Partner: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Year: 2008-09
Background:
The brick production sector in Pakistan depends upon fuel wasting units and techniques, which contribute to air pollution and emissions of green house gases, thus generating negative economic and environmental impacts. Besides, within the sector there are social dilemmas such as bonded labour, child labour, work-place adverse living environments, unhygienic water and sanitation conditions, poor education and adverse occupational health conditions; all of these problems need serious consideration. The sector is one of the major actors in the construction industry and yet due to its peculiar characteristics is reproached as a non-taxpayer and is not recognized as an industry. It is estimated that around one million brick kiln workers work in almost 10,000 brick kilns in Pakistan. Despite the economic importance of brick kilns, very little information is available on the ‘state’ of the brick kiln sector in Pakistan.
SDPI contributed towards filling in this information gap by carrying out two studies, ‘Social assessment of brick kilns’ and ‘Environmental assessment of brick kilns’