Transboundary pollution (pollution that crosses the boundaries of a nation) is the pollution that originates in one country but is able to cause damage in another country’s environment, by crossing borders. Pollutants can travel through pathways such as wind, dust particles, flow of rivers, ocean currents, and via seabirds. The long-range transport of air pollution has been recognized as an important factor affecting health of ecosystems and human. Transboundary flows of pollutants occur between states of a country, between closest neighbouring countries, as well as between continents.
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (e.g. dioxins, furans, PCBs, and some organochlorine pesticides) can be transported over long distances in the atmosphere, resulting in widespread distribution across the earth, including regions where they have never been used. Coal-fired and oil-fired power stations, and mobile sources, such as cars, ships and aircraft emit a complex mixture of pollutants, including sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides (the precursors to acid rain). These air pollutants can also be transported over hundreds or even thousands of kilometres, for example, it is reported that much of the pollution emitted in the UK travels across the North Sea and is deposited in Scandinavia (as acid rain). The Arctic is supposed to be a pristine environment, however, in recent years; several types of contamination have been found in the arctic (e.g. heavy metals, POPs, radioactive) which are transported to the Arctic by winds, rivers and ocean currents. Smoke haze (dust, smoke and other dry particles) due to land clearing and ‘slash and burn’ agricultural practices in Indonesia has been a perennial problem in the southern ASEAN region causing much environmental damage in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Southern Thailand.
Owing to their toxicity, the POPs can pose a threat to humans and the environment (POPs bioaccumulate in human and animal tissue, in food chains, also an endocrine disruptors). Acid rain causes acidification of lakes and streams and contributes to the damage of trees at high elevations and many sensitive forest soils. Acid rain accelerates the decay of building materials and paints, including irreplaceable buildings, statues, and sculptures that are part of nation's cultural heritage. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide and their particulate matter derivatives—sulfates and nitrates—contribute to visibility degradation and harm public health. Air pollution from open burning can cause serious health problems and damage the environment. Children, the elderly and those with existing health problems are particularly vulnerable to smoke from open burning.
To control the spread of transboundary pollution the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) implemented the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Pollution (1979).The Minamata Convention on Mercury is an international treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty, signed in 2001 and effective from May 2004, that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs).The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution is a legally binding environmental agreement signed in 2002 by all ASEAN nations to reduce haze in south-East Asia
Question: Is your country at a risk from transboundary pollution?
(Any weblinks or references relevant to transboundary pollution or any regional or international treaties to reduce transboundary pollution would be much appreciated)
India does not appear to be facing any risk of trans-boundary pollution as on date. Fortunately, it has a very long coastal line, which is far larger than the length of the border lines it has with other countries.
The country that pollutes is responsible for their pollution across borders, but there are two solutions . The polluting country should try to reduce their pollutants by creating conservation of their depleted resources ,trees,which when grown they block out air born pollutants from entering their neighbors. The country that receives the pollutants could create a defensive barrier of trees too to block out on going pollutants. Don't forget trees need CO2 which in turn produce O2 that actually helps clean up the air.
Greenhouse gases emitted in India contribute to climate change worldwide .Another example is that of acid rain, pollution from emissions from power plants in India that may be blown across the Bay of Bengal to Malaysia and Singapore. In both the above examples of transboundary pollution there needs to be international cooperation to address and solve these problems.
http://envis.mse.ac.in/Global%20Environmental.asp
Dear Lala,
I noted that greenhouse gases and other pollutants (from power plants) emitted from India may impact Malaysia and Singapore and the world (green house gases via climate change). Thanks for the weblinks which would be helpful!
Transboundary Pollution is difficult to control because the damage from the pollution occurs in a locality that has no authority over the generator of the pollution.
I think India is not affected by Transboundary Pollution as much as other countries. Himalayas in the north and long coast line helps in that regard. As said by Mr Golam Kibria the pollutants from all the countries (not directly any single country) will affect all nations because of their effect on GHG.
Here are some important publications that would be useful for further studies.
https://www2.bc.edu/~plater/Newpublicsite06/suppmats/26.4.pdf
http://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c14/e1-36-02-02.pdf
Definitely, Malaysia is at a risk from unhealthy air pollution and annual haze from Sumatra, Indonesia. We also work to control our own fires. I have a thread on this already. There are many useful responses on this thread.
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_best_ways_to_control_the_air_quality_when_it_is_affected_by_activities_in_neighboring_countries_as_well?_tpcectx=profile_questions
Over 3.5 million people die each year from outdoor air pollution. Between 2005 and 2010, the death rate rose by 4% worldwide, by 5% in China and by 12% in India. Cost of air pollution to society in 2010 was estimated at US$1.4 trillion
in China and US$0.5 trillion in India according to a recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). In Europe, exposure to air pollution from road transport costs about US$137 billion per year and harm caused by air pollution from the 10,000 largest polluting facilities in 2009 – including through lost lives, poor health and crop damage – was about US$140-230 billion.
http://www.unep.org/yearbook/2014/PDF/chapt7.pdf
Dear Nageswar,
India has some natural barriers such as Himalayas and long coast line (also mentioned by Debi). However, POPs may be transported to India by seabirds/migratory birds for example.
Thanks for some good resources and webllinks in particular the links related to transboundary pollution case ‘The Sandoz spill’ , where 11 metric tons of organic mercury compounds and more than 100 tons of insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and other agricultural chemicals spilled that caused a red toxic tide coursed 900 kilometers down the Rhine into the Baltic Sea. The Sandoz spill was an ecological catastrophe. Hundreds of thousands of fish and waterfowl were killed; the extinction of living organisms extended to the base of the food chain, eliminating micro-organisms down to the microbe level.
This may be an example, that transboundary water pollutants can impacts downstream countries ecosystems and biodiversity
Yes dear @Golam, Serbia is facing a risk of cross-boundary pollution of different kinds. I would say that every continental country face it! Transboundary Pollution and Environmental Management in Europe and CIS region is fine resource! Unido!
https://www.unido.org/fileadmin/import/userfiles/puffk/mcglade.pdf
Dear All,
Unfortunately, we have but one planet and we cannot select our neighbours but we can try to live with them correctly.
Here you are an example:
2000 Baia Mare (Romania) cyanide spill
The 2000 Baia Mare cyanide spill was a leak of cyanide near Baia Mare, Romania, into the Someş River by the gold mining company Aurul, a joint-venture of the Australian company Esmeralda Exploration and the Romanian government.
The polluted waters eventually reached the Tisza and then the Danube, killing large numbers of fish in Hungary and Yugoslavia. The spill has been called the worst environmental disaster in Europe since the Chernobyl disaster.
Three attempts were made in the Romanian Parliament to ban gold cyanidation in Romania, none of which being successful so far.
The Romanian government has not paid any compensation for the environmental and economic damage in Hungary!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_Baia_Mare_cyanide_spill
Dear Ljubmoir,
Many thanks for the publication (McGlade 2000- Transboundary Pollution and Environmental Management in Europe and CIS region), the resource of which has identified one important aspect of contaminants/pollutants transfer via ballast water from a variety of ships and vessels into world rivers and coastal waters. It has been estimated that 40,000 major cargo vessels of the world transfer about 10 billion tons of ballast water globally each year and about 3000-4000 species are transported daily. Ballast water is known to be the source of spread of many diseases and toxin producing organisms including Cholera, Vibrio cholerae (various strains), Toxic algae (red/brown/green tides) (various species)
Dear Lala,
Thank you for your 2nd contribution and the links for an UNEP publication ‘UNEP Year Book 2014 emerging issues update Air Pollution: World’s Worst Environmental Health Risk”
The publication highlights that air pollution is the leading cause of environmentally related deaths and the transboundary challenge posed from air pollution can be reduced or minimised via the following ways
Pollution can poison soils and waterways, or kill plants and animals, or harm humans. Governments and environment protection associations should work towards improving the health and well-being of people.
Yes, my country is at risk, mainly along the Lower Danube. For example, in October 2010 a dam holding waste products, including arsenic and mercury from an aluminum-processing plant in Hungary, collapsed. About 697 million liters of highly alkaline red mud were released into the nearby rivers and populated areas, killing eight people. Afterwards, the toxic flood reached the Danube River and affected also downstream countries, namely Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101012-toxic-spill-hungary-danube-river-water/
That is very true dear @Ruxandra! The most of European toxic floods reach our countries. Cooperation in this regard is a MUST!
I guess Spain and any country in Europe is under risk... specially if an undesirable nuclear disaster event in France occurs...
Fully agreed. The problem exists on every field, not only on the politic or social one. There is a lack of international coperation in environmental impact assessment scientific matters too
That is very true, there should not be any boundaries in cooperation against pollutions of any kind. Science should play a major role in the process of environmental preservation! Politics should be a tool for achieving that goal!
Transboundary pollution provides us an opportunity to unite, cooperate and work together to protect human and the environment health both globally and regionally!
Sweden has been subject to transboundary pollution in the recent decades especially after 1945 when industry grew and acid rain occurred. This has decreased radically now. We have had mercury falling down and accumulating in our forest soils over a long period. With increased rainfall (as is predicted in climate change prognoses) the mercury will be transported to lakes as organic complexes and methylated in lake sediments and end up in fish. Organic mercury in fish is a threat which has prompted authorities to discourage fish consumption especially by younger womn carrying fetuses which could be hurt by this poison.
Dear G jacks
Many thanks for your inputs related to trans boundary mercury pollution and accumulation in fish and via food chain affecting human!
Pollution Reached the South Pole Even Before Explorers
Industrial activities such as smelting, mining and fossil fuel burning reached the most remote parts of the world (south pole) even before the first explorers first set foot on the region's untouched ground (based on recent study published in Scientific Reports of Nature July 2014). Approximately 660 tons [1.5 million pounds] of industrial lead (Pb) have been deposited on the snow-covered surface of Antarctica during the past 130 years. Lead is a toxic heavy metal with strong potential to harm ecosystems
References
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/8299/20140729/pollution-reached-south-pole-even-before-explorers.htm
McConnell et al. 2014. Antarctic-wide array of high-resolution ice core records reveals pervasive lead pollution began in 1889 and persists today. Scientific Reports. Volume:4,July 2014. Article number: 5848. DOI:doi:10.1038/srep05848
Estonia got transpoundary air pollution especially from SW and SE. Baltic Sea region main wind drection SW. Transboundary pollution affect our western part islands Saare- and Hiiumaa (very clean region of Estonia) and our south Estonia. More information (Gioia, R., Sweetman, A.J., Jones, K.C., 2007. Coupling passive air sampling with emission estimates and chemical fate modelling for persistent organic pollutants (POPs): a feasibility study for Northern Europe. Environmental Science &
Technology 41, 2165- 2171 (+ supplementary material) and O. Roots. Interpreting Observations on the Transport and Wet Deposition of Airborne Pollutants over the Baltic Sea and West-Estonian Islands. – AMBIO ( The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ), 1992, v. XXI, no.4, 321 – 322.).
Pelagic plastic pollution gaining much visibility recently has transboundary characteristics.
Dear @Leif, Drina river is the border river between Serbia and Bosnia. Have a look into a following photo!!! :( Few lakes on Drina are polluted too much!
By making such barriers, problem could be solved much easier!
Dear Leif et al.
You have identified a very important global transboundary pollutant-plastic. Plastic in the oceans caused killing of birds and fish. In addition, fish ingesting plastic may cause accumulation of toxins and thereby pose a risk to human consumers from consumption of seafood contaminated with plastic!
From the whale, sea lions, and birds to the microscopic organism zooplankton (rotifers, copepods, and krill, larger animals eggs and larvae’s and dinoflagellates and protozoans), plastic has been, and is, greatly affecting marine life on shore and off shore.
In a 2006 report, Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans, Greenpeace stated that at least 267 different animal species are known to have suffered from entanglement and ingestion of plastic debris. The United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution (GESAMP), estimated that land-based sources account for up to 80 percent of the world’s marine pollution, 60 to 95 percent of the waste being plastics debris
Once plastic debris enters the water, it becomes one of the most pervasive problems because of plastic’s inherent properties: buoyancy, durability (slow photo degradation), propensity to absorb waterborne pollutants, its ability to get fragmented in microscopic pieces, and more importantly, its proven possibility to decompose, leaching toxic Bisphenol A (BPA) and other toxins in the seawater
The Marine Conservancy has published that the estimated decomposition rates of most plastic debris found on coasts are:
Foamed plastic cups: 50 years
Plastic beverage holder: 400 years
Disposable diapers: 450 year
Plastic bottle: 450 years
Fishing line: 600 years
· http://coastalcare.org/2009/11/plastic-pollution/
Dear Roland,
These images are from http://coastalcare.org/2009/11/plastic-pollution/
so please acknowledge them
Of course, You may use them dear @Roland. My photos are always followed by appropriate links. Good luck!
Thanks Dear Golam, by your Q I got familiarized with this issue. Apart from transboundary pollution we need to check spread of transboundary diseases, and that could alleviate many diseases outbreaks./ pandemics/epidemics.
Dear Kuldeep
Thank you for your comments. We have covered the disease aspects in another question and answer session - see the following links
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_will_be_the_possible_effects_of_climate_change_on_waterborne_diseases?_tpcectx=profile_questions
"The One Health concept recognizes that the health of humans is connected to the health of animals and the environment."
http://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/
http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/
Thanks Dear Golam, I knew that thread, just simply wanted to add here also with transboundary pollution also - transboundary diseases, since few agents can also travel with pollutants through transboundary routes. Issue of One health one medicine includes everything for health
Dear Kuldeep,
Thanks again, yes, transboundary animal diseases are highly contagious epidemic diseases that can spread extremely rapidly, irrespective of national borders. They cause high rates of death and disease in animals, thereby having serious socio-economic and sometimes public health consequences while constituting a constant threat to the livelihoods of livestock farmers.
Globalization, land encroachment and climate change contribute to outbreaks of such animal diseases – some transmissible to humans – as brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, parasitic illnesses, anthrax, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and certain strains of influenza viruses
Ebola (Zaire ebolavirus) in Africa is currently facing a new transboundary animal disease
http://www.fao.org/emergencies/emergency-types/transboundary-animal-diseases/en/
Feldmann F1, Feldmann H.. 2013. Ebola: facing a new transboundary animal disease?. Dev Biol (Basel). 2013;135:201-9. doi: 10.1159/000190049. Epub 2013 May 14.
Thanks Dear Golam and others, we must alltogether, researchers as well as common people make our lovely mother earth - pollution free and disease free habitat
India has the Asia's biggest ship breaking yard, at Alang (Gujarat). Our country is the dumping ground for toxic waste. Thousand tons of hazardous American waste have been dumped at Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin Port, where almost 35 large containers
conceal the waste, that has been lying untouched for the past three years. September 2007, a committee constituted by the Madras High Court had certified that the American garbage posed a threat to the people of India and the environment. Following this, the Madras High Court demanded that this trash be sent back to New
Jersey immediately.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317556575_High_Impact_Research_Achievement_of_Innovative_Artificial_Mussel_Technology_Extension_in_Bangladesh_to_Monitor_and_Assess_the_Risk_of_Pollutants_Trace_MetalsHeavy_Metals_in_Fresh_Brackish_and_Marine_W
Technical Report High Impact Research: Achievement of Innovative Artificial M...
Transboundary air pollution by main pollutants (S, N, O3) and PM - Serbia!
Data are presented in the form of maps, pies and bar-charts.The data are generated by source-receptor calculations, where emissions for each emitter of one or more precursors are reduced by 15%. For oxidised sulphur, oxidised nitrogen and reduced nitrogen, the results have been scaled up to represent the entire emission from an emitter. For other components, which are subject to significant non-linearities, we present the effect of a 15% reduction only. The pie charts for depositions and PM give a picture of the relative contributions of thecountries or regions to depositions and concentrations over Serbia...
http://emep.int/publ/reports/2010/Country_Reports/report_RS.pdf
Transboundary pollution -in a wider conceptualization- it can be caused by heavily affected neighborhood countries, or even far distant areas, due to adverse meteorological conditions, rivers' streamflow, underground waterways, invasive species (commonly flying insects, fishing invasive species, predator animals ) that are domesticated to other habitats, acting as natural enemies to endangered and sensitive ecosystems.Of course treatment of such multifaceted pollution is not merely technical issue, but it is bounded on those international laws issued or bilateral agreements created.
The production of plastics and other pollutants now outstrips our ability to monitor it and threatens global ecosystems. Researchers at the Stockholm Resilience Centre conclude that chemical pollutants have crossed a ‘planetary boundary’. The concept stems from an influential 2009 Nature paper that suggested nine boundary conditions in the Earth system that could, if crossed, result in tipping points that could harm human life. At the time, the impact of chemical pollutants was not known — but now, we’ve gone too far, say the researchers...
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/18/chemical-pollution-has-passed-safe-limit-for-humanity-say-scientists?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco
Biocrusts reduce global dust emissions by 60 percent
Lichens and other microbes construct biological soil crusts that concentrate nutrients and slash global dust emissions...
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/soil-biocrusts-reduce-global-dust-emissions-earth?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=latest-newsletter-v2&utm_source=Latest_Headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest_Headlines
Researchers are rushing to find out whether explosions in the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September have caused environmental damage by stirring up pollutants from discarded chemical weapons. The blasts happened very close to a Danish island that houses chemical weapons that were dumped by Germany after the Second World War. The metal casings of the warheads have probably corroded, causing the contents to leach into the sediment. Environmental scientists fear that methane expelled from the ruptured pipeline might have sent those contaminants into the water column, where they could harm marine wildlife. A team is now modelling the extent of sediment dispersal caused by the blasts, and measuring this against toxicity thresholds for marine species to assess whether they’ve been hurt...
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03363-7
Academic experts say better monitoring and protection of Indonesian forests are needed to deal with forest and peat fires, which are currently generating air pollution in the form of a transboundary haze that has closed schools and is straining Indonesia’s relations with its neighbours. Forest and peat fires are an annual problem in Indonesia. However, this year’s fires have generated the highest levels of air pollution since a significant transboundary haze in 2019. Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are unhappy about the health risk posed by the air pollution, not to mention the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere...
https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20231019104135457
Global air pollution forecast by AI
"Microsoft’s AI model Aurora accurately predicts weather and, for the first time, air pollution for the whole world — and does so in less than a minute. Global air pollution forecasting is much more complex than weather forecasting..."
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01677-2
Yes for Poland and Canada. Poland lies in the middle of Europe. It is bombarded by pollution from western Europe as well as eastern and southern European countries. Furthermore, Poland itself contribute to pollution. Canada is impacted from the U.S and China. Canada also contribute to pollution far more than Poland due to social culture, low population density per m2 and lots of open spaces. When you mentioned pollutants in your question you mainly listed chemical toxic pollutants. However, humankind also produces trans-boundary pollutants not only in space but also in time. These are nuclear pollution. These pollutants are toxic at atomic level and additional damage is in its time duration because they have long half-life which transcend single human generation life time. These radioactive elements contaminate the building blocks of life. DNA needs stable elements to evolve. However, radioactive elements make assembly of DNA defective which leads to increase of diversity of life initially (some people may see it as positive) and then increase of cancerous developments until total breakdown. Furthermore, some damaged species that survived contamination experience their life time shortened in a significant way and permanently. These pollutants travel not only by seagulls but also by other migratory air, water and land animals, plants, foods, and other products. Overall Earth is very dynamic therefore everything moves even earth itself.
Northern India and Pakistan are yet again engulfed in a haze of pollution — but a lasting solution is possible
Instead of focusing on short-term fixes, cities such as Lahore and Delhi need a comprehensive, year-round plan to reduce air pollution.
"The thick smog that blankets the region stretching from eastern Pakistan to Bangladesh each November is one the world’s biggest public-health challenges, and there is a solution, argues air-quality researcher Sarath Guttikunda. “The problem stems from multiple, year-round sources — vehicular emissions, waste burning and more,” he writes. Major pollution sources must be addressed through measures such as improving public transport networks and establishing a central air-quality authority to oversee industrial practices to drive emissions down. “It’s time to get serious and treat air pollution as a national emergency.”..."
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-04118-2
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