The earliest concerns about pollution arose essentially in the United States, where pioneers like Rachel Carson brought out the harmful implications of unregulated use of pesticides and insecticides, etc. These concerns focused largely on pollution of the soil and ground water reservoirs. Subsequently, attention was directed to the serious problem of pollution of rivers and other water systems as well as air pollution. In the 1950s, for instance, there were incidents with major health impacts on large numbers of people on account of pollution phenomena such as the London smog as well as air pollution in cities like Los Angeles. The developed countries of the West mobilized their technological and institutional resources to deal with these forms of pollution quite successfully. However, this led to the established belief that economic growth and development involves progressive deterioration of the environment, and only when a certain critical level of pollution is reached and incomes rise to levels that allow for diversion of financial resources to deal with pollution, that action would actually take place. The emphasis was on rapid economic growth irrespective of environmental impacts, and dealing with the challenge of pollution only after certain income levels were reached.

In the developing world such an approach would prove extremely harmful, largely because the numbers of people affected by various forms of pollution, say in a country like India, are substantially larger than what would be seen in the developed world. Also, the vulnerability of populations in the developing countries is much higher, because of problems of hunger and malnutrition, lack of appropriate infrastructure and lower income levels which limit the kinds of health care that people can afford.

Even more important than these considerations is the fact that in developing countries some forms of pollution are unique to the conditions existing therein. For instance, noise pollution in a developing country is significantly higher than in the developed world. In India, in particular, it is quite baffling to observe that noise in traffic is at levels that are not seen even in other developing countries with lower per capita incomes, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa. Another form of pollution relates to unpleasant smells that are becoming prevalent in several developing countries. Much of this is the result of very poor disposal of waste, lack of sanitation facilities and climate conditions under which putrefaction takes place very rapidly under tropical and subtropical conditions that apply to a number of developing countries. Some of these problems are easy to solve such as noise pollution in traffic, where better enforcement of existing rules can yield major benefits. Waste management and disposal of solid waste of various kinds would certainly help in reducing foul odours that are so common in several developing countries. The important thing is that systems and solutions have to be implemented well before the problem becomes so gigantic that tackling would require very heavy cost and effort.

Unfortunately, measures will not be put in place to deal with these various forms of pollution unless there is adequate research on the nature of the problem and dissemination of knowledge about them. Hence, public awareness needs to be adequate and timely. It would, therefore, not be wrong to conclude that the most important ingredient in suitable methods to deal with pollution would involve a substantial amount of awareness creation on various aspects of environmental pollution and methods by which it can be dealt with.