FAQs
What is Blacksmith Institute's World's Worst Polluted Places list?
Blacksmith Institute's World's Worst Polluted Places list is an unranked listing of ten top locations worldwide where polluted air, water, and soils are having a severe impact on human health, particularly the health of children. We recognize that the list is not definitive due to the lack of consistent data and access to sites but it is representative of the problems that are out there. We welcome site nominations and feedback on our criteria for consideration in developing the 2008 report.
What does it take to get on "the list"?
The list was developed from sites nominated to Blacksmith by people around the world who are concerned about these problems. The criteria for making it onto the World's Worst Polluted Places list were developed by Blacksmith Institute's Technical Advisory Board (TAB). The starting point was the full database of polluted sites nominated for Blacksmith consideration. Blacksmith staff initially screened the nominations in order to identify sites with clearly documented problems. These were then reviewed in greater detail to produce a long list of sites to be reviewed by the TAB. About half of the long list has been flagged as the most serious contenders for the Top Ten. However, any nominated site may be proposed as a contender for the Top Ten by any TAB member, based on his or her individual review.
How were the scoring criteria developed?
This year's criteria were refined to better weight factors that most directly impact human health. The scoring system surveys sites based on eight scoring criteria. These include: the severity of the toxin, the amount or scale of the pollutant source, the manner in which contamination is spreading, the population size, the level of exposure, and whether children are particularly affected.
Why did Blacksmith Institute create the World's Worst Polluted Places list?
We have two main reasons for putting together this list. First, we want to focus international awareness on pollution in places where it is severely affecting human health, especially among children. Gross pollution is an issue that has been generally resolved over the past decades in developed countries thanks to the environmental movement, technological progress and economic prosperity. However, toxic pollution continues to affect over a billion people in the developing world. The World Bank estimates that about 20% of the negative health impacts in developing countries can be traced to environmental factors, especially pollution.
Second, we want to emphasize that, in many cases, there are practical and proven solutions for these problems that can be applied at acceptable levels of cost, if the political will exists. Blacksmith Institute has developed protocols for initiating both small and large-scale remediation and abatement programs.
Are the ten places on Blacksmith Institute's World's Worst list really the world's worst
There's no question that these ten places are dangerously polluted. They are the absolute worst based on the criteria we defined and our list of candidate sites. Our criteria reflect our concern with the effects of pollution on human health, especially the health of children. A highly toxic place that has been secured or where populations have been relocated doesn't qualify. Also, many highly polluted places are unknown to the international community because local or national governments don't provide access to these places. One of our hopes is that this list will help to uncover other neglected sites. Our main objective is to improve human health and alleviate human suffering.
Why didn't you rank the Top Ten - which one is really "worst" according to your criteria?
All of the sites in the Top Ten are places that are massively polluted. They are listed alphabetically, by country, in our report. Our data are not specific enough to say which, ultimately, is worst. It is also difficult to compare large areas with generalized pollution to smaller ones with very specific and acute problems. All of the ten are severe and need to be addressed by local, national and, in some cases, international governments and NGOs. That can also be said for all of the places on our full list of 30 candidate sites. We hope that creating this list will inspire increased attention and action.
Why is this year's list different?
Forty-four new sites were nominated from across the globe as potential candidates for the 2007 Top Ten list. Every nomination received was added to Blacksmith's database and considered for the 2007 review. The methodology for assessing the severity of polluted sites has also been refined to place more weight on the scale and toxicity of the pollution and on the numbers of people at risk.
There have been some changes in the Top Ten as a consequence of these adjustments but no major reshuffle. A couple of sites have dropped off the Top Ten listing due to increased competition from new sites and changes in the methodology that reduced the ranking for smaller sites or for those where the risks are less clear. Remediation works have commenced at some of these but the clean ups have not progressed to the point where they have reduced the impacts to a significant extent.
Is there a connection between these polluted places and global warming?
Global warming comes from trapping greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and others - in the atmosphere, mainly through the burning fossil fuels. Some of the locations on the World's Worst Polluted Places list are contributors to global warming, such as Linfen, China and Norilsk, Russia, where toxic emissions total more than two million metric tons annually, 98 percent of which is sulfur dioxide. The sites on the World's Worst Polluted Places list also include sites with pollution of the soil and groundwater, including pollution by heavy metals (mercury and lead), radioactive materials, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Unlike global warming, where the negative effects are evolutionary and solutions elusive, the effects are immediate and deadly, and the solutions are well-known and immediately achievable.
What type of pollution are we talking about? What are the main sources of the pollution in the World's Worst Polluted Places?
The list includes places that may have polluted air, water, and soils. Typically the pollutants are toxic and long lasting so that the danger persists long after the initial source has been closed down. The main pollutants include lead, radioactive materials, toxic chemicals and airborne particulates. Various industrial activities are often responsible. They include metal mining and refinery operations, chemical production for the tanning industry, weapons manufacturing, and power generation.
Who are the industrial polluters?
In most cases, the companies involved are owned and controlled by local companies, or are closely associated with governments. It is, in fact, rare that a highly polluted place is associated with a large US or EU multinational corporation.
Is the pollution ongoing or the result of past activities?
Some of the pollution in these places is what we call "legacy", where the pollution is from a source that is no longer actively polluting, while others are "active", where the source of pollution is ongoing.
One example of a legacy site is Kabwe, Zambia, where pollution is coming from lead mining operations that are no longer active. In that case, the mine was once a government-owned operation but now belongs to a privatized company that no longer has an active presence. As one of the world's poorest countries, Zambia has few resources to finance the clean up. Fortunately, in this case Blacksmith Institute has been able to leverage funds from the World Bank. The Bank has allocated an initial $40 million for immediate interventions and for education in the Zambia Copperbelt region.
Two examples of site with ongoing pollution problems are Vapi and Sukinda, in India. Here, industry and mining operations actively pollute air, soils, and groundwater, resulting in high cancer rates and birth defects.
Who are your partnering organizations?
In releasing this year's list, Blacksmith Institute partnered with Green Cross Switzerland. The two organizations have worked together since 2006. They are currently collaborating on a project to clean up pollution from legacy mining and smelting operations in Rudnaya Pristan, in Russia's Far East. The site was presented in the 2006 Top Ten listing. You can read more about Green Cross Switzerland at www.greencross.ch.
