Mainul Huq

Determinants of pollution abatement in developing countries: Evidence from South and Southeast Asia

Abstract Developing countries, paŕticularly those in Asia, are fast adopting industrial pollution control standards similar to those in developed countries. Formal regulation has been greatly hampered, however, by the absence of clear and legally binding regulations; limited institutional capacity; lack of appropriate equipment and trained personnel; and inadequate information on emissions. One would predict highly pollution-intensive production under such conditions. Our research, however, has uncovered strongly contradictory evidence. Despite weak or nonexistent formal regulation, there are many clean plants in the developing countries of South and Southeast Asia. Of course, there are also many plants which are among the worlds most serious polluters. What explains such extreme interplant variation? This paper reviews evidence drawn from three empirical studies of plant-level abatement practices conducted 1992–1994. The analyses test the importance of plant characteristics, economic considerations and external pressure in determining environmental performance. The results consistently show that pollution intensity is negatively associated with scale, productive efficiency, and the use of new process technology. It is strongly and positively associated with public ownership, but foreign ownership has no significant effect once other plant characteristics are taken into account. Among external sources of pressure, community action, or informal regulation, emerges as a clear source of interplant differences in all three studies. The results suggest that local income and education are powerful predictors of the effectiveness of informal regulation. They also show that existing formal regulation has measurably beneficial effects, even when it is quite weakly developed.

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

Cyclones in a Changing Climate : The Case of Bangladesh

2.4 billion with an annual recurrent cost of more than

Bending the Rules: Discretionary Pollution Control in China

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 in the absence of adaptation measures.

The Role of Social Capital in Development: Does social capital increase participation in voluntary solid waste management? Evidence from Dhaka, Bangladesh

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 (SLR) by 2050. The approach identifies polders, coastal populations, settlements, infrastructure, and economic activity at risk of inundation, and estimates the damage from storm surge inundation versus the cost of several adaptation measures. A 27-centimetre SLR and 10% intensification of wind speed resulting from global warming suggest that the vulnerable zone increases in size by 69% given a +3-metre inundation depth, and by 14% given a +1-metre inundation depth. Estimates indicate 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

Climate Proofing Infrastructure in Bangladesh: The Incremental Cost of Limiting Future Flood Damage:

2.4 billion, with an annual recurrent cost of more than

Climate change, soil salinity, and the economics of high-yield rice production in coastal Bangladesh

50 million. These estimates can serve as a prototype in climate negotiations of the adaptation costs of extreme weather events.

Climate Proofing Infrastructure in Bangladesh: The Incremental Cost of Limiting Future Inland Monsoon Flood Damage

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. Chinas 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.

Drinking water salinity and infant mortality in coastal Bangladesh

This chapter seeks to identify the role of social capital in the private, community-based provision of a public good, in this case, trash collection. The community aspect is vitally important because trash collection involves positive externalities that lead to limited incentives for individual action. Trash collection is also an activity in which collective action is warranted because individual action does not have much impact. Why are some communities better able to organize themselves for the collective good than others? Given the same impetus, what community characteristics lead to activism in some neighborhoods and not in others? The garbage collection system in Dhaka, Bangladesh, involves municipal pick-up from large dumpsters placed in central areas, with municipal workers responsible for collecting trash from smaller dumpsters located in alleys and side streets and transporting it to the main dumpsters. However, municipal employees are unreliable and frequently fail to collect the trash on a regular basis. In response, some communities, funded by voluntary contributions from community members, have hired private contractors to undertake local trash collection. Other, apparently similar, neighborhoods have not managed to successfully organize an alternative to the municipal service. Why have some communities or neighborhoods displayed such initiative while others have not? We conjecture that “social capital,” which we equate with community cohesiveness, is a critical determinant of such collective action. The cohesiveness of the community is, in turn, a function of factors such as customary or traditional interactions and institutions, a common heritage, values, and ethnic or religious background.

FACING THE HUNGRY TIDE: CLIMATE CHANGE, LIVELIHOOD THREATS, AND HOUSEHOLD RESPONSES IN COASTAL BANGLADESH

Bangladesh is one of the most flood prone countries in the world. Two thirds of the country is less than 5 m above sea level. Past monsoon flood records indicate that about 21% of the country is subject to annual flooding and an additional 42% is at risk of floods with varied intensity. Although annual regular flooding has traditionally been beneficial, providing nutrient-laden sediments and recharging groundwater aquifers, the country often experiences severe flooding during a monsoon that causes significant damage to crops and properties with adverse impacts on rural livelihoods and production. The 1998 flood inundated two thirds of the land area, resulting in damages and losses of over US