ISLAMABAD: The scientific community of the South Asia region, worst impacted by the rising and widespread risk of smog, causing severe pollution that leads to the health crisis and socioeconomic issues called for revitalising the Male Declaration to ensure active regional cooperation to curb the ambient crisis.
A recent study titled Recurring South Asian smog episodes: Call for Regional Cooperation and Improved Monitoring authored by over half a dozen scientists hailing from Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Japan, the USA, and the UK provided a first-ever detailed account of the gaps in air pollution monitoring and lack of tools that can provide real-time data for informed policy making decisions to contain smog that has become a serious challenge for the region to surmount.
The first-of-its-kind study peered by international scientists working on air pollution with leading international scientific authorities reveal that the South Asia region stood out globally for fine particle pollution which has emerged as a major environmental challenge across South Asian states, affecting human health and causing severe socio-economic disruptions.
The research reported that the region counted around 32% of global mortality linked to exposure to exceptionally high levels of poor ambient air quality.
It further added that air pollution had also brought average life expectancy for the region estimated to be reduced by approximately five years in four South Asian countries namely Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, account for 60 % of loss of life-years globally.
The regional economies’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP), several of its percentage was also bearing a decline due to additional impacts to health, agricultural productivity, mobility, etc. due to air pollution.
The abovementioned countries geographically share the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) where population, emissions, and circulation combine to create a shared air pollution problem that calls for regional cooperation.
The report underlined that the dense cloud of air pollution was conspicuous from October to February. This period of smog or smoke activity was also termed by some as the “fifth season” due to its occurrence on a regular basis across the region.
It also questions the government-level measures in some countries of the region to counter smoke as propitious or fruitful like the practice of closing educational institutes and implemented road-rationing during intense smog and smoke episodes and cautioning the public to restrict outdoor activities.
The pollution crisis emerged complicated due to numerous key structural weaknesses including lack of suitable infrastructure and an uneven approach to regulation and enforcement across these countries.
The study findings continued to discover that impediments to dialogue and effective action between countries was also due to the resulting imbalance in air quality monitoring across the region.
It also highlights that improved monitoring of fine particle pollution particularly the particulate matter with diameters of 2. 5 µm (microns) or less (PM2. 5) was a major concern as a cause of bad air across the region.
Moreover, it mentioned that persistent data availability on PM2. 5 was recently made available for selected locations across South Asia as part of the AirNow Department of State program that has placed monitors at US Embassies and Consulates.
The study also used data from AirNow owing to its resemblance in the monitoring method and the shared data quality assurance programme, to demonstrate spatial and temporal trends across the IGP for three transboundary city pairs: Lahore-Delhi in the west, Lukhnow -Dang in central and Kolkata-Dhaka in the east.
Lahore and Delhi experienced similar seasonal variability and degree of poor air quality as defined by PM2. 5 whereas for reference, the Punjab -EPD guideline for daily average PM2. 5 (35 µg/m 3 ) was also used to emphasize the extreme pollution levels routinely encountered.
“Without appropriate monitoring across the region, targeted transnational action cannot efficiently be implemented.”
The research also noted that winter traditionally incurred enhanced burning of residential biomass or solid waste for heating due to the colder temperatures.
As described above, Lahore and Delhi (located in the west) experience an extended pollution season that begins with the annual burning of agricultural residues in October–November.
The central cities also show evidence of pollution impacts that start during the fire season, but pollution during this early period does not stand out in magnitude.
Currently, there are no official air quality monitoring stations in either Pakistan or Bangladesh.
However, efforts were underway to introduce low-cost sensor networks for particulate matter into these countries and across South Asia in general.
“India currently operates more than 370 air quality monitoring stations measuring both particulate and gaseous pollutants. In Nepal, a smaller number of sites are operated to measure particulate matter with fewer than 10 of the 27 sites routinely reporting data.”
As a consequence of this imbalance between South-Asian states, it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of the air quality conservation strategies employed by the countries as well as convincing the government of any one nation to take part in regional cooperation initiatives.
A clear manifestation of this imbalance is the refusal of the Indian chief minister to take part in regional cooperation initiatives initiated by the Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister in the recent past.
Therefore, the most important step for Pakistan and other south-Asian countries is to develop and strengthen their monitoring infrastructure in order to offset this monitoring imbalance and develop good will with its citizens and neighbors across borders.
The Malé Declaration is a framework for regional cooperation in South Asia established to tackle the issue of air pollution (SACEP). Since 1998, it has correctly pointed out the need for regional cooperation and management of transboundary air pollution.
The most important step for South Asian countries is to develop and strengthen their monitoring and reporting infrastructure in order to offset monitoring imbalances and strengthen goodwill within and across borders.
The study concludes on an ambitious note that there was a strategic and urgent need for an expansion of routine air quality monitoring networks across South Asia.
South Asian partners have several identified constraints namely limited observations, technical capacity, and financial resources but have shown a strong determination to combat pollution issues, particularly seasonal smog.
Air pollution in South Asia is a multi-dimensional problem that cannot be effectively mediated without the open exchange of proper information and the capacity building between all parties.
The authors of the study include the NUST Institute of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (IESE), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (SCEE), Dr Muhammad Fahim Khokhar and M. Shehzaib Anjum, Abdus Salam from Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Vinayak Sinha from Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali, Mohali, India, Manish Naja from Aryabhatta Research Institute for Observational Sciences (ARIES), Manora Peak, Nainital, India, Kirpa Ram of Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, Hiroshi Tanimoto of Center for Global Environmental Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan, , James H. Crawford of NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA and Mohammed I. Mead of MRC Centre for Environment and Health, Environmental Research Group, Imperial College London, UK.
