Environmental Pollution: Challenges facing developing countries
Environmental pollution is a huge unresolved dilemma that has really been exposed at the hands of this global pandemic. As lockdowns and restrictions have been coming and going continuously for the past year, the planet earth has been healing. Statistics state that Nitrogen Dioxide levels in the UK have plummeted dramatically from last year since the first lockdown. This has been occurring in several other countries too and it just goes to show that our daily routines are contributing to the damaging of our planet more than we think. And it’s not just developed countries who are at fault for this.
Developing countries China and India are two of the biggest polluters in the world, and there are many reasons for this. The first and possibly most obvious one based on these countries is rapid population growth. These countries are uncoincidentally the two most heavily populated countries in the world, and having more people residing in your country means more traffic fumes, more farming, more deforestation and higher emissions of greenhouse gases. Much of the large population of India like to take part in various festivals such as Diwali and Eid, many of which include fireworks. Believe it or not, fireworks contribute to 5% of the country’s air pollution.
Another factor for general pollution in developing countries is that people in these countries struggle to find eco-friendly methods of getting rid of their waste or sewage, therefore much of it is dumped into rivers and lakes. A great example of this is the holy River Ganges, which flows through India, Bangladesh and the Himalayas. It is said to be the fifth most polluted river in the world, and poses significant threats to the environment and human health. The sheer amount of toxic waste found there is overwhelming, and there are hundreds of thousands of bodies of water just like this in Asia and Africa. Also, most developing countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa rely majorly on natural resources for revenue and foreign exchange. Funds are collected from the utilization of these resources such as coal, oil and gas, gold, copper and agricultural resources. The exploitation and processing of these resources can cause harmful environmental pollution. However, this will most likely continue in developing countries for years to come as they aim to reduce poverty and grow their economies. China’s constant striving to be the biggest economic, industrial and technological power in the world really hurts the planet. They produce billions of products which require a severe amount of industrial progress and energy production which causes air pollution. This economic model that the Chinese have adopted has also been noted by many other developing countries which are starting to do the same thing. These countries also don’t have sufficient technology and institutions to be able to combat pollution, and developed countries prefer to point their finger at them rather than providing support on this side.
In developed countries like the US and the UK, pollution is also a big issue, however their governments have much more access to technology for the prevention of pollution. Despite that, it still can be argued that these countries over-exploit natural resources which cause air pollution. In 2017, the US emitted 6.5 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases. This is due to many reasons, such as industrialization, deforestation, livestock and more. The US also recently pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord. There is a cost to British households suddenly enjoying avocado and European ones hummus as these foodstuffs have to traverse vast distances. The dilemma within all this is that developed countries like to blame developing countries for pollution.
Let us look at a serious conundrum, developed economies went from agrarian to industrial to post-industrial i.e technological and then information age lifting millions out of drudgery and poverty. From the renaissance age to industrial age and now the technological age developed countries in Europe, North America and in part Asia have sufficiently enjoyed the perks of decades, if not a couple of centuries of exploiting minerals and fossil fuel to power growth, expansion and modernisation. Since the late 1970s in Chinas case and in India’s case since the early 90s governments have woken up to free trade and enterprise development to lift at least a third of their population out of stifling poverty and into emancipation and education. Now this serious economic expansion (both India and China have witnessed GDP growth of at least 6% and 9% in the period between 1980 and 2010) has cost the planet much in terms of pollution and resource depletion. China alone poured more concrete between 2011 and 2013 than the US did in the entire 20th century. If 700 million people have to graduate to middle class , this is inevitable as they all need cars and roads and nice apartments filled with machines and gadgets. Their grocery baskets have expanded and so has their plastic consumption.
We are here and we cannot unwind the past. Widely available environmental science and management education is our only way out of this. Perhaps India must churn as many environmental scientists and managers as doctors, engineers and accountants leading to them becoming keen ambassadors of protecting and rejuvenating their part of the ecosystem. China also hold responsibility since it has a great system of education, many global companies and a wealthy government.