SE Asia smog symptom of environment neglect

SE Asia smog symptom of environment neglect

By Nick Edwards

SINGAPORE (Reuter): The throat-clutching smog now choking much of Southeast Asia shows just how much the environment has been neglected in a quick and dirty dash for growth, environmental technology experts say.

Asia has recorded phenomenal economic growth over the last two decades and with it has come heavy pollution, a problem exacerbated in Southeast Asia in recent weeks by smoke from Indonesian forest and bush fires.

Malaysia has declared a national disaster because of the haze and yesterday its eastern state of Sarawak announced a state of emergency.

In clean and green neighboring Singapore air pollution hit its worst level ever on Thursday.

The common argument that the need to provide jobs in a poor and populous region outweighs concerns for the environment is indefensible, the technological experts say.

"It's a cop-out," said Mark Harrison, business services manager at the Singapore-based Regional Institute of Environmental Technology (RIET).

"What we're up against is inertia and the belief that the free market will always provide the most effective means of production. It's a cop-out and the biggest obstacle."

Justin Taylor, of the Singapore energy consultancy Super Solutions, blamed the "ying and yang" approach to development in Asia.

"If there is a benefit, it is a given that there must be a cost, which is the rationalization for waste and damage," he said.

Southeast Asia's fast-burgeoning consumer class grows wealthier by the day.

Factories pour out pollutants and cities grind to a halt in choking traffic while the age-old tradition of burning off tropical bush and forest to clear land for agriculture sends smoke billowing into the air.

This year, with drought gripping much of Indonesia, the old slash and burn clearances have raged out of control.

The smoke has spread across Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore, trapping modern cities under a leaden grey dome, blotting out the sun and choking their inhabitants.

Though Southeast Asian countries are loathe to criticize each other over what they consider internal affairs, the pollution has grown so serious that it topped the agenda at a meeting of regional environment ministers in Jakarta earlier this week.

President Soeharto apologized to the ministers of his neighboring countries for the choking haze but said Indonesia was doing its best to put the fires out.

"We don't lack laws and regulations, perhaps we have too many of them. It takes a huge crisis for us to really see that we have a basic problem of governance," Environment Minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja told reporters.

"The problem with us is that we don't enforce these laws." Elsewhere in Asia air pollution has set in hard.

The World Health Organization says New Delhi is the fourth most polluted city in the world. It estimates that in 1996, 1.2 million of the city's nine million people were treated for, and 7,500 died prematurely from, pollution-related disease.

Environmentalists say China's toxic mixture of ageing and inefficient industry, heavy reliance on coal and roaring economic growth would strain even the loosest targets for controlling greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

Acid rain strips the leaves from trees across much of southern China, while dirty air is blamed for high incidences of respiratory disease in cities such as Chongqing on the pollution- clogged Yangtze River.

South Korea's car industry, one of the miracles of its economic development, has come back to haunt the 12 million people of Seoul. The Environment Ministry says vehicle exhaust emissions are the overwhelming cause of pollution.

At least 6.5 million tonnes of toxic waste are generated every year in and around the Philippine capital of Manila, where no major facility exists to treat it.

The Regional Institute of Environmental Technology says pollution, including contamination of ground and surface water, deters investment and tourism in the Philippines, but said significant business potential exists for companies that could build a waste treatment plant, estimated to cost US$50 million.

Air quality in Thailand's traffic-clogged capital of Bangkok is also plagued by exhaust fumes and dust from numerous construction sites.

A study by the Thai Science Technology and Environment Ministry showed healthcare costs for pollution-related illnesses were about US$65 per person per month. Treatment of patients with other ailments costs about US$9 per month.

Taiwan says its pollution problem has improved after years of efforts, including daily fines of up to US$10,500 for companies breaking environment laws.

But the use of pesticides is still heavy and fishermen complain of high sea temperatures in areas where nuclear power plants discharge non-radioactive water.

Japan, which 30 years ago had the problems faced by Southeast Asia now, has tough anti-pollution laws born out of some of the worst cases of industrial pollution.

"There's only one way to sell ecology in Asia and that's to dress it up as a profit-making business. Which it is," RIET's Harrison said.

Wiser use of resources, introduction of efficient technology and tough regulation would force business to become more eco- friendly.

"We can solve this problem with market-based systems, but it requires the game rules to be set by governments," he said.

Taylor, of Super Solutions, said between 30 and 40 percent of all power generated in Asia was wasted by inefficient practices and equipment.

"What we're saying is that the quickest, easiest, cheapest route (to growth) isn't the one companies in the region have been on," he said.

"Studies show the cost of efficiency is cheaper than the cost of burning fuel."