years? It is
> >extremely doubtful that this will be the case. India's economy
> >is just beginning to grow. Industrial development, agricultural
> >modernisation and urbanisation - all of which pump poison into
> >the environment - are still at a nascent stage. We still have a
> >long way to go. Therefore, we can see enormous quantities of
> >poisons being produced in the decades to come. And on top of all
> >this, at the turn of the century, India does not have the
> >wherewithal to emulate the West of the 1970s. Firstly, India's
> >current per capita income is still not even a fraction of
> >Western per capita incomes of the 1970s. As a result, India will
> >remain heavily constrained in investing in high quality,
> >environmentally-sound technology. India will continue to use low
> >quality, highly-polluting technologies for a long time.
> >
> >Secondly, India's regulatory system is highly corrupt and
> >incompetent in dealing with the new challenges arising out of
> >pollution. And, finally, there is as yet no powerful popular
> >movement against pollution, which can translate into votes and
> >put the fear of God into our politicians.
> >
> >What we, therefore, see is absolute mayhem in the years to come.
> >What took the West one generation to control could take our
> >already heavily polluted India as much as two to three
> >generations to control, in other words, some 40-50 years.
> >
> >What does all this mean for the Indian economy and Indian
> >industrialists? The answer is 'Simply nothing'. Pollution will
> >hardly have any effect on Indian industry and the Indian
> >economy. They will continue to grow. But what will this mean for
> >Indians - the country's common people who can least afford to
> >deal with diseases like cancer, neurological disorders and so on
> >when they still find it difficult to deal with malaria and
> >diarrhoea? For them, it will mean a lot - in terms of an
> >appalling quality of life and premature death. Already some one
> >million people die every year because of polluted water and some
> >hundred thousand due to air pollution.
> >
> >In other words, more than one million a year die unnecessarily
> >because the government cannot ensure clean air and water. And in
> >the years to come this number will rise further, unless strong
> >steps are taken to start controlling pollution right away. If
> >the turnaround takes two to three generations instead of one, we
> >are talking of more than 50 million fatalities at the least
> >because of the government's incompetence and political apathy.
> >
> >In a nation where the population has already reached one billion
> >and is still growing, one can even be cynical and say that 50
> >million deaths is hardly a big price to pay for economic
> >development. The Vajpayee government appears to be giving us
> >precisely this message with its inability to factor in
> >environmental concerns into its industrial development policy.
> >
> >Yet all this mayhem can be prevented but only if the government
> >develops some foresight on the issue and sets up an effective
> >regulatory framework which gives industry the right incentives
> >and signals to be environment-friendly. The work done by the
> >Centre for Science and Environment, under its Right to Clean Air
> >Campaign, has repeatedly shown that India's industrial leaders
> >do not recognise that pollution is a serious problem. They also
> >definitely do not want to take any proactive steps to control it
> >in the absence of an effective regulatory framework. Industry's
> >argument is that in a competitive environment no company will
> >invest in more expensive environment-friendly technologies and
> >competition will inevitably force it to the lowest common
> >denominator unless government rules and regulations prevent that
> >from happening.
> >
> >A fine example of this kind of behaviour by industry was brought
> >to the knowledge of the public when industry rushed in head over
> >heels to meet EURO I vehicular pollution standards (imposed in
> >Europe in 1992). All this was a result of the April 1999 Supreme
> >Court order that made it mandatory to impose these standards in
> >less than three months and EURO II standards in less than a
> >year. Till then, all companies, Indian and foreign, from Maruti
> >to Mercedes, had been merrily selling outdated technology
> >because government regulations in India imposed EURO I standards
> >from 2000 and EURO II standards from 2005. Even a joint sector
> >company like Maruti was found way behind the times although it
> >was exporting EURO II cars to Europe to meet standards imposed
> >there.
> >
> >Now in 2000, Indian companies like Maruti and foreign companies
> >like Toyota and Ford will be selling EURO III compliant vehicles
> >in Europe. But none of them will care to introduce these in
> >India because they are not expected to do so under government
> >regulations. Thus, Europe will get squeaky clean technology even
> >though its skies are clean and India will continue to get
> >outdated technology even though its skies are a deadly grey.
> >
> >All this can begin to change rapidly. Just like changes brought
> >about by the Supreme Court order, but only if the government
> >decides that this is a task that it wants to undertake. If not,
> >we should be prepared for a living hell. Our current crop of
> >politicians, given their age, will disappear in the next 10 to
> >20 years, but they will leave behind an absolutely unliveable
> >legacy for our children. They will find it hard to believe that
> >India had such callous 'leaders'.
> >
> >- Anil Agarwal
> >
> >
> >Visit our website at www.cseindia.org or www.oneworld.org/cse
> >and check out what's new. Our website carries our science and
> >environment fortnightly Down To Earth, a weekly Feature Service
> >of articles on environment and a daily environment news flash by
> >subject categories. We also give regular updates on all of our
> >campaigns on topics like vehicular pollution, climate change,
> >biodiversity, water resources, wildlife, forests etc. Our online
> >library of books, journals, images and videos is searchable
> >through a thesaurus of environmental keywords at
> >http://data.cseindia.org
> >
> >We are also looking for reciprocal linking to other websites in
> >this area. Let us know your website address and we would be
> >happy to link to you. Please feel free to forward this message
> >to other interested individuals.
> >
> ...
> >
> >Usha Sekhar
> >Website Unit
> >Centre for Science and Environment
> >
> >
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> > 41, TUGHLAKABAD INSTITUTIONAL AREA, NEW DELHI- 110 062
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> >                         698 3394, 698 6399
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> >
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