Title: A Synthesis of Aquatic Sedimentary Heavy Metals (Cu, Pb, and Zn) from the ASEAN-5 Emerging Developing Countries: The Ecological-Health Risk Perspective
Abstract:
The ASEAN-5 countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam) is an ever-increasing major economy developmental hub in Asia besides having wealthy natural resources. However, heavy metal (HM) pollution in the region is of increasing environmental and public concern. This study compiled the concentrations of Cu, Pb, and Zn in the aquatic sediments of the ASEAN-5 countries published in the literature from 1981 to February 2021. The mean values of Cu, Pb, and Zn in aquatic sediments were elevated and localized in high human activity sites and compared to the earth’s upper continental crust and reference values. All reports (100%) showed the Zn ER values were categorized as being between ‘low potential ecological risk’ and ‘considerable potential ecological risk’. Almost all Cu ER values (97.7%) also showed similar ranges of the above two risk categories except for a few reports. Almost all reports (96%) showed Pb ER values categorized as between ‘low potential ecological risk’ and ‘moderate potential ecological risk’ except for a few reports. For the ingestion and dermal contact pathways for sediments from the ASEAN-5 countries, all non-carcinogenic risk (NCR) values (HI values 1.0) for Cu, Pb, and Zn reflected no NCR. The synthesis carried out in this review provided the basis for us to consider Cu, Pb, and Zn as being of localized elevated levels. This provided evidence for the ASEAN-5 group of countries to be considered as being a new socio-economic corridor. Beyond any reasonable doubt, an ever-increasing anthropogenic input of HMs is to be expected to a certain degree. This review provided the most fundamental useful baseline data for the future management and sustainable development of the aquatic ecosystems in the region.
Biography:
Prof. Dr. Chee Kong Yap is working as a full professor in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) since 2021. Prof Yap is an academician for more than 18 years in UPM and 23 years as a researcher. Prof Yap has supervised more than 80 undergraduates and 30 postgraduate students in the fields of ecotoxicology, environmental biology, environmental sciences, water quality and ecotoxicological genetics. Prof Yap has published more than 325 papers in refereed academic journals, 5 books (three of them published in NOVA Science Publishers, USA) and 32 book chapters. As on April 2022, 212 of them have now been indexed in Elsevier’s Scopus with an H-index of 30 (>2951 citations). Prof Yap has also been invited in honorary as Editorial Board members for more than 30 international academic journals. Prof Yap has been an invited visiting researcher at National lnstitute of Environmental Studies, Tsukuba (Japan), an invited visiting professor at Nihon University (Japan) and Hokkaido University (Japan), and an invited visiting researcher at Kobe University (Japan).
