The document discusses how Asia's economic growth over the past two decades has come at enormous costs to the environment. Asia is now seeing the effects of global warming through prolonged droughts, more intense typhoons, coral reef bleaching, and disappearing wetlands. While lifting millions out of poverty, continued reliance on fossil fuels is exacerbating global warming and pollution is degrading air quality in many Asian cities. Experts warn that unchecked environmental degradation risks reversing economic gains and worsening quality of life across the region if more sustainable growth models are not adopted soon.

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By KARL WILSON in Sydney
karlwilson@chinadailyapac.com
A
sia’s strong economic growth over the last two
decades has lifted millions out of poverty but it
has come at an enormous cost to the environment.
Throughout the region, the full impact of global warming is
already starting to have an impact. We are seeing prolonged droughts while
typhoons are becoming more intense and erratic.
The use of fossil fuels such as coal to power the region’s electricity grids is
increasing rather than decreasing, pumping more carbon dioxide — one of the key
ingredients of global warming — into the Earth’s atmosphere.
We are already seeing the effects of global warming on the region’s coral reef systems
with intensified bleaching.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has warned that wetlands that
once covered tens of thousands of kilometers of shorelines are disappearing faster in
Asia than anywhere else in the world.
TheNationalUniversityofSingapore’sCentreonAsiaandGlobalisationsaideconomic
growth has brought about “degradation to the environment”.
A research paper titled Environment and Economic Growth said: “An economy can-
not grow forever without any consideration to the ecosystem. For sustainable economic
growth, there must be a balance between economic growth and ecosystem utilization.”
As coal burns, wetlands disappear and climate becomes unpredictable,
Asia is paying the price for years of economic expansion
>> ENVIRONMENT, PAGE 5
INSIDE
Experts question South
China Sea decision p10
Provocation drives naval
drill in disputed waters p12
COST OF PROSPERITY
Cover Story
Heated debate over coal power plants,
page 6
Going nuclear to help fuel Asia’s growth,
page 7
Guidelines required in pollution cases,
page 8
Calls for tougher measures to protect health,
page 9
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2. In May, the Manila-based Asian
DevelopmentBank(ADB)published
a report, Environmentally Sustain-
able Growth: A Strategic Review,
in which it claimed much of Asia’s
economic growth has been achieved
at the “expense of massive environ-
mental degradation and climate
change”.
Prepared by the ADB’s Indepen-
dent Evaluation group, the report
said the past pattern of growth is
now “widely accepted as unsustain-
able”.
Since 1990, developing Asia and
the Pacific has more than tripled its
livingstandardandreducedextreme
poverty (people with expenditures
below $1.25 a day) from more than
50 percent to about 20 percent,
accordingtoVinodThomas,director
generalofindependentevaluationat
the ADB.
“At the same time, vital environ-
mental indicators have unmistak-
ably deteriorated in much of the
region,” he told China Daily Asia
Weekly.
Thomas said the region has now
become the world’s leading emitter
of greenhouse gases.
“Air pollution in Beijing, New Del-
hi and at least a dozen other major
Asian cities is dangerous and unac-
ceptable.
“The quality of life, despite higher
average incomes, has plummeted.
Urban pollution and congestion
have contributed to global warm-
ing and the devastating hazards of
nature (floods, storms, droughts,
heatwaves)towhichtheregionitself
— especially its poor — is the most
exposed.”
The World Health Organization
(WHO) said the Asia-Pacific region
had the largest air-pollution-related
burden in 2012, with an estimated
3.3 million deaths linked to indoor
air pollution and 2.6 million due to
outdoor air pollution.
WHO pollution data on 1,600 cit-
ies for 2014 found that half of the
top 20 cities in the world with the
highest levels of particulate matter
2.5 emissions were in India.
Thomas said that in terms of the
Millennium Development Goals,
a United Nations-led blueprint to
improvethelivesoftheworld’spoor-
est people, the environment is one
area where the region has lagged
others while it has led in growth and
poverty reduction.
“In particular, the loss of forest
cover and rise in greenhouse gases
or their carbon dioxide equivalent
emissions have been dangerously on
the rise,” Thomas said. “Unless these
gaps are addressed urgently, Asia
will not achieve sustained growth
going forward.”
China recognizes this more than
any other country, both because the
environmentaldegradationhasbeen
the greatest and because policymak-
ers realize that people’s well-being
and plain economic growth depend
on reversing these disastrous envi-
ronmental trends.
Asia produces about 40 percent
of global economic activity and two-
thirds of global growth. About 60
percent of the world’s population
live in Asia. Experts predict 3.3 bil-
lion people will live in Asian cities by
2050,upfromthecurrentnumberof
about 1.9 billion.
“Meeting the challenge of run-
awayclimatechangerequiresarapid
transition to a low-carbon path, but
many countries remain ambivalent
about this choice because of con-
cerns this will come at the expense
of economic growth and shared
prosperity,” Thomas said.
The ADB report’s main author,
Andrew Brubaker, acknowledges
that stepping up to the plate with
investments and policies to help
achieve environmentally sustain-
able growth — such as by expanding
access to clean electricity where coal
is readily available — is a tall order
given the global economic outlook.
“The recent lowering of global
growth projections by the Interna-
tional Monetary Fund and other
institutions is unnerving policymak-
ers,” said Brubaker. “But it would be
false economics to delay decisions
promoting environmentally sustain-
able growth and climate action.”
Brubaker also noted that worsen-
ing environmental conditions are
increasingly affecting social cohe-
sion, as manifested by demonstra-
tions over intensifying air pollution
in Beijing and Delhi. Similarly, low
water security and the effect of
more frequent and intense droughts
threaten the livelihoods of the rural
poor in South Asia.
The report identifies the most
“immediate and serious” environ-
mental threats facing Asia as urban
air pollution, lack of proper solid
waste management, degradation of
fresh water resources, soil erosion,
destruction of biodiversity habitats,
and the mass extinction of species.
Thomas from the ADB said:
“These have the potential to reverse
the region’s impressive economic
progress, reduce the quality of life,
and even cause pandemics — and
this, in essence, is the reason why
countries must not delay in putting
their economies on an environmen-
tally sustainable growth path.”
The ADB report noted that Asia’s
demographic and economic growth
is predominantly an urban phenom-
enon, with cities now accounting for
about80percentoftheregion’sGDP.
As a result, the adverse effects of cli-
mate change and related impacts on
air,waterandsoilqualityareprimar-
ily experienced in urban areas.
By 2050, Asia’s urban population
is expected to nearly double from 1.6
billion in 2010 to 3 billion, putting
additional strain on infrastructure
and natural resources.
“As the benefits and costs of Asia’s
economic growth manifest them-
selves most visibly in cities, address-
ing urban environmental issues and
improving urban resilience is a key
challenge,” said the report.
Yet it noted: “The growing
acknowledgement of increasing
environmental degradation in Asia
has not been matched by sufficient
action.”
Theentryofnewlendersfordevel-
opment — the Asian Infrastructure
Investment Bank and the New
Development Bank of BRICS coun-
tries (Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa) — will provide
more and much-needed financing
forinfrastructure,acoreADBareain
whichtheinstitutioncanleverageits
expertise in environmental sustain-
ability and climate action.
Bharat Dahiya, an urbanist with
the Social Research Institute at Chu-
lalongkorn University in Thailand,
said Asia’s extraordinary growth has
produced “unprecedented challeng-
es” for governments in the region.
“Over the years, Asian govern-
ments have focused more on eco-
nomic growth while neglecting
important issues of environmental
management, disasters and climate
change,” he told China Daily Asia
Weekly.
Dahiyasaidthatcitieshaveplayed
a transformative role to become the
enginesofSoutheastAsia’seconomic
growth.
“They have capitalized on the
opportunities provided by global-
ization, export-led growth and their
own demographic expansion,” he
said. “Having said that, they are also
wrestling with unique challenges
relatedtourbaninfrastructure…the
environment and climate change.”
He explained that Asia’s rapid
urbanization has left many areas
without safe drinking water and
sanitation.
“Water and soil pollution from
urban economic activities threaten
tobringirreversibledamagetonatu-
ral resources,” he said.
“Rising incomes have led to an
explosion in private automobile and
motorcycle sales, degrading urban
air quality. Energy consumption in
some regional cities parallels that in
developedcountries,whileothersare
unable to meet even basic demand.”
Dahiya explained that there is no
historic parallel to these acute issues
facingAsia,asindustrializednations
had the luxury of dealing with their
development challenges over a long
period of time.
“Southeast Asian cities are highly
vulnerable to the impacts of climate
change and natural disasters given
their unique geographies and high
population densities. The result is
that most cities find themselves per-
petually in firefighting mode,” he
said.
“Some Asian nations have chosen
the development mode of ‘grow first
and clean later’, but that will not
work for all of Southeast Asia.”
Ecological impact could reverse economic growth and worsen quality of life
ENVIRONMENT:
>> FROM PAGE 1
SMOG ENVELOPS A ROAD in New Delhi on Dec 18 last year.Air pollution in the Indian capital and 12 other major Asian cities has reached dangerous levels. AFP
5CHINA DAILY ASIA WEEKLY July 22 - 28, 2016 COVER STORY