Pakistan Reader# 755, 22 April 2024
Rohini Reenum
PR Explainer
On 18 April, an article titled “How Pakistan got unenviable second spot among countries with worst air quality,” in The Express Tribune stated that Pakistan has ranked second in the list of countries with worst air quality in the 2023 World Air Quality Report by the Swiss Monitor IQAir.
What does the data say?
The 2023 World Air Quality Report uses PM2.5 concentration, which has been linked to several diseases and is a health hazard, as the “primary air quality indicator.” According to the report, the annual PM2.5 concentration of Pakistan was recorded at 73.7 µg/m3 (this value is also more than last year’s 70.9 µg/m3), “the PM2.5 levels continue to rise and are on target to eclipse 2018’s peak reported value of 74.3 µg/m3 by early 2025.”
According to an article in The Express Tribune, the WHO recommends no more than 5 micrograms which means that the PM 2.5 concentration in Pakistan is 14.7 times the safe limit. The report further states that Lahore is no longer the most polluted city in the world; however, it ranks fourth in the list of regional cities with the worst air quality and is the most polluted city in Pakistan. The city’s annual average PM2.5 concentration continued to rise with PM2.5 levels in 2023 reaching 99.5 µg/m3. In November 2023, Lahore’s monthly average soared to 251 µg/m3, triggering a public “environmental and health emergency” in Punjab province’s three cities- Lahore, Gujranwala, and Hafizabad. Faisalabad (88.2 µg/m3) is the second most polluted city in Pakistan after Lahore followed by Peshawar (76.5 µg/m3), Rawalpindi (59.5 µg/m3), Karachi (56.4 µg/m3), and Islamabad. The country’s capital Islamabad has seen a spike in annual PM2.5 concentrations and reached a “seven-year” high at 42.4 µg/m3. The report also revealed that “every city in Pakistan included in the 2023 report measured concentrations above 30 µg/m3, at least six times the recommended WHO annual PM2.5 guideline.”
What are the issues?
First, the persisting problem since 2018. Pakistan’s overall ranking in the World Air Quality Report has more or less remained the same over a five-year period, with some fluctuation in the PM 2.5 level concentrations. However, there has been no significant improvement in the PM 2.5 level concentrations, which is emblematic of the persistence of the problem. It ranked second (74.3 µg/m3) in 2018, ranked second (65.8 µg/m3) in 2019, ranked second (59.0 µg/m3) again in 2020, ranked third in (66.8 µg/m3) in 2021, ranked third (70.9 µg/m3) again in 2022 and is back to the second position (73.7 µg/m3) in 2023.
Second, the impact of anthropogenic activities. An article in The Express Tribune has highlighted the major factors contributing to the low air quality in Pakistan: climate change, industrial and vehicular emissions, increasing solid waste generation, deforestation, unplanned urbanization, and a population influx towards big cities. This is also reflected in the regional variation of the problem.
Some of Punjab’s cities are the most affected, especially Lahore, Gujranwala, and Faisalabad. They are the most populated, and the last two are also the province's industrial hubs. Lahore faces the problem of unchecked urbanization. These anthropogenic activities, along with crop burning and winter smog, made the air quality of these cities “abysmal” and triggered the November 2023 health emergency in the province.
Third, the issue of geography, climate change, and the winter smog. Referring to the low air quality in South Asian Countries (Bangladesh ranked first and India third in the list of most polluted countries in the 2023 World Air Quality Report), Christi Chester Schroeder, air quality science manager at IQAir has stated: “Because of the climate conditions and the geography (in South Asia), you get this streak of PM2.5 concentrations that just skyrocket because the pollution has nowhere to go.”
According to the 2023 World Air Quality Report, climate change which is primarily driven by greenhouse gas emissions, “plays a pivotal role in influencing concentrations of PM2.5 air” by affecting “the dispersion and removal of PM2.5 from the atmosphere.” A Smog Commission set up under the Lahore High Court in 2017 to deduce the causes of and ways to reduce air pollution found that “the intensity, duration and spatial extent of winter smog had increased over the last several years.” This accounts for the seasonal variation in the level of air quality with winter months seeing the worst figures. This implies that incidences like the November 2023 public health emergency in Lahore will continue to pose a problem. Further, in the future, shifts in weather patterns owing to climate change can extend beyond the present geography. The Commission report, however, also pointed out that smog is mostly a winter problem, but air pollution levels were “consistently high throughout the year” meaning that if other sources are tackled the problem could be reduced in its intensity.
Fourth, the problem of governance. Hamid Sarfraz, an Islamabad-based environmentalist has attributed the problem to “institutional and behavioural failures” stating that “It’s a multidimensional problem, which requires capacity-building and political will to implement environment-related laws. Both of these, unfortunately, have been lacking.”
What are the impacts?
First, adverse impact on health. PM 2.5- small airborne particles that damage the lungs- are the main component polluting air. Other “major health concerns linked to substandard urban air quality encompass respiratory problems like the worsening of pre-existing conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), amplified cardiovascular risks such as heart attacks and irregular heartbeats, increased susceptibility to lung ailments, decreased lung function, and hindered growth in children, potentially resulting in lifelong respiratory difficulties.” Further, according to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, air pollution reduces the life expectancy in Pakistan by over four years on average and by almost seven years in some areas.
Second, it places an additional burden on population and health infrastructure. The increased risk and incidence of disease increases the expenditure of the common people (especially those with poor socio-economic backgrounds) and the health infrastructure of a country, especially in developing economies like Pakistan.
Given the multi-dimensional nature and impact of the problem on the environment, human health, and by extension human capital, and consequently the economy and human development, it is imperative that the problem be dealt with utmost urgency.
References
“How Pakistan got unenviable second spot among countries with worst air quality,” The Express Tribune, 18 April 2024
“Which countries had the worst air quality in 2023?” The Express Tribune, 19 March 2024
Abdul Waheed Bhutto, “Air Quality Woes: A Joint Struggle for India and Pakistan,” The Diplomat, 7 November 2023
“Pakistan Develops a National Clean Air Plan Using the Country’s First Air Pollutant Inventory,” Climate and Clean Air Coalition, 30 December 2022
Muhammad Fawad Ashraf, Rana Uzair Ahmad, & Haseeb Khan Tareen, “Worsening situation of smog in Pakistan: A tale of three cities,” Annals of Medicine and Surgery, July 2022
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