While the Djibouti International Free Trade Zone and Port is located in a desert with little urbanisation beyond the premises of the Zone, increased traffic in shipping vessels causing excessive smoke pollution has decreased air quality, and the local port authority is reportedly struggling to manage air pollution (Crossley, 2023).

The wastewater from textile factories in Ethiopia’s Hawassa Industrial Park has polluted the Boicha stream and a  biological lagoon nearby. Those living downstream from the water bodies have been most severely affected, as they use the water for drinking, irrigation, domestic purposes and rearing livestock.  As cattle also drink the polluted water, this has affected dairy produce from the region (Bekele et al., 2021). One study found heavy metal pollution high enough to cause irreversible damage through neurological issues, kidney failure or cancer in those who consume water or fish from these sources (Bekele et al., 2020). There is at present no mechanism in place to monitor soil quality regularly or evaluate the consequences for people in the area as a result of water and soil pollution. In the image below, Hawassa Industrial Park can be seen to expand from 2000 to 2020, growing closer to the water bodies to the south. 

Land use and land change for Hawassa Industrial Park (2000–20)  

Source: GIS mapping, King’s College London  

Due to the construction of Lekki SEZ and deep-sea port near Lagos, fish caught in the area are often toxic and inedible, with signs of severe water pollution (Goodburn, Knoerich, Mishra & Calabrese, 2024). Sources of this pollution include discharge from ships as well as spills of oils, lubricants, fuels and other liquids. Some of these liquids may come directly from the zone, since satellite imagery has identified that Lekki industries have two main drainage channels where they dispose of industrial wastewater into the sea (Adeyemi, 2023).

Waste management has also been a problem for the Lekki Free Zone. Since the SEZ operates autonomously, Lagos Waste Management Authority lacks jurisdiction and can enter only at the invitation of zone or firm managers, making it difficult to monitor environmental or waste disposal compliance. The zone produces various types of industrial waste requiring special handling, which has mostly been taken to the Epe Landfill area by a network of small private contractors, each operating independently and contracted directly by the factories (Goodburn, Knoerich, Mishra & Calabrese, 2024). However, due to the landfill’s recent closure, there is an urgent need for an alternative disposal site with proper monitoring of waste management. An additional concern relates to communities resettled from the area of the zone, which do not have reliable waste collection in their new locations, particularly for food- and agriculture-related wet waste, suggesting an environmental dimension to the extensive land expropriation in Lekki.  

One area of environmental contention is the mining of sand from Uganda’s lakes, rivers and swamps to support construction and industrial manufacturing in Liaoshen Industrial Park, particularly in the ceramic tile industry. Sand mining in Lake Victoria has been especially controversial, with reports of illegal dredging and discharge of waste waters into the lake, but wetlands elsewhere across Uganda have also been negatively affected, in particular those in Lwera (Monitor, 2021) . These wetlands provide water to a large population, and trap silt and other pollutants, thus making an important contribution to public health. Industrial pollution of nearby rivers, including most notably the Mayanja, which flows into Lake Victoria, is also a concern. In 2021, a new water supply system in Nakaseke, aimed in part at improving water availability in Liaoshen Industrial Park, was in development, while the construction of a water treatment plant inside the park itself was underway in early 2024 (Monitor, 2024). 

Air pollution has also increased with the operation of factories in Liaoshen Industrial Park, as well as the dumping of waste materials, especially plastic bags, in the soil around villages. Liaoshen management confirmed that individual factories were responsible for the removal and disposal of their own waste with a lack of park-level coordination (Goodburn, Knoerich, Mishra & Calabrese, 2024). One positive outcome is that some villagers around the park have begun engaging in scrap recycling and commercial use of factory waste products, including rags, plastics and oil, which may provide alternative sustainable sources of income in the longer term. 

Egypt’s TEDA-Suez SEZ has demonstrated basic levels of environmental compliance (Springer et al., 2023). Any firm wishing to build a factory in the zone must obtain an environmental permit from the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency before it can start construction. The permit is based on water use, land use and impact on biodiversity and energy consumption. Only after a full environmental assessment can construction begin. Moreover, firms in the zone are subject to annual audits and inspections from local authorities and are required to reapply for environmental permits on a regular basis. Firms in the SEZ met these minimum domestic requirements, which are however not up to the level of international best practice. 

TEDA-Suez SEZ has also demonstrated effective response to environmental breaches. In 2015 a paper factory in the SEZ was found to be dumping contaminated water and hazardous chemicals into the Suez Canal, in contravention of environmental regulations. An internal investigation led the factory to end this pollution, and SEZ management introduced more frequent inspections as well as raised the wastewater treatment capacity of the zone (Springer et al., 2023). 

An innovative closed system of environmentally sound waste management has been established in Noida SEZ near Delhi, solving a long-entrenched challenge of how to handle SEZ waste. According to the Indian 2005 SEZ Act, transferring goods, including many forms of waste, from within an SEZ to other parts of India is perceived as an “import” and is liable to be taxed. This includes even some types of waste created in the SEZ, creating a disincentive to process this waste outside the SEZ. To address this problem, Noida SEZ has set up a waste management unit inside the zone, operated by Vedika Infracon with support from the local government. The unit, which operates at a profit, uses vehicles to collect all types of wet and dry waste from the zone’s factories, then segregates, presses, composts and recycles it on-site. The recycled waste is used to create new commercially viable products such as plant pots and compost, for use within the zone (Vedika Infracon, 2024). 

The unit has hired migrants from other parts of India who previously worked as ragpickers in informal and precarious conditions outside the zone, and trained them in professional waste management. Provided with a regular salary, a uniform and on-site housing, these new waste managers have experienced considerable gains to their livelihoods and status. 

Polepally SEZ in Telangana state was established in 2006 with a focus on pharmaceutical manufacturing. The discharge of toxic effluents from its factories had made groundwater unusable by 2017. The villagers ceased using it for drinking as well as for agriculture (Agarwal, 2018). Hired farm hands now demand higher wages to work in contaminated farms in Polepally, because of the risk of health hazards. Farmers from four villages near the zone have protested over land degradation, declining agricultural produce and dying cattle, Recent tests suggested that soil in the areas surrounding the SEZ had become alkaline, and contained high levels of zinc, carbon, and potassium (Kashyap, 2022).