2.72 lakh premature deaths in 2019: WB report

Alarming levels of air pollution, unsafe water, poor sanitation, and lead exposure caused over 2.72 lakh premature deaths in the country in 2019.

That year, environmental degradation caused a total of 5.2 billion days of illness annually in Bangladesh and the costs were equivalent to 17.6 percent of the country's GDP or around Tk 92,081 crore, said the Bangladesh Country Environment Analysis (CEA) of World Bank published yesterday.

The World Bank report states that pollution disproportionately harms the most vulnerable people -- the poor, children under five, the elderly, and women.

Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury was present at the report unveiling programme as the chief guest.

He said battling environmental degradation is government's one of the main agendas.

"We admit that there are many environmental problems in our country. And the present government has taken a 100-days programme to address most crucial environmental issues," he said.

He, however, attributed the climate problems to both local and global factors.

"Development partners, who are key contributors to this crisis, have to offer grants, not loans to prevent environmental degradation caused by climate change," the minister said.

The World Bank report noted that air pollution, both indoor and outdoor, has the most detrimental effect on health, leading to nearly 55 percent of premature deaths, which alone cost 8.32 percent of GDP or around Tk 43,529 crore.

The presence of PM2.5 particles was more than twelve times higher than WHO's annual air quality guideline.

According to World Health Organization, particulate matter (PM) especially PM2.5, the finest particles floating in the air, causes the most health hazards including asthma, heart and lung disease, cancer, and other respiratory illnesses and premature deaths.

The report said, besides causing premature deaths, lead poisoning is causing irreversible damage to children's brain development, resulting in an estimated annual loss of nearly 20 million IQ points.

The World Bank experts proposed some interventions in the report which they estimated would prevent over 133,000 deaths per year.

The report also noted severe water pollution in the country due to untreated industrial discharge and unmanaged waste, including plastics and untreated sewage, among other sources.

The rivers surrounding Dhaka receive about 60,000 cubic meters of toxic industrial waste per day from more than 7,000 industries mainly located in nine major industrial cluster areas: Tongi, Hazaribagh, Tejgaon, Tarabo, Narayanganj, Savar, Gazipur, Ghorashal, and the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, the report said.

Untreated industrial waste and chemicals used for agriculture are significantly polluting the soil which ultimately affects the rivers as those end up in waterbodies during rainfall and flood events.

"We have seen around the world that when economic growth comes at the cost of the environment, it is not sustainable. But it is possible to grow cleaner and greener without compromising on the growth," said Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank's Country Director for Bhutan and Bangladesh.

"To sustain its strong growth path and improve the liveability of cities and the countryside, Bangladesh simply cannot afford to ignore the environment," he said.

Timely and urgent interventions for curbing air and water pollution, improving sanitation systems and overall hygiene and controlling lead exposure can prevent over 133,000 premature deaths per year, he added.

Experts said investments in cleaner power generation, clean cooking fuels, and stricter controls on industrial emissions can help reduce air pollution.

They also emphasized on enforcing environmental regulations, coupled with investments and other incentives for clean cooking, scaling up green financing, setting up efficient carbon markets, and raising awareness to reduce pollution and achieve green growth in Bangladesh.

"With timely and right set of policies and actions, Bangladesh can reverse its environment degradation trend," said Ana Luisa Gomes Lima, World Bank Senior Environmental Specialist and co-author of the report.