BBC: So I Can Breathe

Submitted by GAtherton on 10 March 2017

Air pollution is a massive problem throughout the world, known to cause millions of premature deaths due to respiratory disease, heart disease, stroke and much more including cancer.

The problem is largely caused by the intensive burning of fossil fuels, often in very confined areas with high human populations – but the burning of wood and other materials is also a problem in some areas.

Air quality guidelines have been published by the World Health Organisation that apply to every country so that each can strive to reduce emissions below harmful levels.

Some of the WHO’s key facts are quite shocking:

• Air pollution is a major environmental risk to health. By reducing air pollution levels, countries can reduce the burden of disease from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and both chronic and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma.
• The lower the levels of air pollution, the better the cardiovascular and respiratory health of the population will be, both long- and short-term.
• The “WHO Air quality guidelines” provide an assessment of health effects of air pollution and thresholds for health-harmful pollution levels.
• In 2014, 92% of the world population was living in places where the WHO air quality guidelines levels were not met.
• Ambient (outdoor air pollution) in both cities and rural areas was estimated to cause 3 million premature deaths worldwide in 2012.
• Some 88% of those premature deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries, and the greatest number in the WHO Western Pacific and South-East Asia regions.
• Policies and investments supporting cleaner transport, energy-efficient housing, power generation, industry and better municipal waste management would reduce key sources of urban outdoor air pollution.
• Reducing outdoor emissions from household coal and biomass energy systems, agricultural waste incineration, forest fires and certain agro-forestry activities (e.g. charcoal production) would reduce key rural and peri-urban air pollution sources in developing regions.
• Reducing outdoor air pollution also reduces emissions of CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon particles and methane, thus contributing to the near- and long-term mitigation of climate change.
• In addition to outdoor air pollution, indoor smoke is a serious health risk for some 3 billion people who cook and heat their homes with biomass fuels and coal.

The major causes of air pollution include deisel engines so many large cities are considering banning such engines from their centres, but of course there are difficulties with that strategy as most goods are transported using lorries burning deisel fuel. Domestic heating is another big contributor so governments are encouraging home and business heat efficiency. In less developed countries the priorities are different.

The BBC raises many of these isssues and some of the solutions being trialled in the UK in this series of articles for TV and radio.