Tackling Water Pollution and Promoting Efficient Water Use in Industries REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES Environment and Development Policy Brief 2019/3
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Tackling Water Pollution and Promoting Efficient Water Use in Industries REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES Environment and Development Policy Brief 2019/3 INTRODUCTION The United Nations Economic and Social Commission to limit water pollution and promote sustainable for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) undertook a project water use in the industrial sector. Building on such to strengthen national capacities in designing examples, this project emphasizes the role of policies for water treatment and use in key industrial legislation, an integrated approach towards policy sectors in seven countries in the region: Bangladesh, formulation founded on a theory of change, and the Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Pakistan, need for enforcing the polluter pays principle. and Viet Nam. Due to their booming industrialisation, In February 2019, in an effort to disseminate these these countries present high-water consumption findings, ESCAP held aworkshop to build stakeholder and water pollution potential. capacity and identify challenges and opportunities The project started by taking stock of key policy in the region for addressing water pollution by lessons and recent case studies from the region. industries and promote more efficient water usage. Examples used for this project include the People’s This policy brief provides an overview of the policy Republic of China’s (PRC) Water Ten policy reform, landscape in addressing water pollution in countries, which captures proven and effective measures then summarises the key challenges to water use and management under three broad categories solution approaches. The brief concludes with some of information, incentives and institutions. It then proposals for enhanced regional cooperation and discusses the existing policy to address these recommendations for future work. challenges and also highlight some emerging IV. Regional I. Overview of the II. Key challenges to water use and III. Solutions cooperation and policy landscapes management recommendations OVERVIEW National governments are aware that management and planning of the country’s vast industrialisation can lead to environmental rivers. Myanmar’s 2012 Environmental Conservation degradation. In fact, policymakers across the region Law established ambient water quality standards have made substantive efforts to introduce policies for surface water, marine water and groundwater. In that curb environmental impacts, many of which are Pakistan the 2018 National Water formulates projects specifically targeted at industrial water pollution (see and master plans for water conservation, water Annex, Table 1). development and water management. In Indonesia the Environmental Protection and Management Law These efforts are also demonstrated (2001) encompasses a green industry standard, through water and environmental legislation punishment against intentional water pollution, aimed at protecting the environment in the face of subsidies on preserving environmental functions and rapid industrialisation. In Bangladesh the National water pollution sanctions. Finally, in Viet Nam the Water Policy (1999) and the Bangladesh Water Law on Environmental Protection (2014) established Act (2013) delineate policy principles regarding special funds to support pollution control, an effluent industrial water use. In Cambodia the Strategic permit system, mandatory compensation and Development Plan (NSDP) for 2014–2018 states remediation of environmental damages. the importance of protecting natural resources and sustainable development and outlines tangible However, despite these efforts, pervasive policies to address water pollution. In Lao PDR the patterns of water pollution and inefficient water Water Resources Law was updated in 2017, aiming usage are still observed. Moreover, common polluting to improve the sustainability of Lao PDR’s water industries exist in amongst numerous countries in resources. It is expected to influence the monitoring, the region and contribute to the pollution of many Figure 1. Rating the success of key policies across the region Source: UNESCAP Stakeholder Survey 2 transboundary water resources, suggesting the top four policies were wastewater recycling, pollution need for regional cooperation for pollution control. treatment, discharge policies and ecological policies. Across targeted countries, top polluters include the This feedback demonstrated a pattern in public policy textile industry, iron and steel, food and beverage thinking, preventing polluted water from entering production, agriculture and construction (see Annex, water ways is at the forefront of water pollution Table 2). These top polluting industries are not only prevention for many countries. water polluters but also water users, making them However, stakeholders tend to view these contributors to both water quality and water scarcity. policies as unsuccessful. When asked to rate their These concerns raise questions about the success perception of already implemented policies based on a and failure of policy implementation across the five-point scale for implementation, transparency and region. effectiveness, most policies averaged 1 or 2 across Key stakeholders in target countries were all three criteria with only few policies scoring above asked to identify the most important tools in limiting 2 (see Figure 1). This called for deeper exploration of adverse water impacts from industrialisation. The the critical challenges facing policy implementation. CHALLENGES Based on research and consultation with relevant Investing efforts in internal and external institutional stakeholders, the main challenges faced by coordination and building strong enforcement policymakers when addressing water pollution from framework are therefore crucial channels to control industry can be divided into three distinct categories: water use and pollution. information, institutions and incentives. 1) Policy framework: a. Lack of clear and appropriate policy tools Information: The low availability and dissemination of data surrounding industrial water pollution b. Insufficient policy coherence across is an obstacle to sustainable industrial water ministries and levels of government management. To build and monitor sustainable c. Low collaboration and buy-in from private industrial systems, the impact of industry on water sector needs to be more accurately and regularly quantified. d. Lack of strategy for transboundary water 1) Data gathering: resources management a. Inadequate environmental impact 2) Policy coordination: assessments a. Low political will to protect the b. Unsustained water quality monitoring environment and enforce the existing c. Lack of decentralized data generation and policies participatory data gathering involving all b. Inadequate capacity to carry policy stakeholders commitments, especially monitoring and enforcement. 2) Data dissemination: a. Low public awareness on the state of Incentives: The ability to adopt sustainable water quality and pollution production practices and the drive to reduce water pollution are determined by incentives. Often, b. Poor communication with industry and industrial water issues are the result of a choice other stakeholders architecture that fails to push industries towards Institutions: Industrial water issues often stem from greener behaviours and fails to deter them from institutional failure and fragmented approaches. polluting. 3 1) Positive incentives: tax and implementation of other punitive a. Insufficient access to green technologies measures. b. Lack of funding for monitoring In sum, the challenges associated with industrial technologies water fall under three main categories: information, institution and incentives. In the following section, 2) Negative incentives: we suggest policy actions to improve industrial water a. Prohibitive political cost of pollution strategies in these three categories. OVERCOMING CHALLENGES The following section reflects on the potential 2) Benchmarking efforts: This type of solutions to address some of the challenges information tool informs constituents identified in the previous section. Recognizing the and policymakers on the status or trends need to prioritize issues, the solutions presented associated with environmental conditions here do not offer a mirror image of the challenges and/or activities. These kinds of efforts seek previously identified. Rather, they highlight some of to define benchmarks that can be used to the most promising solutions available regionally. inform debate, to aid setting priorities for This section is divided between existing solutions future policies or actions based on accurate (A), comprising the low-hanging policy tools, and environmental status, or to help evaluate emerging solutions (B), that sheds light on more progress in achieving previously specified innovative and exploratory solutions. goals, providing clarification on the nature and status of environmental problems and A. EXISTING SOLUTIONS challenges.3 Examples can include public information campaigns on emissions and Information water use, such as Malaysia’s awareness In order to strengthen public information and campaign among riverine populations,4 or the participation, two aspects of public policy need to release of statistics and case studies each be strengthened: information and engagement. year. Improving information on environmental policy These information tools act on two levels to inform requires that government spearhead two particular government, industry and the public. First, they information