Inspections and emissions in India : puzzling survey evidence about industrial pollution

Industrial plants face pressure to abate water pollution from many sources, national and local, through formal government regulation and through more informal pressure from consumer groups and concern for the firm's reputation. Formal regulation tends to reflect the bargaining power of local communities and is not as uniform or blind as the law would imply. Regulators are not immune to the pulls and pushes of powerful community interests. Studies of enforcement in the U.S. steel industry, for example, find that it is weaker at plants that are major employers in the local labor market. Using survey data from India, the authors examine whether themonitoring and enforcement efforts of provincial pollution control authorities are affected by local community characteristics (which serve as proxies for political power). They also test for evidence that informal pressure on plants results in negotiated reductions in emissions. They find that high levels of pollution in India elicit a formal regulatory response: inspections. But inspections are ineffective in bringing about changes in behavior, probably because of bureaucratic or other problems in follow-through. Moreover, poorly-paid inspectors with low morale may be susceptible to"rent-seeking."They find little evidence to support the hypothesis that better-educated and higher-income communities are better able to pressure plants to reduce emissions than are poorer communities, although there are significantly more inspections in more developed districts. In India, whatever community pressure exists is probably channeled through formal regulatory mechanisms. Larger plants in India, as in the rest of the world, tend to be"cleaner"than smaller plants. Indian policymakers and regulators may want to explicitly recognize the tradeoff in environmental quality of the existing regulatory bias toward the small- and medium-scale sector.Sanitation and Sewerage,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Water Conservation,Public Health Promotion,Water Conservation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Sanitation and Sewerage,TF030632-DANISH CTF - FY05 (DAC PART COUNTRIES GNP PER CAPITA BELOW USD 2,500/AL

Health effects and pesticide perception as determinants of pesticide use : evidence from Bangladesh

In a recent survey of 820 Boro (winter rice), potato, bean, eggplant, cabbage, sugarcane, and mango farmers in Bangladesh, over 47 percent of farmers were found to be overusing pesticides. With only 4 percent of farmers formally trained in pesticide use or handling, and over 87 percent openly admitting to using little or no protective measures while applying pesticides, overuse is potentially a threatening problem to farmer health as well as the environment. To model pesticide overuse, the authors used a 3-equation, trivariate probit framework, with health effects and misperception of pesticide risk as endogenous dummy variables. Health effects (the first equation) were found to be strictly a function of the amount of pesticides used in production, while misperception of pesticide risk (the second equation) was determined by health impairments from pesticides and the toxicity of chemicals used. Pesticide overuse (the third equation) was significantly determined by variation in income, farm ownership, the toxicity of chemicals used, crop composition, and geographical location. The results highlight the necessity for policymakers to design effective and targeted outreach programs that deal specifically with pesticide risk, safe handling, and averting behavior. Ideally, the approach would be participatory in nature to address key informational gaps, as well as increasing a farmers'awareness retention. The results also point to specific crops and locations experiencing a higher prevalence of overuse-bean and eggplant in general-and overall production in the districts of Chapainawabganj, Chittagong, Comilla, Jessore, Narshingdi, Rajshahi, and Rangpur. Focusing efforts in these crop and geographical areas may have the most measurable effects on pesticide overuse.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Pest Management

Bending the rules : discretionary pollution control in China

Industry compliance with pollution regulations is far from universal, even in North America. In developing countries, compliance rates are often quite low, particularly where budgets for regulation are low or inspectors are corrupt. And strictness of enforcement varies. Regulators are reluctant to impose stiff penalties on financially strapped plants that are major employers, and in many developing countries state-owned plants are treated more leniently than their private-sector counterparts. But research on determinants of compliance and enforcement is rare, even in industrial societies. The authors use new plant-level data for China to analyze variations in both compliance and enforcement, with a focus on regulation of water pollution. They look at the mechanics of official regulation, the economics of compliance, and regulatory discretion. They find: Cost-sensitive plants will try to adjust emissions to the point where the marginal levy equals the marginal cost of abatement. In practice, local regulators have considerable discretion in judging both compliance and appropriate penalties for noncompliance. China's regulators play by the rules, but often bend them. Underreporting and underassessment are common in China. But variable regulation is systematic, not random, and seems to reflect important environmental and social concerns. Old factories pay more, state-owned factories pay higher rates, and big employers get a discount. And regulators give little or no slack to heavy dischargers.Water Conservation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Water and Industry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,TF030632-DANISH CTF - FY05 (DAC PART COUNTRIES GNP PER CAPITA BELOW USD 2,500/AL,Sanitation and Sewerage

Does environmental regulation matter? Determinants of the location of new manufacturing plants in India in 1994

The cost of complying with environmental regulations has been cited as a major burden on businesses. Is it enough of a burden to influence where businesses locate new plants, which are not restricted to their choice of location? The authors examine a unique establishment level dataset to find out whether the stringency of environmental regulation affects where firms locate new plants. Using a conditional logit model, they estimate the importance of difference variables in plant location choice. After controlling for the impact of factor price differentials, infrastructure and agglomeration, they find that the number of new plans commissioned in different states of India in 1994 does not appear to be adversely affected by more stringent environmental enforcement at the state level. In other words, and environmental"race to the bottom"is unlikely. They find that the level of existing business activity overwhelms all other factors affecting location decision. Reliable infrastructure and factors of production are also critical.Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Decentralization,Environmental Economics&Policies,National Governance,Economic Theory&Research,Health Economics&Finance,Public Sector Economics&Finance

Why paper mills clean up : determinants of pollution abatement in four Asian countries

The authors find strong evidence that despite weak or nonexistent formal regulation and enforcement of environmental standards, many plants in South and Southeast Asia are clean. At the same time, many plants are among the world's worst polluters. To account for the extreme variation among plants, the authors review evidence from a survey of pollution abatement by 26 pulp and paper plants in four countries: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Thailand. They incorporate 3 sets of factors affecting pollution intensity: plant characteristics, economic considerations, and external pressure from the government and private stakeholders. They find that the level of pollution abatement is positively associated with scale and competitiveness, negatively associated with public ownership, and unaffected by foreign links (in ownership or financing). Informal regulation, or community pressure on plants works to abate pollution, with high income being a powerful predictor of effectiveness. Privatization, to the extent that it increases plant efficiency, can significantly improve environmental performance. To prevent environmental injustice in poor or marginalized communities, the authors conclude, governments may want to consider strategies for improving their participation, and may want to target regulation to address pollution problems among them.Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Water Conservation,Pollution Management&Control,Sanitation and Sewerage,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Pollution Management&Control,Sanitation and Sewerage,TF030632-DANISH CTF - FY05 (DAC PART COUNTRIES GNP PER CAPITA BELOW USD 2,500/AL

Improving indoor air quality for poor families : a controlled experiment in Bangladesh

The World Health Organization's 2004 Global and Regional Burden of Disease Report estimates that acute respiratory infections from indoor air pollution (pollution from burning wood, animal dung, and other bio-fuels) kill a million children annually in developing countries, inflicting a particularly heavy toll on poor families in South Asia and Africa. This paper reports on an experiment that studied the use of construction materials, space configurations, cooking locations, and household ventilation practices (use of doors and windows) as potentially-important determinants of indoor air pollution. Results from controlled experiments in Bangladesh are analyzed to test whether changes in these determinants can have significant effects on indoor air pollution. Analysis of the data shows, for example, that pollution from the cooking area diffuses into living spaces rapidly and completely. Furthermore, it is important to factor in the interaction between outdoor and indoor air pollution. Among fuels, seasonal conditions seem to affect the relative severity of pollution from wood, dung, and other biomass fuels. However, there is no ambiguity about their collective impact. All are far dirtier than clean fuels. The analysis concludes that if cooking with clean fuels is not possible, then building the kitchen with porous construction material and providing proper ventilation in cooking areas will yield a better indoor health environment.Renewable Energy,Energy Production and Transportation,Air Quality&Clean Air,Pollution Management&Control,Sanitation and Sewerage

Who suffers from indoor air pollution? evidence from Bangladesh

In this paper the authors investigate individuals'exposure to indoor air pollution. Using new survey data from Bangladesh, they analyze exposure at two levels-differences within households attributable to family roles, and differences across households attributable to income and education. Within households, they relate individuals'exposure to pollution in different locations during their daily round of activity. The authors find high levels of exposure for children and adolescents of both sexes, with particularly serious exposure for children under 5. Among prime-age adults, they find that men have half the exposure of women (whose exposure is similar to that of children and adolescents). They also find that elderly men have significantly lower exposure than elderly women. Across households, they draw on results from their previous paper (Dasgupta et al, 2004), which relate pollution variation across households to choices of cooking fuel, cooking locations, construction materials, and ventilation practices. They find that these choices are significantly affected by family income and adult education levels (particularly for women). Overall, the authors find that the poorest, least-educated households have twice the pollution levels of relatively high-income households with highly-educated adults. For children in a typical household, pollutionexposure can be halved by adopting two simple measures-increasing their outdoor time from 3 to 5 or 6 hours a day, and concentrating outdoor time during peak cooking periods. The authors recognize that weather and other factors may intervene occasionally, and that child supervision outdoors may be difficult for some households. However, the potential benefits are so great that neighbors might well agree to pool outdoor supervision once they became aware of the implications for their children's health.Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,Population&Development,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Water and Industry,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Water and Industry,Environmental Economics&Policies,Population&Development,TF030632-DANISH CTF - FY05 (DAC PART COUNTRIES GNP PER CAPITA BELOW USD 2,500/AL

Indoor air quality for poor families: new evidence from Bangladesh

Indoor air pollution (IAP) from cooking and heating is estimated to kill a million children annually in developing countries. To promote a better understanding of IAP, the authors investigate the determinants of IAP in Bangladesh using the latest air monitoring technology and a national household survey. The study concludes that IAP is dangerously high for many poor families in Bangladesh. Concentrations of respirable airborne particulates(PM10) 300 ug/m3 or greater are common in the sample, implying widespread exposure to a serious health hazard. Poor households in Bangladesh depend heavily on wood, dung, and other biomass fuels. The econometric results indicate that fuel choice significantly affects indoor pollution levels: Natural gas and kerosene are significantly cleaner than biomass fuels. However, household-specific factors apparently matter more than fuel choice in determining PM10 concentrations. In some biomass-burning households, concentrations are scarcely higher than in households that use natural gas. The results suggest that cross-household variation is strongly affected by structural arrangements-cooking locations, construction materials, and ventilation practices. The authors'analysis also suggests that poor families may not have to wait for clean fuels or clean stoves to enjoy significantly cleaner air. Within their sample household population, some arrangements are already producing relatively clean conditions, even when"dirty"biomass fuels are used. Since these arrangements are already within the means of poor families, the scope for cost-effective improvements may be larger than is commonly believed.Sanitation and Sewerage,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Montreal Protocol,Construction Industry,Montreal Protocol,Transport and Environment,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,TF030632-DANISH CTF - FY05 (DAC PART COUNTRIES GNP PER CAPITA BELOW USD 2,500/AL,Sanitation and Sewerage

Vulnerability of bangladesh to cyclones in a changing climate : potential damages and adaptation cost

This paper integrates information on climate change, hydrodynamic models, and geographic overlays to assess the vulnerability of coastal areas in Bangladesh to larger storm surges and sea-level rise by 2050. The approach identifies polders (diked areas), coastal populations, settlements, infrastructure, and economic activity at risk of inundation, and estimates the cost of damage versus the cost of several adaptation measures. A 27-centimeter sea-level rise and 10 percent intensification of wind speed from global warming suggests the vulnerable zone increases in size by 69 percent given a +3-meter inundation depth and by 14 percent given a +1-meter inundation depth. At present, Bangladesh has 123 polders, an early warning and evacuation system, and more than 2,400 emergency shelters to protect coastal inhabitants from tidal waves and storm surges. However, in a changing climate, it is estimated that 59 of the 123 polders would be overtopped during storm surges and another 5,500 cyclone shelters (each with the capacity of 1,600 people) to safeguard the population would be needed. Investments including strengthening polders, foreshore afforestation, additional multi-purpose cyclone shelters, cyclone-resistant private housing, and further strengthening of the early warning and evacuation system would cost more than $2.4 billion with an annual recurrent cost of more than$50 million. However, a conservative damage estimate suggests that the incremental cost of adapting to these climate change related risks by 2050 is small compared with the potential damage inthe absence of adaptation measures.Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Climate Change Economics,Science of Climate Change,Hazard Risk Management,Global Environment Facility

Climate proofing infrastructure in Bangladesh : the incremental cost of limiting future inland monsoon flood damage

Two-thirds of Bangladesh is less than 5 meters above sea level, making it one of the most flood prone countries in the world. Severe flooding during a monsoon causes significant damage to crops and property, with severe adverse impacts on rural livelihoods. Future climate change seems likely to increase the destructive power of monsoon floods. This paper examines the potential cost of offsetting increased flooding risk from climate change, based on simulations from a climate model of extreme floods out to 2050. Using the 1998 flood as a benchmark for evaluating additional protection measures, the authors calculate conservatively that necessary capital investments out to 2050 would total US$2,671 million (at 2009 prices) to protect roads and railways, river embankments surrounding agricultural lands, and drainage systems and erosion control measures for major towns. With gradual climate change, however, required investments would be phased. Beyond these capital-intensive investments, improved policies, planning and institutions are essential to ensure that such investments are used correctly and yield the expected benefits. Particular attention is needed to the robustness of benefits from large-scale fixed capital investments. Investments in increased understanding of risk-mitigation options and in economic mobility will have especially high returns.Hazard Risk Management,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Science of Climate Change,Climate Change Economics