GS Paper 3
Syllabus: Environment Conservation
Source: WB
Context: According to the World Bank’s ‘Striving for Clean Air: Air Pollution and Public Health in South Asia’ report, 9 out of the world’s 10 cities with the worst air pollution are in South Asia.
Highlights of the report:
- This report quantifies particulate matter (PM) emissions and how they disperse in the atmosphere.
- Ambient air pollution is a public health crisis in South Asia,
- Not only imposing high economic costs
- But also causing an estimated 2 million premature deaths each year.
- In South Asia, nearly 60% of the population lives in areas where concentrations of 5 exceed an annual mean of 35 μg/m3 (WHO prescribes 5 μg/m3).
- In the densely populated Indo-Gangetic Plain, it is over 20 times higher than the WHO-prescribed levels.
- This report identifies six major airsheds in South Asia where spatial interdependence in air quality is high.
Main causes of air pollution in South Asia:
- Solid fuel combustion
- The current management practices of municipal waste in the region, include burning plastics.
- Generation of secondary PM in the form of ammonia (NH₃) emissions related to the agriculture sector.
- In the western part of South Asia, natural sources, such as dust, sea salt, and forest fires, are an important source of air pollution.
Way ahead:
- Controlling ambient air pollution is difficult without a better understanding of the activities that emit PM and how emissions travel across locations.
- Interdependence in air quality within airsheds in South Asia is necessary when weighing alternative pathways for pollution control.
Focusing on hotspots through regional cooperation would reduce mean exposure to 26 μg/m³.
