INTRODUCTION

Towards the end of the 20th century the economic discipline began to seriously
acknowledge the central importance of environmental sustainability to the process
of economic development . It is now widely accepted that long-term economic
growth requires not just accumulation of technology, physical capital, and labour,
but also the preservation of the natural capital base.
Whereas other factors of production may be replaced and are often substitutable,
ecosystem services provided by waterways, forests, and fertile land are an essential
and largely finite resource. Once damaged, they may become unusable for long
periods, and their repair is often an expensive and protracted process. As these
natural systems are the primary source of economic inputs such as food and clean
water, their degradation through pollution and over-use is an enduring brake on
economic development. For this reason, academics and policymakers have become
increasingly concerned with national accounting procedures that include measures
of environmental capital.
There could be no more important message for the world’s economic powerhouse,
the Asian region . The rising Asian economies are incredibly successful when
judged by their rapid growth, but less so when environmental damage is accounted
for. They are now confronted by the prospect of a dwindling supply of
environmental capital to support the growing demands of a more numerous,
wealthier, and urbanized population. Clean and ample water, arable land, and
unpolluted air are just some of the vital ecosystem services necessary to maintain
Asia’s emergence as the engine of the global economy. Yet recent economic
expansion has largely been pursued at the expense of the environment,
undermining delivery of these ecosystem services in the future.
Throughout the Asia-Pacific region, rapid economic and population growth creates
serious social consequences from environmental problems of urban excess,
deforestation, overfishing, global warming, air pollution, and limited safe
water supplies. The Asian economic crisis has aggravated this trend. Economic
policies have encouraged growth in some sectors while ignoring damage to others.
Further, little regard is given to sustainability of the exploited resources. The social
costs in terms of health, economic efficiency, and cultural dislocation are
immediate, while the long-term costs of environmental rehabilitation are humbling.
Left unbridled, environmental damage can lead to economic decline.

1. Deforestation
In East Asia, we have already lost much of our natural forestlands, while
our demand for paper, agricultural products, timber, and meat is driving
the destruction of the world’s last ancient forests in Indonesia, the
Amazon, and the Congo.
In East Asia, we have already lost much of our natural forestlands, while our
demand for paper, agricultural products, timber, and meat is driving the destruction
of the world’s last ancient forests in Indonesia, the Amazon, and the Congo.
Every two seconds, an area of forest the size of a football pitch is lost to logging or
destructive practices. Through agriculture and logging, mining and climate change,
humans are wiping out irreplaceable forests – and the life that depends on them –
at a terrifying pace.

We are losing not only our primeval forests, which regulate our climate and water
resources, but also the amazing range of species that call them home. Indigenous
peoples are pushed out as companies move in to destroy their ancient homes. It is
estimated that almost 1.6 billion people around the world rely on forests to earn a
living, and 60 million indigenous people depend on forests for survival.

China’s disappearing forests

Only 3.34% of China’s forests remain intact. The rest are threatened by plantations:
in Hainan and Yunnan, for example, indigenous trees are felled to make way for
fast-growing eucalyptus plantations, which are used to make paper pulp.

Unfortunately – though they both contain trees – plantations and ancient forests are
not the same in terms of ecology. Ancient forests are crucial to biodiversity and
provide habitats for many native species of animals and plants. They also store
millennia-worth of carbon, which is released as carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas)
when the trees are logged.

Global Deforestation

Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan also play a role in driving the destruction of
ancient forests in other parts of the world, particularly the Paradise Forests, one of
the last remaining rainforests in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

China is now the world’s second largest consumer and importer of wood products,
according to the United Nations. Because China faces not only limited forest
resources but also booming domestic demand, most of its timber for export and
domestic use has to be imported. Unfortunately, illegal logging is rampant in the
Paradise Forests of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as the Congo. With
such high rates of illegal logging and lack of awareness, it is very likely that much of
China’s imported timber comes from illegal sources.

Learn more about why illegal logging is a problem.

Industrial logging for timber and pulp and paper has devastated much of the world’s

rainforests. Whole swathes of Indonesian rainforests and peatlands have been
turned into paper pulp for toilet paper, tissues, magazines, and copy and print
paper.

The global demand for palm oil (widely used in cosmetics and as a vegetable oil in
food products), soy, and beef also drives massive rainforest destruction. China is
the world’s second largest importer of palm oil, surpassed only in 2010 by India.
Much of the Amazon has been burned to make way for cattle ranches and soya
plantations, while Indonesian rainforests are cleared for palm oil. In this way,
irreplaceable rainforests are destroyed to make toothpaste, chocolate and
animal feed.

Deforestation and Climate Change

Today, forests face another threat. Deforestation contributes to climate change –

accounting for one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions. It is Indonesia’s terrifying
rates of deforestation alone that make this developing country the world’s #3
greenhouse-gas emitter, behind China and the US. Indonesia’s peatlands store 35
billion tons of carbon – and when they are drained and burned, all of this carbon
returns to the atmosphere.

At the same time, climate change itself threatens forests on a terrifying scale.

Rising global temperatures damage and kill trees, and increase drought and forest
fires. Dying trees release still more carbon, which further increases our global
temperature. This cycle of forest collapse represents a critical feedback loop that
could drive warming for centuries, change life cycles on Earth, and usher in a
sweeping transformation of human civilisation. The surest way to stop it is to end
deforestation.

2.Overfishing in Asia
The issue of overfishing is the greatest threat to ocean ecosystems today.
Overfishing occurs when fish are netted at a more rapid rate than they can
reproduce. Some reasons that have led to overfishing are advanced fishing
technologies, increased demand for fish and illegal fishing. Overfishing can have
detrimental and long-lasting impacts on the ocean as well as society.
A report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) states that “once considered
inexhaustible, our oceans are now facing a global crisis as more and more people
compete for fewer and fewer fish.”
It is estimated that 53 percent of the world’s marine fishery resources have been
completely depleted or fished to the maximum sustainable level, while 32 percent is
currently being overfished, depleted, or recovering from depletion. The Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank have also warned that the
current rate of exploitation will result in increased pressure on seafood in the future.

In the Southeast Asian region, overfishing is definitely coming at a price too. Prior to
this, the occurrence of overfishing only led to environmental setbacks. However,
deeper dives into this issue have also shown that there is a major economic impact
on those who depend on fishing to maintain their livelihoods.
The main fishing hotspots in the region include countries embroiled in the South
China Sea dispute. The South China Sea is one of the world’s top five most
productive fishing zones, accounting for about 12 percent of global fish caught in
2015 alone.
More than half of the fishing vessels in the world operate in these waters, which
employ 3.7 million people, and likely many more engaged in illegal, unregulated,
and unreported fishing.
However, this critical marine ecosystem is being “seriously threatened by
overfishing encouraged by government subsidies, harmful fishing practices, and, in
recent years, large-scale clam harvesting and dredging for island construction,”
according to the US Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) newly-
launched working group on the South China Sea.
Causes and effects
One main reason that overfishing occurs in this region is due to illegal, unreported
and unregulated (IUU) fishing. While it’s a region-wide phenomenon, it has been
particularly highlighted in two areas. The first is the Gulf of Thailand, where the
overall catch per unit effort has plummeted by 86 percent since 1966, making those
waters among the most overfished on the planet. The second is Indonesia, which is
estimated to lose nearly US$4 billion a year to illegal fishing. The most frequent
violators are from China, Thailand and Vietnam.
Annually it costs the region billions of dollars, “accounting for more than 2.5 million
tonnes of fish a year, or as much as a third of the regional catch”, according to a
report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
With the depletion of fish and seafood populations are due to overfishing, the socio-
economic effects are obvious. According to the ‘Overfishing Around the World’
report by Cornell University, “overfishing costs over 100,000 jobs and up to US$3.2
billion each year globally.”

In Southeast Asia, over 30 million people who are involved in the fishing industry
will face a threat to their livelihoods as jobs will be limited and eventually lost if the
issue of overfishing is not addressed.
This will not only affect the fishing community but will also have a knock-on effect to
the rest of the community especially in areas where fishing is a main source of
income for the population. The importance of the industry to local and national
economies cannot be understated.

3.Limited Safe Water Supply

The latest United Nations World Water Development Report, released just ahead of
World Water Day on March 22, warns that, by 2030, only 60 percent of the world’s
demand for water will be met by existing resources at the current rate of use. That
will leave 40 percent of the population without access to the water it needs. Signs of
this impending crisis are already there for all of us to see.

In South Asia, home to nearly 1.6 billion people, cities are increasingly feeling the
pressure of population growth and urbanization. It is estimated that 22 of 32 Indian
cities face daily water shortages. In Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, many local
residents have grown accustomed to waiting in queues for hours to obtain drinking
water from the city’s ancient, stone waterspouts. In Karachi, Pakistan, electricity
and water shortages have led to protests and citywide unrest.
“Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink” aptly describes the problem of
water in South Asia – a problem of scarcity amid abundance. Transboundary rivers
such as the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra have defined the geography, history,
and culture of South Asia for centuries and are critical to economic growth, food and
energy security, and sustainable development within the region. But over the last
few decades, these rivers have come under considerable pressure from industrial
development, urbanization, population growth, and environmental pollution. This
situation has been compounded by poor domestic management of water resources
and increasing variability in rainfall and climate patterns that have made South Asia
highly susceptible to floods, droughts, and natural disasters.
While in areas such as trade and energy South Asian governments have made
significant progress in opening up and allowing for the movement of goods and
people, regional cooperation on water lags behind. Geopolitics and a history of
cross-border disputes have meant that transboundary water issues are perceived
largely from a perspective of national security. This highly securitized approach has
severely limited access to water and climate data in the region. South Asian
governments, in particular India and Pakistan, treat hydrological data secret and
classified. While some existing bilateral treaties and agreements, such as the Indus
Treaty of 1960 or the Ganges Treaty of 1996, do contain provisions for bilateral data
sharing, actual data-sharing practices are ad hoc, and the range of information
shared is quite limited. It is also worth noting that none of the existing treaties
provide for the public disclosure of data or information exchange between
governments.
The closed data environment for water and climate information in the region has
compromised governments’ ability to make informed decisions on the planning,
management, and development of what are essentially shared river basins. The lack
of information sharing has also affected governments’ ability to deal effectively with
natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and landslides.
On World Water Day, The Asia Foundation released a major new
report: “Strengthening Transparency and Access to Information on Transboundary
Rivers in South Asia.” The report examines the availability and accessibility of
hydrological data and information related to three transboundary rivers in
Bangladesh, India, and Nepal and tests the efficacy of right-to-information or
freedom-of-information laws in accessing this data. The study – conducted with the
World Resources Institute and civil society organizations in these countries with
support from Skoll Global Threats Fund – highlights some of the key barriers to
information access on water and climate issues in the region. The report illustrates
that while governments in these countries have enacted laws and policies that seek
to open up environmental data and information, in practice, the securitization of
information remains a major constraint. Moreover, limited human resources,
training, and capacity have undermined the capability of these governments to
effectively implement existing transparency laws and policies. Across all three
countries, hydrological data and information are not being collected, maintained, or
published in a systematic manner. Where data is available, it is often of poor
quality, difficult to verify, and provided in a format that is not user-friendly. Taken
together, the highly fragmented availability of data makes it difficult to get a
complete hydrological picture of the rivers. To discuss some of the broader
implications of this study, The Asia Foundation convened civil society organizations,
think tanks, international agencies, and donors for a regional forum, “Access to
Water and Climate Data in South Asia,” on March 23-24 in Kathmandu. Participants
debated the issues and challenges in making climate and water data more
accessible throughout South Asia, and brainstormed ways to leverage existing
information-sharing experiences and practices.
While acknowledging the many constraints to regional data sharing, the forum also
highlighted some of the innovative ways in which participating groups are
enhancing data access and exchange on water and climate issues. For instance, in
the northeastern Indian state of Assam, the environmental NGO Aaranyak and the
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have piloted
an innovative community-based flood warning system that uses mobile phones to
transmit critical flood related data and information to communities upstream and
downstream of the eastern Brahmaputra basin. At a national level, multilateral
agencies such as the World Bank and others are supporting governments to
improve their data and information management systems while simultaneously
building government capacity to better manage these systems. At a regional level,
ICIMOD has been working with the governments of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal,
and Bhutan to develop a Regional Flood Information System in the Hindu-Kush
Himalayas that seeks to facilitate sharing of flood data and information between
countries to reduce the vulnerability of affected communities. There are also
ongoing efforts to provide the media and private sector with data and information
on water related issues. For example, the Third Pole recently launched a new, open
source geospatial database – Data.TheThirdPole – to provide the media and other
stakeholders with access to a searchable catalog of water-related datasets sourced
from different organizations in Asia. Such initiatives testify to the growing demand
for more accurate and comprehensive data and information on transboundary water
issues on the subcontinent.
The democratization of data, technology, and access has been one of the defining
developments of the 21st century. Riding on the wave of this global movement,
governments in South Asia have opened up in nearly every sphere, whether
enacting transparency laws, disclosing budget and public expenditure information
to citizens, or taking the lead in e-governance and other ICT initiatives. Given these
developments, and the proliferation of new information and communication
technologies, the paradigm of security that has prevented governments from
effectively sharing data and information on shared resources is out of date. Water
scarcity for many South Asians is already a daily reality, and if we are to go by the
UN’s latest report, the current situation is only going to get worse unless steps are
taken to mitigate the crisis. The sharing of data and information between
governments, and between governments and civil society, will be critical to
planning for this new and uncertain water future.

4. Air Pollution in Asia

Air pollution is a major environmental issue affecting people across the world.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 2 million people
worldwide die every year from air pollution. Of all the air pollutants, fine particulate
matter (PM) is one of the most hazardous pollution for the human health. The
particulate matter causes about 9% of lung cancer deaths worldwide, 5% of
cardiopulmonary deaths and about 1% of respiratory infection deaths. According to
the WHO, there is mounting evidence that concentration of particulate matter is
increasing in Asia. Particulate matter mostly originates from dust storms, grassland
fires, burning of fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants, but also various industrial
plants generate significant amounts of particulates. The interactive map shows that
South Asia is badly hit by pollution caused by particulate matter. While Pakistan has
the highest concentration of particulate matter, countries like Bangladesh, Nepal
and India are placed by the WHO in a category called “unhealthy for the sensitive
people”. That means people in these countries suffering from respiratory and heart
disease, as well as elderly and children should limit outdoor exertion. Air pollution in
China is as bad, if not worse, than in India but according to the WHO, the particulate
matter concentration in China and in countries such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South
Korea and Indonesia remains moderate. There is the least presence of particulate
matter in Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Japan.

Most Polluted Countries in Asia

The particulate matter represents a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles
suspended in the air, many of which are hazardous. These particles are either
directly emitted into the air by sources such as smoke, dust, pollen, or formed in the
atmosphere by transformation of emitted gases. The particulate matter can
adversely affect human health and also have an impact on climate and
precipitation. On the basis of size, the particulate matter is divided into two
categories. The particles up to 10 micrometers in size are called PM 10 and smaller
particles of 2.5 micrometer in size are called PM2.5. The WHO has measured
outdoor air pollution caused by both types of the particulate matter and according
to these findings, air can be contaminated by a range of different particles of which
many can harm our health, especially very small particles that enter into the lungs
and bloodstream and cause the most serious health problems. In Asia, like in other
regions of the world, pollution caused by particulate matter is spreading to new
areas. The graph, based on the data obtained from the WHO, ranks Asian countries
according to the PM10 level in the air. As the data suggests, Pakistan is the most
polluted country in the region in terms of particulate matter concentration in the air.
It is followed by Bangladesh, India, Nepal, China, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, South Korea,
Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Japan.

Most Polluted Capital Cities in Asia

Air pollution in some Asian cities is so bad that at times, the cities are enveloped by
a blanket of smog that impedes visibility. According to the WHO, air pollution has
worsened in Asian cities in recent years and presents a threat to human health. In
many cities the levels of fine particulate matter - a key pollutant in terms of its
impact on human health - are exceeding the critical limit (as defined by the WHO),
specifically in densely populated, fast-growing and less developed countries like
China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Even in small Asian cities like Kathmandu,
the particulate matter level exceeds the most lenient of several targets
recommended by the WHO. Over the last few years, China has been in the news for
heavy pollution in its cities with the skies being completely blanketed by smog.
India and Pakistan, however, have the dubious distinction of having the most
polluted cities in the region. If we take a look at the statistics concerning capital
cities in Asia, the air pollution caused by the particulate matter is worst in Delhi. It is
closely followed by Islamabad, Dhaka, Beijing and Kathmandu.

Deaths Due To Outdoor Air Pollution

Air pollution is one of the main causes of premature deaths in the world. Of all major
global health risks, outdoor air pollution in the form of fine particles is found to be
much more dangerous for public health than previously known - contributing
annually to over 2 million premature deaths worldwide. The WHO global study ranks
air pollution as one of the top 10 killers in the world, with 65 percent of all air
pollution deaths occurring in Asia. In 2010 alone, particulate matter pollution was
the fourth-leading risk factor for deaths in China, behind high blood pressure and
smoking. Across the region, increasing levels of particulate matter are causing
higher numbers of premature deaths. The graph reveals the human toll due to
outdoor air pollution in 2008, which is the latest comparative data available. A
record number of people have died due to air pollution in the region. In the year
2008 alone, over half-million people have died in China and India. Other countries in
the region have also suffered heavily from air pollution. On top of that, the future
looks very bleak. By 2050, urban air pollution is estimated to cause up to 3.6 million
premature deaths worldwide each year, mostly in China and India.

URBAN EXCESS
GLOBAL WARMING