A World Bank report suggests pricing the cost of air pollution and reforming fossil fuel subsidies and creating markets for emissions, along with offering cleaner transportation options in the Middle East.
The human and economic cost of air pollution and degraded seas and coastlines is immense, estimated to be more than 3% of GDP in some countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), according to the new report.
The report, Blue Skies, Blue Seas: Air Pollution, Marine Plastics and Coastal Erosion in the Middle East and North Africa, focuses on the degradation of "blue" natural assets in the MENA region (clean air, health seas and stable coastlines) and offers policy recommendations to reverse the threat to this natural capital.
"Polluted skies and seas are costly to the health, social and economic wellbeing of millions of people in the Middle East and North Africa region," said Ferid Belhaj, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, in a press release on Monday.
"As countries recover from COVID-19, there is an opportunity to change course and choose a greener, bluer and more sustainable growth path that has fewer emissions and less environmental degradation," he added.
To address marine plastic pollution, the report's recommendations include improving solid waste management, creating reliable market structures for recycling markets and increased collaboration with the private sector for plastic alternatives, while also reducing fossil fuel subsidies which artificially reduce the price of plastics versus alternatives.
To tackle coastal erosion, governments must better understand the drivers of erosion and determine hotspots while also embarking on integrated coastal zone management schemes and adopting nature-based solutions that protect coastlines, including dune vegetation or artificial reefs. Moreover, practices that exacerbate coastal erosion should be controlled, including effective bans for illegal sand mining, and retrofitting dams that obstruct the flow of sediment from rivers to the coasts, the report said.
