Environmental health problems account for an estimated 6.6 million deaths each year in Southeast and East Asian countries, or approximately one out of every four deaths in the region. With the goal of improving environmental and human health, ministers and high-level officials gathered in Bangkok, Thailand last month to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation and share knowledge within and between countries. The resulting Bangkok Declaration on Environment and Health is designed to move the region beyond monitoring and assessment to actual prevention of health impacts.
Growth Contributes to Environmental Pollution
In the last 50 years, Asian countries have experienced intense industrialization, urbanization, and motorization. In Thailand, for example, vehicle ownership more than doubled between 1993 and 2003, while gross domestic product (GDP) grew by over 40 percent. As a consequence, environmental pollution and degradation has increased accordingly, resulting in health-threatening urban air pollution, solid waste generation, and man-made disasters. The First Ministerial Regional Forum on Environment and Health, held in August, identified six priorities for the Southeast and East Asia region over the next three years:
- Air quality
- Water supply and sanitation
- Solid and hazardous waste
- Toxic chemicals and other hazardous substances
- Climate change, ozone depletion and ecosystem change
- Preparedness and response to environmental health emergencies
Regional Cooperation is Essential for Success
Asia's environmental health crisis has not gone unnoticed, and many countries throughout the region have made individual efforts to address the issues. For example, China recently banned over one million motorists from the road in Beijing during a four-day pilot program to reduce urban air pollution. The Bangkok Declaration aims to build upon such efforts by strengthening regional cooperation and providing mechanisms for knowledge-sharing. In this manner, Southeast and East Asian countries can learn from each other's experiences while promoting the implementation of regionally integrated environmental and human health strategies. A second ministerial meeting is planned for 2010 to review progress in implementing the regional charter.
RELATED LINKS:
United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP)
World Health Organization Country Profiles on the Environmental Burden of Disease
EMBARQ, the WRI Center for Sustainable Transportation: Report on "China Motorization Trends"
WHO: Global estimates of burden of disease caused by the environmental and occupational risks
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