The Hindu : National : Study finds high air pollution levels in Asian cities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 08, 2004

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Study finds high air pollution levels in Asian cities

By Aarti Dhar

AGRA, DEC. 7. Estimates made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) suggest that the impact of outdoor air pollution in Asian cities is substantial and warrants the attention of policy-makers. According to a WHO report, each year urban air pollution contributes to approximately 800,000 deaths and 4.6 million lost life-years. This burden, however, is not equally distributed: about two-thirds of the deaths and lost life-years occur in the developing countries of Asia.

The Health Effects Institute (HEI), a Boston-based organisation, supported by the United Nations Environment Programme, also carried out a study on "Health Effects of Outdoor Air Pollution in Developing Countries of Asia," and the findings were released at the Better Air Quality (BAQ 2004) conference here.

The fourth in a series, BAQ 2004 is a major conference on air quality management in Asia. The event, running from December 6 to 8, is hosted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia).

Combustion

According to the HEI report, combustion is the chief process responsible for emitting pollutants. In the poorer cities, burning refuse (garbage and biomass) contributes considerably to air pollution. Although centralised refuse burning on a large-scale contributes to a large extent, small-scale burning may also have a great impact in most Asian cities.

In most cities, the main source of combustion is fuel use, which tends to increase along with population size and economic activity. Although emissions vary with combustion conditions and emission-control technology, fuel type is a useful indicator of potential emission; coal and biomass are high-emitting liquid fuels; and liquefied petroleum gas are low-emitting gaseous fuels. Projections suggest that Asia, owing to its expected economic growth, may experience substantial increases in its use of coal and motor-vehicle fuels.

Some of the highest levels of outdoor air pollution in the world are in Asian cities.

The high concentration included total suspended particles, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.

According to the report, air pollution in Asian cities is closely linked to levels and trends in economic and social development. In addition to rapid industrialisation, urbanisation, population growth and demand for transportation, meteorological conditions influence air pollution levels in most South Asian and South-East Asian cities.

Indoor pollution is also a serious source of concern in the developing countries of Asia where 60 to 80 per cent of households rely on solid biomass fuels for cooking and heating. These fuels are usually burnt in low-efficiency, unvented traditional devices and result in high levels of indoor air pollution. Women and children face the maximum exposure because they spend most of their time indoors, working with or near combustion sources. About 30 to 60 per cent of urban residents of low-income countries are reported to live in poor households and to be exposed to high indoor air pollution.

Quoting recent studies, the report says that the effects of indoor air pollution include acute lower respiratory infections in children below five years, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.

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