Asia - Environmental Challenges

This brief summary is written with reference to a United Nations report by the Economic and Social Council’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. This has a committee on Environment and Development, and its Fifth session, titled ‘Environmental Challenges in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. The report and reference is here ESCAP /CED/2018/1).

Were it not for google, you would never know that this part of the UN existed, but it does, and it has done some very compelling work. I have provided a brief summary here but recommend reading the full paper.

Asia is a huge continent which ranges from China, and Russia in the north, India, Malaysia and Indonesia in the south, Turkey and Saudi Arabia in the west, and Japan and Korea in the east. This is a very vast and rapidly changing region that includes some of the world’s fastest growing populations – and economies. Thus, the environmental challenges are many.

Challenges

This website has a short summary of just some of the issues facing parts of this multifaceted continent. Asia is rich in natural resources, but these are under threat of depletion if these are not used sustainably. The above mentioned United Nations report states that “Urgent action is needed to steer development onto an....environmentally sustainable pathway for the future”.

The report cites that the key challenges are rapid urbanism and loss of ecosystems, increased demand for resources, increase in greenhouse gas emissions, waste generation and pollution. In some countries this comes from a rapidly increasing population. For instance India’s population is currently 1.28 billion, and is expected to peak at 1.68 billion in 2057. It was only 400 million in 1950 according to Our World in Data. World population in 1950 was 2.54 billion, and in 2100 it is projected to be 11 billion, of which 8.84 billion will be in either Africa or Asia. In Asia that is an increase of 3.3 billion in 100 years. It is clear that any additional person in a population has to have food, clothes, somewhere to live, and will need basic and luxury goods. As the world population increases by billions, then this clearly places more pressure on natural resources for all of the above needs. See here for more information from Our World in Data.

Like many countries the spread of urban areas and intensive agriculture required to house and feed an increasing population is leading to a rapid increase in resource use, water use, and the amount of land and air pollution. The region consumes more goods per kg per dollar output than other regions, at twice the amount of the world average. The demand for energy is rising rapidly to feed this growth from the increasingly population and their increased wealth. The growth in renewable energy use cannot keep up with the growth in energy demand leading to more fossil fuels being used for energy production, like the burning of coal imported from Australia.

Water is getting scarcer with 29 of Asia’s 48 countries qualifying as being water insecure due to lack of water and taking too much from ground water supplies.

Asia’s forests suffer from deforestation, particularly its rainforests for palm oil production which has an impact on the natural habitat of Orangutans. The report notes that many other species are also threatened, whilst 40% of coral reefs and 60% of coastal mangroves have already been lost.

As countries become more industrialised and urbanised they create greater pollution. The report notes that very few Asian towns and cities treat sewage, or recycle waste. This results in increasing amount of water pollution, solid waste and plastic pollution and air pollution. Most ocean plastic pollution comes from 10 rivers of which 8 are in Asia. Of this most is coming from the fastest growing countries of China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Hazardous and electronic waste, chemicals and pesticides can also be hard to deal with in any country, not just those in Asia. Increased development is leading to the amount of waste increasing significantly, whilst collection and recycling rates remain low. All countries could look to protect the natural environment and biodiversity by polluting less and recycling more.

According to Our World in Data air pollution in 2017 killed an estimated 5 million people, nearly 1 in 10 deaths. This can be with diseases like lung cancer, heart disease and strokes. Particulate pollution in cities can affect health, which is why the World Health Organisation (WHO) measures particulates in the air. The United Nations report notes that most cities and towns do not meet the WHO recommended levels on air pollution. The main sources of pollution are the generation of electricity, industrial plants, vehicles, forest and crop burning and fossil fuels used for heating.

One interesting aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the dramatic drop in air pollution in some of the world’s largest cities. Residents of those cities are marveling at the clear air and view of distant horizons they could never see in ‘normal’ times.

CO2 Emissions

In terms of climate change the UN paper notes that Asia is responsible for 49% of global carbon emissions from the combustion of oil, gas and coal alone, excluding other sectors like transport and agriculture. In agriculture air pollution comes from livestock (for meat and diary) and from fertilisers used for rice production.

The report notes that a transition to low energy use is required. Most air pollution comes from energy use, and the burning of coal. China has increased its renewable energy use by five times between 2000 and 2014, and perhaps this can be used as an example to other countries in the region to use less coal, and to move to renewable energy. To meet the Paris Accord climate CO2 emission targets, the world needs to drastically reduce its use of fossil fuels for energy, including coal, oil and gas.