Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
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standards of living, and better environmental conditions. At the same time, high urban population density and the consumption patterns of a rapidly growing urban populace creates various physical environmental problems with, for example, waste disposal and vehicular emissions. Industrial activity also directly transforms the environment through the production of industrial wastes leading to problems of water, soil and air pollution. An environment polluted by industrial activities, in turn, adversely affects the populations health. These reciprocal relationships between industrial, population and environmental trends may vary according to the temporal and geographic scale at which they occur. Concurrent long-term global trends of increased population growth, population concentration, consumption and industrial activity are believed to play some role in global environmental changes such as acid rain, ozone depletion and global warming. The overwhelming majority of impacts between population, environment and industry, however, occur at the local level. Coastal areas, which are frequently the setting for urban development, are inherently subject to natural transformations such as sea-level rise or erosion. Population or industrial activity may both affect and be affected by these natural processes. For example, in the coastal areas of the Maldives, a rise in sea-levels - possibly related to global warming and continued development - has led to increased flooding which threatens the ever-increasing coastal population. Although industrial pollution may emanate from a localised source, its impacts may extend across geographic and administrative boundaries. Moreover, several resources (water, air and soil) or several distinct population groups may be affected at the same time. Distinction may be made between endemic long-term deterioration and short-term disaster situations, for example due to industrial accidents or natural calamities. However, it is often difficult to classify the time frame of population, environment and industrial relationships since effects are often lagged. For example, the impact of industrial pollution on populations or the environment may not be apparent until several decades after it occurs. A need, therefore, exists for determining situations as opposed to sites. Analysis of impacts may need to go beyond geographic and administrative boundaries to consider wider interactive, productive, ecological and demographic systems. In addition, both long- and short-term impacts should be considered.
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Table 24 : Industrial Statistics - South Asian Region Bangladesh Bhutan India Iran Maldives Nepal 44.30 0.4 437.7 238.6 0.4 4.9 197.0 0.0 0.1 228.0 752.0 63.9 88.1 29.5 17.3 204.0 0.0 0.0 89.0 6.5 32.0 36.1 323.0 92.6 229.0 0.5 0.5 20.0 9.4 246.0 90.8 490.0 73.3
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Billion US$) (1999) Consumer Price Index 163.0 (1990=100) (1999) Manufacturing Value Added 8.0 (MVA in Billion US$) (1999) Constant MVA in Billion US$ 8.0 (at 1990 Prices) MVA per Capita in US$ (1999) 63.0 Share of MVA in GDP in % (1999) 18.0 Manufactured Exports Million 4,648.0 US$ (1998) Share of Manufactures in Total 91.90 Exports in % (1998) Manufactured Imports in 6,258.0 Million US$ (1998) Share of Manufactures in Total 89.20 Imports in % (1998) Source: www.ilo.org
22.0 65.0 448.0 11.1 14.6 15.7 37.0 23,739.0 55.5 71.7 -
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The definition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) differs from one country to another. SMEs have been defined against various criteria, such as the number of workers employed, the volume of output or sales, the value of assets employed and the use of energy. Other definitions are based on whether the owner works alongside the workers, the degree of sophistication in management and whether or not the enterprise lies in the formal sector. The SME sector is important for many reasons. It is a major employer, and one with reasonable equity benefits in terms of distribution of income. A strong SME sector is critical in terms of the goods and services it provides to large enterprises and to informal, micro-
SMEs in India
number about two million units employ two million people account for 60 per cent of exports account for 60 per cent of total production
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Workers in SMEs
An overwhelming majority of the workers in SMEs are young, in the age group of 19-35 years (55.9 per cent in the small-sized and 55.6 per cent in the mediumsized enterprises). These enterprises are marked by a low child labour rate, the reason for which could be the lack of skills and physical strength required by some enterprises. As far as the gender profile of the workforce in SMEs is concerned, there is a marked difference between the countries in the region. While women workers are employed by 4 per cent of the SMEs in Pakistan, they constitute 54 per cent of the workforce in Bangladesh.
An occupational health hazard - Lead battery plates being broken down by hand
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Table 25 : Health Complaints as Reported by Workers in SMEs Complaint Headache, skin problems,
Headache, respiratory, skin and eye problems Headache and skin problems
Laundries
Furniture Screen printing Tannery Carpet washing Wool Dyeing Positive and plate making (for printing presses) Paint manufacture
Sodium hydroxide/hypochlo rite, Acetic acid, sulphuric acid Inkote, polychrome, eurogum, integran, Titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, methylene chloride Formaldehyde, urea, ammonia Toluene diisocyanate,
Eye problems
Chipboard manufacture Polyurethane foam manufacture polyethylene glycol Fibreglass manufacture Pesticide packing Surgical instruments manufacture
Styrene, methyl ethyl ketone Megamidophos, cypermethrin Trichloroethylene, chromium sulphate Sodium carbonate, sodium nitrate, sodium hypochlorite
inevitable end to easy dumping in South-east Asia, the waste dumpers are again shifting to areas less familiar with their practices, and thus, less likely to resist. While most of Asia has been receiving increasing amounts of waste during the past few years, it seems there is one region that the international waste traders have just discovered: South Asia. The countries in the region that are most vulnerable in this respect are Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Bangladesh: In an apparently new contract, a British waste trader sent seven tonnes of tin waste to Bangladesh in
April 1993. In January 1993 alone, the United States shipped 16.5 tonnes of plastic waste to Bangladesh. In September 1993, Bangladesh newspapers reported that a New York City company, Solar International Trading Corporation, is proposing the development of an industrial zone, based on the use of imported waste. The plan envisages the import of 12,000 tonnes of waste daily, or 4.38 million tonnes annually, from the United States. Solar International says that some of the waste would be recycled and some burned in a wasteto-energy incinerator.
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In late 1991, four US corporations - Gaston Copper Recycling, Hy-Tex Marketing, Stoller Chemical and Southwire - all based in South Carolina, secretly mixed 1,000 tonnes of hazardous wastes, containing high levels of lead and cadmium, into a shipment of fertiliser which the Bangladesh government purchased using funds from the Asian Development Bank. Before the scandal broke, one-third of the toxic fertiliser had already been applied on farms, largely by children with no protective gear (see Poison Fields, Multinational Monitor, April 1993).
India: In 1992, India received 9,915 tonnes of nonferrous metal wastes, including ashes and residues, copper, aluminium, zinc and tin waste and scrap from the United Kingdom. Through the month of August, the United Kingdom sent 328 tonnes of ashes and residues, 637 tonnes of aluminium waste and scrap, 79 tonnes of copper waste and scrap, 119 tonnes of nickel waste, 234 tonnes of tin waste and scrap, 1,586 tonnes of zinc waste and scrap and 501 tonnes of lead waste and scrap to India. Although recent information regarding German waste exports to South Asia is not available, Greenpeace Germany has found that 48,47,000 tonne of metal
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Pakistan: In 1992, the US exported 1,865 tonnes of non-ferrous metal wastes, including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and molybdenum waste and scrap, to Pakistan. In January 1993, the US shipped 19.5 tonnes of plastic waste to Pakistan. By August 1993, the UK sent a total of 1,949 tonnes of metal wastes to Pakistan which was more than the previous years total shipments. Canadian waste brokers shipped 290 tonnes of iron waste to Pakistan in 1992. Australian waste traders are also making inroads into Pakistan, exporting, for example, 21 tonnes of tin in 1992. Toxic pollutants: Toxic pollutants released from industry include heavy metals, cyanides and pesticides, and can be emitted into air, water or in solid wastes. Little is known about the quantities or precise sources of chemical and toxic residuals, since almost no government or industries do any sampling of toxic pollutants anywhere in South Asia (with some exceptions in India). However, their impacts are found in polluted groundwater, surface water, and urban and peri-urban refuse dumps.
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in the SME financial support infrastructure. This is despite the fact that SMEs often need help in accessing sources of finance and certain types of firms still face major financial barriers. Access to finance is a special problem for growthoriented SMEs. In the more developed economies, there is a seamless chain of finance which allows firms to go from start-up micro-finance, to personal debt, to secured debt, to business angles, to venture capital, to IPO and public listing. However, the internationalisation of capital markets is not evenly spread, and the lower ends of debt and equity markets are not as internationally efficient as they might seem to be. This means that SMEs are often unable to realise their growth potential. On the other hand, India offers some interesting experiences in the role that its expatriates can play in supporting the emergence of a vibrant venture capital business to support new economy start-ups.
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Table 26: Summary of Suggestions for Policy Action Impediments Difficulty in accessing finance for R&D or other innovative efforts
Lack of information about potential co-operation partners Lack of policy co-ordination between different public authorities.
Lengthy, complex and opaque bureaucratic procedures for registration, finance and permits, etc. -
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among firms. Furthermore, to innovate, entrepreneurs often need to reconfigure relationships with suppliers, which networks can facilitate. Over time, networks have come to encompass agreements with research bodies, educational and training institutions and public authorities. Examples of the diversity of clusters and networks might include regional clusters, firms in related lines of business that choose to locate and operate in close physical proximity. Nearly all countries have examples of the regional cluster. The use of cooperatives in agriculture and emerging industrial firms in developing countries aim at providing greater cohesion and market power to small firms.
Table 27: Tourism -- South Asia Years 1985 1990 1995 1997 1998 1999 No. of international tourist arrivals(million) 2.5 3.2 4.2 4.8 5.2 5.7 Market share 0.8 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.9 International tourist receipts(million) 1.4 2.0 3.5 4.0 4.3 Market share 1.2 0.8 0.9 0.9 1.0 -
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Bhutan has adopted a policy of permitting a limited amount of tourism as well as emphasising high-value, special interest forms of tourism that generate the desired foreign exchange earnings as well as some employment and income. Bhutan also has a programme for regional staging of development, experiments with visitor controls to determine their most acceptable format, and environmental controls on facility development. The Bhutan model might have applications in other environmentally fragile mountain areas, where some concern exists about conserving the societys traditional cultural heritage, such as the other mountain regions in Asia. Tej Vir Singh, Director of the Centre for Tourism Research and Development in Lucknow, India, says that there is a great need for adoption of research-based sustainable tourism development policies, and implementation of these policies through application of stringent controls and coercive measures, in many mountain environments. It should be recognised that in the case of both the Maldives and Bhutan, their approaches to sustainable tourism development have been successful in large measures because their governments can exercise considerable authority and are very centralised, and because each of these societies comprises highly homogeneous cultures with common religious values and lifestyles. In the Maldives, government ownership of uninhabited islands and its control over the islands future land use are distinct advantages in guiding development patterns. Application of these models to other places will require adapting the implementation techniques to local situations. In Sri Lanka, the scenic and cultural sites are situated mostly in the rural areas. Many of the rural poor use the forests and other ecosystems in an unsustainable manner for their livelihood. The government has decided to develop ecotourism, particularly in rural areas, as a tool for conservation and rural development. One of the three pilot projects in this sector is the Medirigiriya Community-based Ecotourism Programme, a local government community participatory project which integrates conservation with development. In Iran, tourists express interest in seeing the encampments of nomadic tribes. This is because these settlements are the repositories of well-safeguarded traditions and culture of ancient Iranians.
Sources: Medirigiriya Community-based Ecotourism Programme in Sri Lanka Integrating Conservation with Development by Chandra de Silva, Ecotourism Society of Sri Lanka (ESSL) and Sarath Kotagama, ESSL and Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL). Sustainable Tourism development in the Maldives and Bhutan, by Edward Inskeep, UNEP Industry and Environment, July-December 1992. Iran, State of the Environment Report, 2000.
attractiveness or innocence is lost as they become pampered and regulated tourist sites, capable of absorbing and processing large numbers of visitors. At worst, major and often irreversible environmental damage is caused by a rush to build tourist facilities on the most attractive sites, by speculative land and building booms and by major inroads into the local ecology by the rapidly developing tourist infrastructure and services. Countless hotels, roads and other facilities provided for tourists ruin the pristine beauty of the sea coast, distrub the peace of the country and rob the mountains of their serene grandeur. In such cases, tourist development can be destructive.
The environmental problems connected with the development of tourism and recreation in mountain areas have been the subject of much discussion. The Himalayas, for instance, have always been a major tourist attraction. The number of trekking/ mountaineering tourists has increased, and their concentration in some specific areas has exerted immense pressure on the mountain forests for fuelwood and timber. Some other adverse impacts have been inadequate disposal of solid wastes and increasing contamination of drinking water.
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There are also some adverse social and cultural influences. Inhabitants of historic cities and old villages are often distressed to find their narrow streets choked with tourist traffic and their picturesque squares and marketplaces turned into car parks for visitors. Recreational pressures of domestic tourists have resulted in erosion of dunes and heavy loss of coastal vegetation. Most seriously threatened, perhaps, are the fragile ecosytems of some of the islands in the Maldives. Tourism can add to the pollution of coastal waters, for example, through increasing sewage disposal from tourist resorts which have inadequate infrastructure, and through oil effluents from motor boats and cars. Out of the total resources consumed by this sector, around 60 per cent is consumed by accomodation facilitating units such as hotels, resorts, guest houses etc. The hotel industry consumes a vast range of goods in construction and operation. They generally use huge amounts of energy, consume large amounts of water and generate disproportionate amounts of waste. Collectively, they employ thousands of people and welcome millions of guests through their doors. Table 28 details the amount of solid waste generated by a typical 5-star hotel in South Asia.
Responses
Government regulation is not the only solution towards controlling pollution. While there is no substitute for meaningful regulatory framework and information dissemination, much relies on persuasion, social pressure and market forces to help improve environmental performance.
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dialogue among all the stakeholders in areas where action is urgently needed; in some cases, this involves bringing in professional mediators.
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management direction, shop-floor operations, process operations, equipment and even the products themselves. The problem in developing countries and economies in transition (and even, though to a lesser extent, in developed countries) and with their industrial establishment is that they are not aware of the potential of preventive measures for both reduction of excess process inputs and utilisation of non-product outputs to meet environmental norms. In some cases, they do not have information about the techniques and technologies and in other cases, they overlook the environmental and financial benefits of cleaner production activities. There also are some who do not think that cleaner production techniques and technologies are appropriate for their situations.
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