The Handbook of Environmental Health Indicators and Benchmarks: Human Rights Perspectives is the latest resource of its kind developed by the Program on Science and Human Rights. Based primarily on a human rights perspective, the manual provides a collection of environmental health indicators and criteria for determining the state of human health in urban and rural communities around the world.
Introduction
Overall Purpose and Scope of the Manual
Focus of the Manual—Vulnerable Members of the Community
Although this principle is central to human rights monitoring, it can face serious data limitations. Furthermore, countries that collect data on disaggregated bases may be quite reluctant to make such data available to human rights monitors.
Linkage Between Environmental Protection, Public Health,
The most comprehensive and legally binding declaration of the right to health is included in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966 (and entered into force in January 1976). The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1966 (and entered into force in January 1976) affirms the right to health in Article 12. 1), where " States which are parties to the present Convention recognize the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”.
Environmental Health Indicators and Benchmarks
Activities and plans of the United Nations Statistics Division and the Statistical Commission in support of the harmonization and rationalization of indicators. A systematic approach to measuring and reporting on environmental policy performance in the context of sustainable development.
Selection of Recommended Indicators
- Overview
- Definitions of Environmental Health Indicators and Benchmarks
- Human Rights Perspective: Public Policy Factors
- Screening Process and Applications
- Preventative and Remedial Indicators
- Primary, Secondary & Tertiary Indicators and Benchmarks—
- Environmental Health Performance-Based Indices
Does the indicator measure the indirect/direct impact of the general population on human health. One additional complementary item in the use of environmental health indicators and performance measures is the use of modifying factors and baseline data.
Structural and Process Indicators of Environmental Health
General Considerations
Structural and Process Indicators: Pre-Project Screen
Budget allocations of Regulatory Agencies - which should include the review of (i) the annual allocation of funds for the implementation of regulatory programs for environmental health, (ii) the salary structure of administrative and technical personnel, (iii) the funds allocated for the programs of monitoring and supervision, (iv) funds for education and training of agency personnel, (v) funds for public participation and community outreach. Human Resources of Regulatory Agencies – which should include reviewing a number of personnel involved in the regulation of environmental health programs: (i) appointment of administrative and support staff, (ii) scientists, engineers and other technical professionals with time full or partial, (iii) retention of external consultants, specialists and academic experts, (iv) composition and size of advisory bodies and technical review panels.
Ability to Carry Out Monitoring Program: Practical Considerations
The ability to enter into such symbiotic partnerships may be an important consideration prior to planning and implementing the monitoring program. To evaluate changes in environmental health trends in a region, a monitoring program should not be conducted over a short (one to two year) time frame, as monitoring data collected over such a period provides only a brief snapshot of overall progress or lack of progress in the health status of a community.
Air Quality
- Impact of Air Pollutants on Human Health
- Outdoor Air Pollutants
- Indoor air pollution
- Human Exposure to Air Pollutants
- Recommended Environmental Indicators and Benchmarks of Air Quality
Today, one of the largest sources of lead in the air occurs as a byproduct of leaded gasoline used in automobiles. Although air pollution is most commonly associated as an outdoor concern, many regions of the world have significant health risks associated with indoor air quality. Exposure to air pollution is measured as the product of the concentration of the pollutant and the duration of exposure in a given region.
Currently, these three air pollutants are monitored by regulatory agencies in most regions of the world, including in many cities and urban centers of developing countries. Another proxy measure of urban and industrial air pollution is the percentage of combustion sources (industrial, commercial, residential) that use coal as their primary fossil fuel, which in many unregulated or poorly monitored regions of the world is a major air emission. source of sulfur oxides and particulates.
Water Quality and Sanitation
- Sources of Water Contamination
- Drinking Water Standards
- Sanitation and Waste Disposal
- Recommended Environmental Health Indicators and Benchmarks
The quality of drinking water can be determined through the intensity of its exposure to human technology and natural systems. The primary purpose of the standards is to protect public health from the effects of contaminated drinking water. Issues of clean drinking water cannot be acknowledged without addressing the inseparable issue of access to sanitation services.
Among the secondary indicators and benchmarks for water quality and sanitation, determining the percentage of the population receiving piped water, including community pumps and publicly accessible taps, can serve as an indirect measure of the availability of potable and safe drinking water in a developing region. In addition, determining the extent of contaminated aquifers and groundwater sources of drinking water in a region, and the percentage use of recycled wastewater, can serve as an indicator of tertiary water quality and sanitation or as a benchmark in a community.
Vector-borne Diseases
Human Behavior and Transmission of Vector-Borne Diseases
Microbial adaptation and resistance. Technological breakthroughs and the use of medical antibiotics, both in developed countries and in developing countries, where they are widely used today, are constantly causing the development of microbial resistance to drugs. Lack of reliable public infrastructure services. Lack of funding for sanitation facilities, effective water management systems and basic public health care in many developing countries has led to a resurgence of vaccine-preventable deaths, particularly evident in areas exposed to war, natural disasters or economic collapse. Climate change. Mosquito-borne disease is likely to expand its geographic reach as more regions around the world experience warmer climates and more precipitation due to global climate change.
Major Types of Vector-Borne Diseases
If left untreated, the parasite can infect red blood cells, resulting in a lack of oxygen in brain tissue and other organs of the body. In many ways, the global campaign to eradicate malaria from the 1960s has only succeeded in making current malaria far deadlier by increasing vector resistance to pesticide use and handling. Deterioration of health and sanitation infrastructure, increased human migration, climate change, and poor land use and urban planning have also been responsible for the resurgence of malaria mosquitoes in recent years.
Disease infection is indicated by the presence of blood in the urine, which eventually leads to bladder cancer or kidney problems, or bloody diarrhea, which eventually leads to serious complications of the liver and spleen. Human faecal waste dumped into fresh water sources is the main factor in the spread of the disease.
Vector-Borne Disease Control
The primary recommended environmental health indicators and measures assess the prevalence of vector-borne diseases in a selected population and among children under the age of five. Such environmental health indicators provide an overview or snapshot of the severity of different types of vector-borne diseases in a community, particularly among vulnerable young children. In addition, three specific vector-borne diseases are selected for priority issues—dengue fever, malaria, and schistosomiasis.
Such indicators or measures can be developed by obtaining the morbidity and mortality rates of these vector-borne diseases from official public health records of a selected region. Equally important are indicators that assess the availability of vector-borne disease prevention programs, such as the number of household use of bed nets, and access to preventive public health facilities in a community.
Food Security and Safety
Food Security: Causes of Food Scarcity
Such a "market failure" in food commodities occurs when there is little or no food available within a market system to feed hungry people in dire need. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as industrialized countries in North America and Europe began to impose tighter controls on their domestic production, use, and disposal of toxic substances, pesticides, and hazardous waste, there was a dramatic increase in the export of strictly prohibited and restricted products. from developed to developing regions of the world. The main characteristic of POPs is their long-term chemical stability, i.e. they do not break down to form less toxic chemical substances in the environment.
Thus, they tend to bioconcentrate in the food chain, especially in the fatty tissues of fish and livestock, posing serious health risks to the human population. Although the toxicological impact of endocrine disruptors on the human population has not yet been thoroughly established, preliminary studies have shown significant declines in male sperm production in recent decades.
Food Safety Guidelines
Recommended Environmental Health Indicators and
As a matter of fundamental human rights, the importance of protecting the environment and public health in the context of sustainable development was first clearly stated in the 1987 Brundtland Commission Report ("Our Common Future"). The Brundtland Commission also included a set of General Principles, Rights and Responsibilities for achieving environmental protection and sustainable development. No nation can achieve this alone, but together we can – in a global partnership for sustainable development.”
In addition, the Rio Declaration expressly affirmed the rights of indigenous communities in the management of their environment in order to preserve their "identity, culture and interests and their effective participation in the achievement of sustainable development" (Article 22), and for the protection of the "environment and natural resources of people under oppression, domination and occupation" (Article 23). Global concern over the rapid rate of loss and extinction of biological species led to the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in March 1973.
Atmospheric Pollutants and Air Quality Standards
As a gaseous substance, ozone (O3) contains three oxygen atoms (arranged in an unstable ring structure) and is a highly reactive chemical compound found in atmospheric smog in many regions of the world. While there are many different types of reactive chemicals in smog, ozone is generally chosen as a proxy measure of photochemical oxidant levels in the lower atmosphere. In many urban environments, as much as 95% of the carbon monoxide present in the atmosphere comes from motor vehicle exhaust.
While a number of toxic heavy metals are found in the atmosphere, their air concentration levels vary significantly from region to region. A number of physical symptoms and diseases have been associated with indoor air pollution in the working environment of office buildings in developed countries.
Bacterial and Chemical Contaminants in Water—
Currently, many rural areas of the country have arsenic in drinking water above the WHO recommended level of 10 parts per billion (ppb). In several regions of the world, drinking water contains dangerous levels of naturally occurring fluoride, which is abundant in the Earth's crust. Many surface and underground sources of drinking water around the world are increasingly contaminated with various toxic chemicals and hazardous waste.
Among the more common toxic substances found in drinking water are (i) heavy metals, (ii) toxic organic compounds, (iii) pesticides and fertilizers, and (iv) disinfection by-products. Safe Drinking Water Act, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has issued legally enforceable standards for drinking water, known as the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR), which are divided into the following broad categories: (i) microorganisms (including bacteria and viruses). ), (ii).
Selected Bibliography
A guide to the global environment. New York: World Resource Institute (WRI), United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and World Bank (WB).
Resources & Weblinks
Towards more sustainable household consumption patterns indicators to measure progress ENV/EPOC/SE(98)FINAL/. http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/govdata2 001.htm.
