HAOL, Núm. 7 (Primavera, 2005), 123-132 ISSN 1696-2060 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CHINA AND INDIA: DEALING WITH AIR POLLUTION N THE TWO BOOMING ECONOMIES Zhiqun Zhu University of Bridgeport, United Status. E-mail: [email protected] Recibido: 22 Febrero 2005 / Revisado: 26 Marzo 2005 / Aceptado: 27 Abril 2005 / Publicado: 15 Junio 2005 Resumen: China and India are two booming pollution problem in both countries, especially economies today, but both are suffering fromo from a comparative perspective. environmental damages. To achieve sustainable development, the two countries have to pay In fact air pollution is so serious that it has more attention to the protection of environment. sounded the environmental alarm bells in both This article first examines the causes and countries. Obviously air pollution and consequences of the serious air pollution environmental protection in general deserve problem and suggests ways for improvement. more scholarly research and policy attention. Air The autor argues that air pollution control and pollution knows no boundaries. The air pollution environmental protection in general are a issue not only affects the two countries comprehensive project that requires concerted themselves in terms of sustainable development, efforts by governments at all levels, the it also has important regional economic, political scientific community, businesses, legal scholars, and security consequences. The study of China non-governmental and grass-roots groups, the and India's air pollution problem also provides international community, and individual lessons for other developing countries during citizens. Education and stricter law enforcement their economic modernization. remains the key to success. China and India’s experience in air pollution control provides AIR POLLUTION: SOURCES AND some useful lessons for other developing EFFECTS countries. Palabras clave: China, economy, India, The Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 18th relations. and 19th centuries saw the beginning of air _____________________ pollution, which has gradually become a global problem. Air pollution and environmental INTRODUCTION destruction have been aggravated in the 20th and 21st centuries in many developing countries like t the beginning of the 21st century both China and India as a result of industrialization China and India are blessed with a and modernization. A booming economy. The rise of China and India will have significant political, Sources of the air pollution problem come from economic, security, and cultural impacts on Asia several developments including untreated and the world. The study of the political industrial smoke, increasing auto exhaust economy of China and India has focused on emissions, growing cities, expanding energy such areas as the two powers' economic growth consumption, and weak government law rate, government policies regarding foreign enforcement policies. Most significantly, rapid investment, their economic development industrialization and urbanization have resulted strategies, the consequences of the growing in the emergence of industrial centers without economic, political and military strength of the corresponding growth in civic amenities and two nations, as well as the current and potential pollution control mechanisms. It is well known problems between the two giant neighbors. One that large cities in China and India like Beijing, area that has been understudied is the air © Historia Actual Online 2005 123 Political economy of China and India Zhiqun Zhu Shenyang, Taiyuan, New Delhi, Mumbai, and as 34% when exposed to acid rain pH 2.5, while Chennai are some of the world's most polluted. the protein content of soybean would drop as the Urban air quality in India and China ranks pH falls below 4.03. among the world's worst. Burning of garbage and tree leaves is still very popular in China and Another major negative consequence of air India, especially in rural areas. India and China pollution is smog, which not only hurt public have invested little in natural gas or other clean heath directly, but also presents a substantial forms of energy to reduce air pollution. threat to agriculture and economic security. Economic losses due to pollution may account One of the major sources of air pollution in for 3 to 4% of the country's gross national China and India is from sulfur-dioxide product4. If left unchecked, one can expect this emissions. The major contributor to the sulfur- number to increase, leaving open the strong dioxide emissions is due to increased coal possibility that India and China's economic consumption in the industrial sectors in both growth will eventually be limited by its countries. More than 70% of China's energy still compromised environmental conditions. comes from brown coal, the dirtiest fuel of all. Smog produces a vast haze and prevents A growing auto market has contributed to poor sunlight from reaching farmland. As a result, air quality in China and India. For example, by crops fail to receive the solar energy they need the end of September 2004, the number of to grow and agricultural output suffers. vehicles on Beijing's road had reached 2.4 According to William Chameides, an million. Vehicle exhaust emissions and particles atmospheric chemist at Georgia Institute of account for more than 40% and 20% of the total Technology, "every one percent of dimming air pollution respectively in Beijing1. In India reduces crop growth by an equal one percent"5. 70% of air pollution is due to vehicular emissions2. Average citizens suffer enormously from polluted air. According to China's environmental The problem of indoor air pollution has assumed protection agency, the quantities of carbon, significant attention lately, an issue of special nitrogen and other gases in Chinese cities will concern in rural areas and urban slums. Coal make the air too toxic to breathe in the most burning for cooking and heating is still polluted urban areas within a decade. And by widespread in the countryside of both India and 2020, about 550,000 Chinese will be dying China, creating serious indoor air pollution –a prematurely of chronic bronchitis from airborne direct cause of many asthmatic, respiratory and pollution, and tens of millions will be affected lung diseases. by respiratory distress6. India and China are not unaware of air pollution Living in Chinese cities with the worst air and other environmental problems. But the pollution does more damage to an average warnings about environmental catastrophe often Chinese person's lungs than smoking two packs go unheard because of weak government of cigarettes a day, according to a report7. policies to enforce environmental laws. In China, local party officials reportedly take Air pollution also causes tourism industry to bribes from commercial developers and win suffer. For example, known for its spectacular plaudits based on local economic growth rate, views overlooking the city's harbor, Hong Kong and thus have little incentive to halt construction has long been considered a popular vacation that pollutes air and ruins local ecological spot by travelers from around the world. But a balance. 2002 survey by the Hong Kong Tourism Board indicates that visitors' rosy views of the city are The consequences of air pollution are substantial increasingly clouded by smog. and alarming. Air pollution damages public heath, agriculture, tourism, and economic Asked to identify their biggest complaints about activities in general, among other things. One of their experience in Hong Kong, the survey's the most costly and environmentally damaging respondents listed air pollution as the top effects of air pollution is acid rain. Exposure to problem8. acid rain negatively impacts both the quantity and quality of crops produced. According to one study, wheat yields could decrease by as much 124 © Historia Actual Online 2005 Zhiqun Zhu Political economy of China and India AIR POLLUTION IN CHINA China Radio International reports that China's Pearl River Delta region is starting to suffer Two-thirds of Chinese cities have air quality photochemical smog due to heavy air pollution below World Health Organization (WHO) in the cities13. Emissions from factories, power standards, by far the worst rate of any large plants and the rapid growth of vehicles in cities country in the world. Several have the highest are providing the raw materials for rates of airborne carbon monoxide in the world. photochemical smog. The smog is caused by the chemical interaction of large amounts of A majority of the air pollution problems lie in nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon compounds the urban areas of the country. The pollution caused by ultraviolet radiation from sunlight. levels in many of the cities have reached levels Breathing smoggy air can result in eye, nose, several times that of the standard proposed by and throat irritation, acute and chronic the WHO. For example, air pollution levels in bronchitis, asthma, headache, and permanently China's industrial Pearl River Delta are two to reduced lung capacity. five times higher than U.S. air quality standards, according to a Hong Kong think tank9. In Hong Kong, the city's falling air quality has become a major concern for many residents Air pollution has taken its toll on public health suffering from the acrid clouds of pollution that in China. In northeast China's rust-belt Liaoning sweep across from mainland China, adding to province, for example, death from lung diseases emissions from local vehicles, factories and is four or five times higher than in developed power plants in the densely populated city. Air countries, according to one study10. pollution in Hong Kong hit record levels in September 2004, prompting the government to Heavy smog caused by burning coal, industrial warn people with heart and respiratory problems pollution and car exhausts have ruined air to stay indoors. On many days of the year now, quality in Chinese cities and reduced visibility to the city is shrouded in smog and it is nearly impossible to see across its famous Victoria as low as 200 meters (660 feet).