The world’s largest 400 cities, home to 1.5 billion people, face high or extreme environmental risks. Among the top one hundred, four out of five are in India and China. Plagued by pollution, flooding and heat waves, Jakarta tops the list.
Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) – More than 400 large cities with a total population of 1.5 billion people are at high or extreme environmental risk due to pollution, water shortages, climate change and natural disasters. Of the top one hundred, as many as 99 are in Asia, 80 per cent in India and China.
These results are found in research carried out by Verisk Maplecroft, a UK-based data analytics and risk assessment firm involved in both environmental and non-environmental issues, nationally and internationally.
The megacity of Jakarta tops the list because of pollution, flooding and heat waves. However, with 13 of the top 20 riskier cities in the world, India leads the world with few positive prospects in store for the future.
In Verisk Maplecroft’s global index, Delhi ranks second out of 576 major cities followed by Chennai (third), Agra (sixth), Kanpur (tenth), Jaipur (twenty-second) and Lucknow (twenty-fourth). Mumbai, with 12.5 million residents, is 27th in this special ranking.
Looking only at air pollution – which causes more than seven million premature deaths worldwide each year, one million in India alone – the 20 cities with the worst air quality among urban areas of at least a million people are all in India with the capital Delhi at the top.
The air pollution assessment was weighted towards the impact of microscopic, health-wrecking particles known as PM2.5, released in large quantities by the burning of coal and other fossil fuels.
“In many Asian countries these hubs are going to become less hospitable as population pressures grow,” said the report's lead author Will Nichols. At the same time, “change amplifies threats from pollution and extreme weather, threatening their role as wealth generators for national economies.”
As far as China is concerned, although it is wealthier than India, it also faces momentous and formidable environmental challenges. Of the top 50 cities most affected by water pollution, 35 are located in China. In addition, 13 of the top 15 cities face water stress.
However, for Nicholas, different political systems and levels of development may ultimately play in China's favour. “For China,” he noted, “an emerging middle class is increasingly demanding cleaner air and water, which is being reflected in government targets.”