Date 22 December 2006
Press Release No. G/61/2006

UNESCAP REPORT: ASIA-PACIFIC ENVIRONMENT AT BOILING POINT

Green growth and better pollution control encouraged

Bangkok (United Nations Information Services) -- If Asian and Pacific societies are to continue their much needed economic growth, they will have to shift towards ecologically efficient, ‘green growth’ patterns, concludes the latest State of the Environment in Asia and the Pacific report, published by UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) headquartered in Bangkok.

Asia and the Pacific is already living beyond its ecological carrying capacity. Meeting human development needs based on current ‘grow first, clean up later’ economic growth patterns is likely to result in growing ecological deficits

As Asia and the Pacific emerges as a global production centre, the pollution from export-oriented production adds to the worsening ecological burden. The report also finds that Asian and Pacific governments now have better legislation and regulations for addressing the traditional environmental policy concerns such as air pollution and protected areas.

However, it asserts that this progress is not enough – economic development planners and policy makers must engage in a shift towards ‘green growth’ – i.e., better pollution control plus more resource-efficient production and consumption patterns.

“We find that the least developed countries are increasingly responsive to ESCAP’s policy advocacy of green growth” says Mr. Kim Hak-Su, Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, “they see that there is little alternative, in the long run.”

Mr. Rae Kwon Chung, Director of the Environment and Sustainable Development Division of UNESCAP says “It is encouraging that the Government of China announced 6 measures for green growth last May. Eco-efficiency should now be adopted as a new criterion for economic development planning for many developing countries in the region.”

“Infrastructure development is hard-wiring consumption patterns of a country for a long time into the future. Many developing countries in the region are already running much higher traffic congestion costs than developed countries due to their poor transport infrastructure. The region has to promote sustainable infrastructure development for water, energy, sanitation and transport by incorporating long-term perspectives in decision-making processes,” he said.

This additional challenge of decoupling economic growth from growing ecological pressures, requires leapfrogging, using the best available technology and state-of-the-art planning to develop greener consumption and production patterns.

The UNESCAP report finds that, on the one hand, pollution control in production is becoming more effective and market forces are pushing firms towards greater resource efficiency as the prices of natural resources spiral upwards. On the other hand, as incomes increase and as globalization spreads, consumption patterns are become less environmentally sustainable. As Asian economies develop, promoting more eco-efficient consumption patterns is now looming as a new challenge.

The report stresses that more Asian and Pacific economic growth is needed, and inevitable, as nearly 670 million people are living on less than US$1 a day (PPP-adjusted). Some 665 million people in the region have no access to improved drinking water. Approximately 1.9 million have no access to improved sanitation. Countries in South Asia, accounting for over 40 per cent of the region’s population, will face some of the toughest development challenges in the coming decades. Population growth, changing water regimes and climates, and rising demand for access to energy, water and other basic necessities all come to a head over the next few decades, according to the report. The report also points out that:

• The natural resource endowment per capita is much lower than the global averages. Asia and the Pacific has a population density that is 1.5 times the global average, the lowest freshwater availability per capita of all global regions, a biologically productive area per capita that is less than 60 per cent of the global average and arable and permanent crop land per capita that is less than 80 per cent of the global average. In reality, the uneven distribution of resources means that while some countries are relative unscathed by population pressures, other countries face real difficulties.
• Several highly polluting industries are growing more rapidly in regional developing countries than in regional developed countries.
• Water and energy-intensive industries such as transport equipment, crude steel, chemicals, petroleum and rubber and plastic products, are also growing fast. Agroindustry is highly chemical-, energy- and water-intensive.
• As incomes increase, consumption patterns are changing. Lifestyles are becoming increasingly waste- and energy- intensive. There are higher and new streams of waste such as PET bottles, other plastics and e-waste.
• Natural capital is on the decline. While plantation forests advance, natural forests are retreating, especially in South-East Asia.
• Water extraction rates are already unsustainably high in at least 16 countries. Irrigation systems, the biggest user of water, are highly inefficient and poorly maintained in most countries. Some of the countries with the least available water have the poorest water quality, and water shortages have affected industrial production in some countries.
• Eco-efficiency of water use is highly variable in the industrial sector, and does not reflect the availability of water. Some water-stressed countries have developed industrial sectors which use much more water to produce one dollar of GDP than water-rich countries.
• The long term sustainability of the water supply is further threatened by climate change, which may increase the severity and incidence of drought and cause long term reductions in water flows in freshwater systems dependent on glacier melt.

After releasing the synthesis of the report in April this year, the full report is now available. To download a free copy of the report visit <http://www.unescap.org/esd/environment/soe/2005>.

For enquiries or feedback, please contact:

Director
Environment and Sustainable Development Division
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok, Thailand.
Email: escap-esdd-evs@un.org.

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