New Delhi: The annual cost of environmental degradation in India is about Rs. 3.75 trillion, or 5.7% of India’s 2009 gross domestic product (GDP), according to a report released by the World Bank on Wednesday.
The impact of outdoor air pollution on GDP is the highest and accounts for 1.7% of the GDP loss, said the report, which was submitted to the environment ministry in May and took around three years to complete. Indoor air pollution is the second-biggest offender and costs India 1.3% of GDP.
“The higher costs for outdoor/indoor air pollution are primarily driven by an elevated exposure of the young and productive urban population to particulate matter pollution that results in a substantial cardiopulmonary and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (heart ailments) mortality load among adults,” the report said.
The study, titled Diagnostic Assessment of Select Environmental Challenges in India, has taken into account environmental damage in India from urban air pollution, including particulate matter and lead; inadequate water supply; poor sanitation and hygiene; and indoor air pollution. Other factors that contribute to the loss include damage to natural resources because of worsening agricultural output because of an increase in soil salinity, water logging and soil erosion; rangeland degradation; deforestation and natural disasters.
“Environmental pollution, degradation of natural resources, natural disasters and inadequate environmental services, such as improved water supply and sanitation, impose costs to society in the form of ill health, lost income, and increased poverty and vulnerability,” the report said.
A significant portion of diseases caused by poor water supply, sanitation and hygiene affect children younger than five, the report said. It attributed 23% of child mortality in the country to environmental degradation.
Following the concept of growing economically now and cleaning up later will not be environmentally sustainable for the country in the long run, said Muthukumara S. Mani, the lead author of the report. “We believe that a low-emission, resource-efficient greening of the economy is possible at a very low cost in terms of GDP growth.”
The country needs to look at the principle of co-benefits while assessing the validity of a policy, said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director at Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment.
“If this report shows that reducing particulate matter gives public health benefits, then we should not worry about the lowering GDP as that cost will be offset. It is important that we look at the benefit and the cost and use the benefits to justify the cost,” Roychowdhury said. “The challenge for the country is such that we need to tackle the energy problem, public health and climate change issues at the same time.”
The report points out that some of the possible policy options to reduce particulate matter pollution could be incentivizing technology upgradation, securing efficiency improvements, strengthening enforcement and enhancing technology and efficiency standards.
