{"id":120714,"date":"2025-09-01T14:05:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T14:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/09\/01\/90-of-global-population-exposed-to-unhealthy-air-water-world-bank-report\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T14:05:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T14:05:42","slug":"90-of-global-population-exposed-to-unhealthy-air-water-world-bank-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/90-of-global-population-exposed-to-unhealthy-air-water-world-bank-report\/","title":{"rendered":"90% of global population exposed to unhealthy air, water: World bank report"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 1 \u2014 A staggering 90 percent of the world\u2019s population is living with degraded land, polluted air, or water stress, a new World Bank report has revealed, warning that environmental decline is now a major drag on economic growth and human development.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The report, Reboot Development: The Economics of a Livable Planet<\/em>, highlights that in low-income countries, eight in ten people lack all three essentials \u2014 healthy air, clean water, and fertile land.<\/p>\n

This, the Bank says, poses severe constraints on livelihoods, health, and long-term economic opportunity.<\/p>\n

The study finds that the loss of forests alone disrupts rainfall, dries soils, and worsens droughts, with the resulting economic toll running into billions of dollars annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople and communities around the world are not just facing an environmental crisis, but an economic one,\u201d said\u00a0Axel van Trotsenburg, Senior Managing Director, World Bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news is that solutions exist. If countries make the right investments now, natural systems can be restored, with substantial returns on growth and jobs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Trotsenburg, the report \u201coffers a new lens for looking at environmental challenges \u2014 not as constraints, but as opportunities for smarter development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the report\u2019s findings is the \u201cnitrogen paradox\u201d: while fertilizers boost crop yields, overuse in some regions harms soils, water systems, and ecosystems, with global costs estimated at $3.4 trillion annually.<\/p>\n

Similarly, air and water pollution silently sap productivity, impair cognition, and weaken human potential.<\/p>\n

The report emphasizes that nature, if managed well, can drive growth and resilience.<\/p>\n

Efficient use of natural resources could cut pollution by up to 50 percent.<\/p>\n

Smarter use of nitrogen fertilizers, for instance, could deliver 25 times more benefits than costs while raising agricultural productivity.<\/p>\n

Expanding water and sanitation services could also save countless lives \u2014 with something as simple as chlorinating drinking water potentially preventing a quarter of child deaths linked to unsafe water.<\/p>\n

Other cost-effective solutions highlighted include \u201cpollution markets,\u201d where every $1 invested yields an estimated $26\u2013$215 in benefits by reducing air pollution and improving health outcomes.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 1 \u2014 A staggering 90 percent of the world\u2019s population is living with degraded land, polluted air, or water stress, a new World Bank report has revealed, warning that environmental decline is now a major drag on economic growth and human development. The report, Reboot Development: The Economics of a Livable Planet, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}