Equivocating on the polluter-pays principle: The consequences for Pakistan

The polluter-pays principle has been widely implemented in OECD countries and credited for bring about a significant reduction in pollutant discharge. However, it has had only limited implementation in developing countries. The consequences of not implementing it in developing countries, to the exte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental management 2009-08, Vol.90 (11), p.3479-3484
Main Author: Luken, Ralph A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Conservation of Natural Resources - economics
Conservation of Natural Resources - methods
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Construction costs
Degradation
Developing Countries
Discharge
Economic impact analysis
Economics
Effluents
Environmental effects
environmental law
Environmental management
Environmental Monitoring
environmental policy
Environmental Pollution - economics
Environmental Pollution - prevention & control
environmental protection
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Funding
General aspects
Governments
Humans
Industrial environmental management
Industrial pollution
Industrial Waste - economics
Industrial Waste - prevention & control
Industry
LDCs
Pakistan
Pollutants
Polluter-pays principle
pollution control
Water treatment
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Summary:The polluter-pays principle has been widely implemented in OECD countries and credited for bring about a significant reduction in pollutant discharge. However, it has had only limited implementation in developing countries. The consequences of not implementing it in developing countries, to the extent they are documented, are limited to estimating the economic damages of environmental degradation. Yet there are several other but seldom documented negative consequences of the failure to implement the polluter-pays principle. These consequences are documented in the case of Pakistan. They include limited construction of effluent treatment plants, heavy dependence on the government and international donors for funding the only two operational common effluent treatment plants, significant operational issues at the two common effluent treatment plants, missed opportunities to build cost-effective common effluent treatment plants and minimal environmental improvements from isolated investments in individual effluent treatment plants in addition to the already documented significant level of environmental degradation due to uncontrolled pollutant discharge.
ISSN:0301-4797
1095-8630
DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.05.033