Assessment and Mitigation of Environmental Impacts of Brick Kilns in Pakistan by Dr.Shah & Dr.Irfan
Pitch
Impacts of Brick Kilns on Natural and Social Environment creating Climate change and its Mitigation measures in Pakistan
Description
Summary
The building sector of KP and its capital City Peshawar thus uses brick as major material in KP and Peshawar. These bricks are mostly manufactured in the local kilns. Due to good quality of the soil and clay of the region and expertise of the local labor in brick production, the brick of Peshawar region are more popular in the country and exported to different cities of the country and Afghanistan. There are about 450 brick kilns in the Peshawar region and each kiln produces an average of 7500 bricks per day, hence the daily production of bricks in Peshawar is about 3.4 Million. These kilns use coal, wood, tyres and furnace oil as fuel, which produce air pollutants COx, NOx and SOx (NWFP EPA,2004). These gases are the principal contributors towards Climate Change and Global Warming. Fuel oil is used at the starting time. Every kiln consumes 90 to 180 tons of coal, 10 to 15 tons of wood and 4 to 6 tons of rubber per month. The pollution of brick kilns also leads to high concentration of heavy metals like Cd and Cr to the environment. The health cost of environmental pollution due to brick kilns in Peshawar has been reported as is PKR 107.935 million in terms of days lost due to bad health of the people affected (Rafiq and Khan, 2014). The detrimental impacts of the brick kilns lead to air and visual pollution, besides Health and Safety issues of the community around the kilns. The exhaust of Green House Gases, pose severe threat to the environmental quality and ecological value of the Peshawar valley.
Under this project, a comprehensive action and training plan will be developed based on the literature review, primary data collection & analysis. The training of major stakeholders will be undertaken for relatively clean and environment friendly techniques and process in brick kilns. This will lead to reduction of emissions of GHG and resultant air pollution, global warming and Climate Change. The project will bring qualitative improvement in the environment as well
What actions do you propose?
Actions Proposed under the Project:
The proposed project would involve the following stages:
i. Assessment of the existing policies about the standards and guidelines at Brick Kilns:
There are different sets of legislation and rules both at national and provincial levels. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change at national and provincial Governments normally enforce such policies. But both the degree of legislation and enforcement are not according to the international best practices. Hence as first step the international best practices shall be analyzed and documented.
The existing policies of the local/provincial Government will be analyzed and compared with international standards for the brick kiln in the rest of the world and particularly in South Asian Countries including India and Nepal. The implementation of the existing polices shall also be checked and evaluated at selected brick kilns.
Recommendations shall be made to the concerned policy makers in the shape of policy manual.
ii. Establishing the Baseline of existing Natural and Social environment parameters:
Data Collection about the existing baseline of environmental parameters in the affected areas:
The total estimated number of brick kilns in the Peshawar and its suburbs is about 450. About 10% of the brick kilns (45 Nos.) shall be selected for environmental evaluation on the geographical basis. The entire city and its suburbs, where these brick kilns are located, will be divided into 5 clusters and 2 brick kilns will be selected from each culture, based on the convenience sampling.
The following major parameters will be studied about the natural environment:
- Ambient Air Pollutants and their concentration at the brick kiln the areas adjoining the brick kilns. Various climatic factors such as temperature, humidity, wind pressure and wind speed and direction shall also be documented. This will help in assessing the dispersal of pollutants in the air. Various simulation/mathematical models shall be used to check the intensity of pollutants in different parts of the city adjoining the brick kilns.
- Recording and Documentation Land pollution and deterioration based on the actual field data and its comparison with the historic data. The visual pollution due to unscrupulous mining of the areas adjoining the brick kilns is one of the most serious impacts of the brick kilns.
- The mining techniques at these sites shall also be documented after field surveys
- .The impact of the mining on the natural topography, catchment area and subsequent flooding will be also studied
The assessment of social environment would include the impact of deteriorating natural environment on social environment particularly health and safety of the people working in the brick kilns and settled in the areas around the kilns. Health and Safety Assessment of the workers in the Kilns: The health and safety assessment of the workers in the selected kilns will be carried out with reference to their work environment and safety requirements.
Data Collection and Assessment of the bricks manufacturing techniques/technologies and its comparison with modern techniques/Technologies:
Most of the brick kilns are using outdated techniques and technologies. The existing techniques/technologies used for production of bricks in the Kilns will be studied and compared with best practices and techniques used in the other parts of the South Asia, suggesting improvements to the brick kiln owners.
iii. Mitigation measures for the environmental impacts:
On the basis of the data collected, mitigations measures shall be proposed on the basis of international best practices.
a. Recommendation for improvement of policies and laws for reducing the environmental impacts of the brick kilns. The proposed policy manual for Brick Kilns will be submitted to the provincial Government for its implementation in due course of time. It will also be shared with media and other major stakeholders to create awareness amongst the general people about the environmental impacts of brick kilns.
b. Training of the brick owners and Kiln workers:
Based on the data collection and training assessment of the owners and brick kiln workers, the training modules will be developed. These modules will include both the technological aspects as well work environment related issues. The technological aspects will mainly cover training about the modern and less harmful mining methods, efficient techniques of the brick production etc. The other training would include, trainings related to health and safety. For brick owners, training related to automation of the brick kiln processes, energy conservation, modern technologies and environmental impacts of using substandard fuels shall be conducted.
c. Developing Online Monitoring system for data collection and evaluation on periodical basis:
To monitor the progress of the project, an online monitoring system will be developed for data collection and evaluation of various environmental parameters in the selected areas. Online data collection and analysis system will be developed to assess the performance of these brick kilns.
Who will take these actions?
The project will mainly focus on the following major stakeholders:
i. The officers involved in the policy making and enforcement of the concerned Environment department of the City/Province, particularly related to Environmental Pollution and enforcement of Environmental laws. The latest devolution of powers to the district and sub district level in Pakistan, has created serious issues regarding compliance to national and international laws and legislation. This is creating severe threat to stoical environmental quality of the province and district. There is a need to harmonize the role of the major stakeholders for ensuring environmental legislation etc. .
ii. Owners of the selected brick kilns and their interviews to understand their perceptions about the related Environmental laws and their enforcement. Most of the brick owners are either illiterate or less educated. Hence their interview will be needed.
iii. Employees/workers of the selected Brick Kilns to analyze their knowledge about the Health, Safety and Environment issues relating to their workplaces, as well assess their exiting health and safety conditions.
iv. Training of the selected owners and workers for their capacity building for adopting modern technologies, techniques and processes for relatively environment friendly brick manufacturing.
Where will these actions be taken?
The actions will be taken mainly in Pakistan in the areas, where the brick kilns are operating. But the sets of guidelines and manuals developed as well actions proposed during the project, will be extended to the South Asia , including Pakistan India and Bangladesh as well in addition to China as these countries are producing almost 90% of the bricks in the world. The actions will be required at the following places and points:
- Provincial Governments and District Government of Pakistan and developing countries of South Asia
- The District Government of Peshawar and other parts of Pakistan as well as the South Asian Countries.
- Brick Kilns in the Urban and sub urban areas in Pakistan and other countries South Asia
- People living in the areas near the brick kilns in Peshawar, Pakistan and other developing countries.
What are other key benefits?
i. Environmental benefits
- Baseline studies of the existing environmental parameters.
- Identification and mitigation of the environmental impacts of the brick kilns with special reference to air quality, land quality and quality of life of the workers and people in the areas.
- Conserving the top soil and agricultural land and Improving the visual quality of landscape
- Reducing the GHG emissions leading to Climate Change, Global Warming , Ozone Layer depletion and desertifcation of the area,
- Improving the quality of life of the people and reduce the health cost
- Capacity building of the workers and owners of the Kiln towards use of environment friendly techniques, material and methods.
- Providing safety, Health and Environment (SHE) related training to the workers and people of the area.
- Helping the national, provincial and district/local Governments of the developing Countries of South Asia.
What are the proposal’s costs?
Literature Review (Journals, Magazines, UN Reports, Newspapers etc.): $ 10,000
- Data Collection from expected 400 respondents @$50 per respondent: $ 20,000
- Data Collection of GIS Maps $ 2,000
- Data Analysis and use of various analytical tools $ 3,000
- Training workshops for Kiln Owners 200 persons@ $50 $ 10,000
- Training workshops for 500 workers at Kilns @ $20 $ 10,000
- Printing of Policy Manuals and Guidelines (5000 Copies) $ 10,000
- Printing of Health, Safety and Environmental Guidelines for Kilns $ 10,000
- Misc ( Sundries) $ 2,000
Total Expected Budget Estimates of the Project US $ 77,000
( Pls Note that the estimate covers only Phase-1 Cost
Time line
Duration of the Project:
Phase-1 ( Project Execution)
- Literature review of the existing initiatives and policies: 6 months
- Data Collection (Questionnaire Survey and Interviews): 6 months
- Data Analysis and Assessment: 3 months
- Development of Manual for best Practices: 3 month
- Training of the Owners and workers: 6 months
- Total Duration of the project: 24 Months
Phase-2: Project Implementation at Provincial and Local Government: 2 Years
Phase-3; Project Implementation at National level: 2 Years
Phase-4: Project Implementation at South Asian Countries levels: 5 Years
Related proposals
Not Sure at this stage
References
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By:
Dr.Shah & Dr.Irfan
