Encouraged by the World Bank, the government seems to be getting more serious about the threat of various forms of environmental pollution endangering public health, though it is still rather tardy in dealing with the situation.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) and the World Bank co-hosted a two-day workshop in Lahore this week on "Clean Production and Pollution Prevention", where the Federal Secretary for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives, Shahab Khawaja, as well as other officials and experts made some much welcome assertions.
The government, said the Secretary, is in the process of implementing a comprehensive strategy to control pollution through a set of environment related policies that cover diverse areas ranging from industrial sector to forests, energy conservation and drinking water.
Other speakers highlighted the need for the adoption of clean production methods by SMEs as well as bigger industries, suggesting that the government and donors should encourage only those projects and programmes that are environment friendly.
Which is all very well. But the real challenge involves taking practical measures. In fact, as a World Bank official pointed out, necessary legislation and procedures are already in place but these need to be implemented.
Requiring equal, if not more immediate attention, is the issue of air as well as water pollution. A WB report released on Monday shows the gravity of the situation. Urban air pollution across Pakistan, it says, is estimated to cause around 22,000 premature deaths among adults and 700 deaths among children every year.
The most dangerous pollutant, known as PM10, is present at two to four percent higher than the safety limits worked out by WHO for the big cities, including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta. Another commonly occurring hazardous element is airborne lead.
It is known to cause hypertension and heart trouble among adults; and aside from having some other harmful effects on the health of children, lead produces irreversible loss of IQ. Sad as it is, whereas governments in most advanced nations offer special support to parents to ensure children are well-nourished and healthy, our children get liberal doses of poisonous pollutants on a regular basis, damaging not only their individual chances for advancement but also our collective aspirations for progress and development.
The WB report goes on to make the disturbing though an unsurprising disclosure that lack of potable water and poor sanitation facilities are responsible for the spread of a host of diseases like diarrhoea, typhoid and hepatitis. Over 40 million people lack access to clean drinking water, and 60 million to basic sanitation facilities.
While the government spends a miniscule 0.25 percent of the GDP on the provision of water and sanitation facilities, waterborne diseases due to pollution - from sewage, industrial effluents and agriculture runoff - cost 1.8 percent of the GDP. And then, of course, is the grim fact of 22,700 people dying annually from pollution related diseases.
It is obvious enough from the foregoing facts that the government needs to get its priorities right. Indeed, it is important to have a comprehensive strategy framework that includes a forest policy, an energy conservation policy, etc, but it is even more important to undertake urgent action to bring air pollution down to safe limits and provide clean drinking water to all.