Air pollution: South Asia

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Air pollution: the economic cost

‘Air pollution costing economy 3.75L cr a year’

Dipak Kumar Dash | TNN

The Times of India

New Delhi: Outdoor air pollution in urban areas by itself claims 1.09 lakh lives of adults and 7,513 lives of children below 5 years, annually, says a latest report of World Bank. The study released on Wednesday revealed that the annual cost of environmental degradation in India is about Rs 3.75 lakh crores, which is equivalent to 5.7% of the country’s GDP.

The study commissioned by the central government has brought out how urban growth centres are choking and claims that outdoor and indoor air pollution have the maximum share of this annual burden on India’s economy. According to the estimates of the bank, outdoor air pollution accounts for 29% of this, followed by indoor air pollution (23%), cropland degradation (19%), water supply and sanitation (14%), pasture (11%) and forest degradation (4%).

The first national level economic assessment of environmental degradation in India focuses on particle pollution (PM10) from the burning of fossil fuels. This has serious health consequences, amounting up to 3% of India’s GDP and results in losses due to lack of access to clean water and sanitation, besides depletion of natural resources.

Indoor air pollution is mainly due to burning of wood in rural India.

PM10 stands for particulate matter up to 10 micrometers in size and include smoke, dirt and dust from factories, construction sites, farming and roads. Annually, over 3.7 lakh hospital admissions are reported due to outdoor air pollution in urban areas.

According to the report, India can make green growth a reality by putting in place strategies to reduce environmental degradation at the minimal cost of.02% to .04% of average annual GDP growth rate.