Pakistan: Strategic Country Environmental Assessment
Report Summary:
(September 3, 2007) Pakistan is the most urbanized country in South Asia, with a booming economy. Economic reforms resulted in record growth rates and high levels of investment. However, the natural resource base is stressed and is threatening to undermine growth prospects.
Facts: - Environmental and natural resource damages amount to 365 billion rupees per annum. - About a third of this cost is attributable to the death and illness resulting from waterborne diseases caused by inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene. - Airborne particulate matter exceeds safe levels in all major cities and causes 22,700 deaths per year. - Indoor air pollution causes the deaths of more than 30,000 children per year.
To reduce the costs associated with environmental and natural resource damages in Pakistan, the SCEA provides recommendations targeting institutions, regulations, capacity, and accountability:
Strengthen institutional design, in particular to guide Federal oversight of environmental authorities delegated to provinces, to build partnerships between Federal, provincial and municipal authorities for clean air, and to define responsibilities for water quality protection.
Update the regulatory framework, to set health-based air quality standards, use-based water quality standards, and standards for drinking water. Vehicle emission and fuel quality standards should also be updated.
Build capacity for environmental management, especially for effective EIAs, air quality management and protection of water quality. Environment cells in key sector ministries and planning departments should be further strengthened.
Reinforce incentives and accountability, through greater public consultation and disclosure in the EIA process, by providing public information on air and water quality, and by supporting public interest advocacy for the environment.
Chapter 1: Environmental Challenges to Growth and the Response
Since adopting the National Conservation Strategy (NCS) in 1992, the Government of Pakistan has made considerable progress in raising public awareness of environmental issues, and establishing a framework for environmental management. Implementation of the NCS was supported by the World Bank through the Environmental Protection and Resource Conservation Project. To further strengthen implementation of the NCS, the National Environmental Action Plan was approved by the Government in early 2001. A new and far-reaching National Environmental Policy was adopted in 2005, accompanied by a significant increase in the budget allocated for environmental management. Against this background of important new commitments, the SCEA is intended to help ensure that efforts to support poverty-reducing growth and environmental management are mutually reinforcing.
Environmental degradation costs Pakistan at least 6% of GDP, or about Rs. 365 billion per year, and these costs fall disproportionately upon the poor. The most significant causes of environmental damage identified and estimated in this report are (i) illness and premature mortality caused by air pollution (indoor and outdoor), (almost 50 percent of the total damage cost); (ii) diarrhoeal diseases and typhoid due to inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene (about 30 percent of the total), and (iii) reduced agricultural productivity due to soil degradation (about 20 percent of the total).
Chapter 3: Institutions for Environmental Management
Environmental federalism poses a number of challenges for effective environmental management in Pakistan, particularly in the clear definition of institutional roles and the allocation of resources to build capacity. Vertically, the challenges relate to the division of responsibilities between national, provincial and local governments, while horizontal challenges arise as a result of the division of responsibilities between environmental, planning and sectoral agencies. Effective environmental management also requires the active participation of key institutions outside government, in particular the judiciary, civil society advocates, and the media.
To help tighten linkages in the institutional framework for environmental management, the SCEA recommends that clearer guidelines be agreed for the delegation and oversight of environmental authority from Federal to provincial levels, and that these be supported with increased funding conditional on improved environmental performance. Capacity could also be strengthened by outsourcing non-binding functions to independent third parties, and the political will for stronger enforcement would be emboldened by empowering civil society and public interest advocacy.
Chapter 4: Reinforcing the Environmental Impact Assessment System
The SCEA’s review of the EIA system found that there is insufficient technical expertise for review of EIAs in the environment agencies, and a lack of awareness of EIA requirements and procedures among developers. In addition, the system for identifying projects requiring an EIA is weak, and there is a lack of monitoring and enforcement of EIA clearance conditions.
Suggested options to strengthen the EIA system include supplementing environmental cells with technical expert review panels, establishing further EIA training programs modeled after the one in NWFP, creating EIA information centers at national and provincial level to fill information gaps, improving public access to EIA documents, and promoting citizen monitoring of EIA implementation.
Chapter 5: Urban Air Quality - Addressing a Growing Threat to Health
Particulate matter is the air pollutant of greatest concern in Pakistan, exceeding safe levels in all major cities, and causing more than 22,000 deaths per year. In urban areas, vehicles are the most significant sources of particulate pollution, especially two-strokes and diesels. Essential steps towards better managing urban air quality include setting health-based air quality standards, updating emissions and fuel standards, reducing sulphur in diesel to 500 ppm, monitoring air quality, and focusing emission control efforts on the worst polluters. Effective clean air programs will require partnerships between Federal, provincial and municipal authorities.
A different set of measures will be required to address indoor air pollution, caused by exposure in the home to smoke from solid fuels, which results in health costs of up to Rs. 74 million per year, and causes the deaths of more than 30,000 children annually.
Chapter 6: Water Supply and Sanitation - Protecting Sources and Safeguarding Supplies
The health costs associated with waterborne diseases amount to 1.8% GDP, caused by unsafe drinking water, poor sanitation and inadequate hygiene. Surface and ground water are contaminated by a combination of municipal sewage, industrial effluent and agricultural runoff. In addition to investment in water supply and sanitation, and the establishment of institutions to operate and maintain such investments, the regulatory framework needs to be strengthened to include drinking water quality standards and use-based standards for water sources. While local capacity is required for water supply and sanitation service provision, Federal, provincial and local authorities must all play a role regulating drinking water quality.
Chapter 7: Recommendations and a Proposed Way Forward
To reduce the costs associated with environmental and natural resource damages in Pakistan, the SCEA provides recommendations targeting institutions, regulations, capacity, and accountability. Approval of the National Environmental Policy (NEP) in 2005, and the allocation of significant resources for its implementation in the Government’s Medium Term Development Framework, presents an important opportunity to act on these recommendations. For effective implementation of the NEP, the SCEA recommends the creation of incentive-based partnerships between Federal and provincial EPAs, with resources being provided based on performance in meeting NEP goals, and accountability ensured through annual public reporting of progress in achieving NEP targets.
Paul Jonathan Martin, Senior Environmental Specialist, World Bank
- What are the economic costs of environmental degradation in Pakistan and on what scale does it impact the poor? (0:57s) mp3 audio - Which sectors are most vulnerable? (0:54s) mp3 audio - What are the most significant causes of environmental damage in Pakistan? (1:15s) mp3 audio - What are some immediate measures the Government can take to halt environmental degradation? (2:01s) mp3 audio - What role can the World Bank play? (0:40s) mp3 audio
More Resources on Pakistan
World Bank Program Website maintained by the World Bank Office in Islamabad, a launching pad to all information on World Bank activities in the country (strategy, projects, publications, etc.)
Development Data A wide range of social and economic measures on Pakistan, including links to the World Bank's most important online development databases.
Analysis and Research Compilation of all the World Bank's publications on Pakistan, with 'search' options and links to analysis and research on other South Asian countries.
World Bank Program in South Asia Launching pad to all information on World Bank activities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
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