Hanoi has grown rapidly into a modern, vibrant city. However, the development of infrastructure and services has lagged behind the growth of the population. In particular, two significant water-related problems have arisen. Water pollution has become a major issue, creating a huge environmental...

The work summarized in this report fills a knowledge gap by contributing to an improved understanding of the links between competitiveness and pollution. Specifically, it argues that pollution need not be an inevitable consequence of development. Indeed, there are examples of cities that have...

This report, created with the support of the Structural Reform Support Program of the European Commission (EC), provides an estimate of the health impacts of current concentrations of air pollutants in the Republic of Slovakia across its 72 districts (the two biggest cities are counted as one...

Rural livelihoods in Tajikistan heavily rely on natural resources and the agriculture sector. A large proportion of the rural population depends on agriculture, and weather-related calamities are exerting increasing pressure on natural resources and agricultural sectors, the major contributors...

The World Bank Group (WBG) has been active in public and private sector pollution management for the past several decades. The Bank has mainstreamed environmental health concerns into its rural and urban services through projects that improved the management of solid and hazardous waste and...

Plastic pollution is a worldwide environmental challenge. In coastal West Africa, about 80 percent of plastic waste is mismanaged, posing escalating challenges to people, the economy, and the coastal and marine environment. This Synthesis Paper was prepared to inform decision-makers from the...

South Asia is home to 9 of the world's 10 cities with the worst air pollution. Concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in some of the region's most densely populated and poor areas are up to 20 times higher than what the World Health Organization considers healthy (5 micrograms per...

Nine out of the world's 10 cities with the worst air pollution are in South Asia. South Asians are exposed to extremely unhealthy levels of ambient air pollution, especially in densely populated, poor locations. The World Health Organization's (WHO) Air Quality Guideline recommends that...

Marine plastic pollution is threatening the potential of the blue economy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Recognizing the urgent need to address this problem, the governments of Morocco and Tunisia decided to partner with the World Bank to address marine plastic pollution by...

In response to a request from the Government of Vietnam, this World Bank study was conducted from July 2020 to April 2021 to deepen knowledge about the different plastic waste types leaking into rivers and the ocean in Vietnam and identify their market alternatives for potential substitution....