A $400 million fund is forming to clean up toxic pollution in the developing world.
The Global Pollution Remediation Fund is being launched by an international consortium of environmental ministers, researchers and NGOs.
“As citizens of the richer countries of the world, we have a responsibility to act,” said Margrit von Braun of the University of Idaho. “We have already solved these problems in our own countries – we have an obligation to transfer our knowledge and resources.”
The Fund will be directed toward cleaning up over 400 highly polluted locations worldwide that affect more than 100 million people – people who suffer from reduced life expectancies, increased cancer risks and severe neurological damage. Donors will now be approached to raise the necessary monies.
The group concurred that the international community must act immediately to deal with legacy industrial, military, and mining pollution in the poorer countries of the world. They also agreed to the basic protocols for the Fund’s inception and management. “Legacy” refers to residual pollution from activities that are no longer taking place, such as defunct industrial or mining operations.
The clean-up work will be cost effective: a recent Blacksmith Institute study reviewed by researchers from Johns Hopkins University found that the cost of implementation of remediation projects ranges between a meager $40 to $500 per life saved.
Projects initiated with GPRF funds will be implemented by local stakeholders with technical and monetary assistance provided by the GPRF. Only the most cost-effective technologies will be employed and work will be directed to those places where pollution is causing the most harm to humans, especially children.
The organizer is the Blacksmith Institute, whose recent report “The Top Ten World’s Worst Polluted Places” focused intense international attention to the most highly polluted sites in the world.
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