Social cost of mining-related lead (Pb) pollution in Kabwe, Zambia, and potential remediation measures
Social cost of mining-related lead (Pb) pollution in Kabwe, Zambia, and potential remediation measures
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赞比亚卡布韦采矿相关铅 (Pb) 污染的社会成本和潜在的补救措施
DOI：
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.161281
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发表时间：
2023
影响因子：
9.8
通讯作者：
Zyambo Golden
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Yamada Daichi;Hiwatari Masato;Narita Daiju;Hangoma Peter;Chitah Bona;Nakata Hokuto;Nakayama Shouta M.M.;Yabe John;Ito Mayumi;Igarashi Toshifumi;Ishizuka Mayumi;Zyambo Golden
铅污染已成为世界性的重大环境问题之一。它是几种致命疾病的潜在因素，而在儿童早期接触铅会导致一生的智商下降。社会成本是将各种不利影响以单一货币单位汇总的概念，它有助于描述污染问题，并为干预措施的设计提供依据。然而，对发展中国家的社会成本的评估是稀缺的。在这项研究中，我们专注于铅污染问题的前矿业城镇，Kabwe，赞比亚，在那里的采矿废弃物附近的居民区已造成严重的污染问题。我们首先调查了2025-2049年出生的后代在其一生中将承担的铅污染的社会成本。作为社会成本的渠道，我们考虑了智商损失的收入损失和铅相关死亡率损失的生命。结果表明，社会成本将达到2.24 - 5.93亿美元（贴现到现值）。我们的研究结果可以被认为是保守的，下限估计，因为我们只关注铅的明确影响，但社会成本仍然很大。然后，我们研究了几种工程补救措施。结果表明，社会成本（补救措施的效益）的降低幅度大于实施补救措施的成本。这项研究是第一次调查发展中国家与采矿有关的铅污染问题的社会成本。我们的跨学科方法利用微观层面的经济，健康和污染数据，并整合了经济学，毒理学和工程技术。
Lead (Pb) pollution has been one of the major environmental problems of worldwide significance. It is a latent factor for several fatal illnesses, whereas the exposure to lead in early childhood causes a lifetime IQ loss. The social cost is the concept to aggregate various adverse effects in a single monetary unit, which is useful in describing the pollution problem and provides foundation for the design of interventions. However, the assessment of the social cost is scarce for developing countries. In this study, we focus on the lead pollution problem of a former mining town, Kabwe, Zambia, where mining wastes abandoned near residential areas has caused a critical pollution problem. We first investigated the social cost of lead pollution that future generations born in 2025–2049 would incur in their lifetime. As the channels of the social cost, we considered the lost income from the IQ loss and the lost lives from lead-related mortality. The results showed that the social cost would amount to 224–593 million USD (discounted to the present value). Our results can be considered conservative, lower bound estimates because we focused only on well-identified effects of lead, but the social cost was still substantial. Then we examined several engineering remediation measures. The results showed that the social cost can be reduced (the benefits of remediations) more than the costs of implementing remediation measures. This study is the first to investigate the social cost of mining-related lead pollution problem in developing countries. Our interdisciplinary approach utilises the micro-level economic, health and pollution data and integrates the techniques in economics, toxicology and engineering.