About the List

Why Focus on Progress?

The purpose of this year's report is to begin to create broad support in the international community for a global commitment to eliminate the health impacts of toxic pollution in developing countries.

In the past 40 years in the United States, Western Europe and similarly industrialized countries, the field of environmental remediation, combined with a renewed focus on environmental health, has nearly ended much of the daily life-threatening issues that many in developing countries face. All across developing countries, environmental legislation, enforcement and even trained engineers in hazardous waste removal are just beginning to emerge.

This report aspires to benchmark the beginning of the end of the toxic legacy devastating the health of millions of people in developing countries. These examples are not a definitive or exclusive list but rather guidance for the possibilities of the impact of this work on a global scale

The 12 Cases of Clenup and Success That That Made the List

We have taken the 2008 World's Worst Pollution Problems list as a starting point this year, looking at cases where each of these problems is in some aspect addressed by a successful approach that can serve as a potential model for other solutions.

The 2009 report presents 12 examples of areas where solutions or cleanups have either been completed or are currently underway.   They include 10 programs, alphabetically listed by location, which have been successful in reducing the toll of pollution on human health. 

In addition, two initiatives with worldwide impact—the leaded gas phase out and the obsolete chemical weapons treaty—are highlighted here as models of how the international community can work together to make meaningful progress on pollution and health.

• Some projects were chosen because they represent a technology or engineering innovation that has been successful in reducing pollution and improving health indicators.
• Other sites were chosen because they represent a problem that is found in many locations and showcases a successful strategy for implementing the cleanup on a widespread scale.
• There are a few examples, where a policy or a social movement has been the turning point for dealing with a specific toxin, such as the leaded gasoline phase-out.
• The approaches cover remediation, education, legislation and innovation (technological and social).

In each case, it is important to recognize that this is not a ranking based on comparable criteria. Rather, sites were chosen to give us an idea of the way forward, to tackle one of the largest public health threats of our time.  The examples are seemingly disparate because the issues are equally as different as they are deadly.

Examples Hard to Come By

Despite aggressive solicitation by Blacksmith staff to numerous organizations throughout the world, the selection was surprisingly limited comprising an initial pool of 45 sites. Given that Blacksmith Institute currently possesses a database with over 1,000 sites still waiting for cleanups to be initiated, it is clear that this is still very much an emerging issue.

For developing countries, addressing pollution is a relatively new priority, with little or no funding locally or internationally. As a result, many of these cleanups are currently in process, and quantifiable data about pollution levels or health outcomes was difficult to obtain for the purposes of this report.  

Blacksmith reached out to implementing agencies, NGOs, and government institutions for data regarding these sites. Because the data for many of these projects was unattainable, Blacksmith relies on the experience and expertise of our Technical Advisory Board, to extrapolate which programs have relevance and should be celebrated for their successful pollution-reduction outcomes.

Pollution vs. Economic Development in the Developing World

As developing countries struggle to put in place many basic laws regarding environmental protection, industrial and economic development remain a priority for ending the extreme poverty that many of these countries face.

Yet, as the link between health and poverty grows closer with renewed understanding, it is clear that the effects endemic pollution has on emerging economies can last for decades. Pollutants that inhibit the potential neurological development of young children condemn societies to a cycle of lower mental capacity and poverty.  Increased cancers, incidences of progressive lung diseases and weakened immune systems result in an escalated disease burden for the state to pay for.