(.....Weather, climate and the air we breathe.....)
In the efforts to improve our standards of living and economic development, human beings have been slowly destroying the planet’s soil, water, air, and biodiversity, with disastrous human and ecological upshots. The increasing human population and human consumption puts ever more pressure on the world’s ecosystems and natural resources, as people search for ways to increase production. The emission of greenhouse gases and aerosols into the atmosphere also impacts long-term climate change. The scientific community is generally of the consensus that urban growth, land-surface modification and climate change, all spurred by an explosion in global population, are altering the composition of our air. Those changes can dramatically affect weather and climate and, in turn, our health and that of ecosystems.
Numerous scientific studies link air pollution to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, cancer and nervous system disorders, as well as airborne and heat-related diseases. The atmosphere deposits contaminants in our waterways and on our land, harming not only people but also animals and plants. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates in its report “Air Quality Guidelines” (2006) that two million people die prematurely every year due to air pollution. The primary culprits are tropospheric ozone and related smog pollutants, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. These pollutants are responsible for large numbers of death and injury due to respiratory and heart diseases, particularly in developing countries.
The interdependence of the weather-climate system and global pollution is a critically important field of study for the 21st century. The United Nations agency, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) comprises 188 countries and territories and works closely with their national meteorological and hydrological services, particularly in developing countries, to strengthen their abilities to better observe weather, climate and water-related phenomena, to produce forecasts and to make this information widely available on a timely basis. Each year, on 23 March, the WMO, its members and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate world meteorological day around a chosen theme. This year’s theme is “weather, climate and the air we breathe,” to enhance the importance of observing the changes in the atmosphere, analysing the relationship between pollutants and the weather-climate system and then making air-quality forecasts and climate predictions.
In Pakistan, poor air quality has become a point of concern not for environmental enthusiasts or esoteric communities but for the general public due to its economic consequences. According to the World Bank’s Report, “Pakistan Strategic Environmental Assessment” published in September 2007, indoor air pollution alone is the reason for 30,000 child deaths per year, nearly 50 percent of the environmental damage cost is attributed to illness and premature mortality caused by indoor and outdoor air pollution. Around one-third of the cost, or 1.8 percent of GDP, is due to death and illness resulting from waterborne diseases caused by inadequate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene. Using conservative estimates, the report finds that the mean annual cost of environmental degradation is approximately 6 percent of GDP.
On paper, there have been many legislative efforts to attain environmental health in the form of Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance 1983, National Environment Quality Standards (NEQS) and National Conservation Strategy Report (NCSR), 1992 but little is done for their enforcement except lip service. Our isolation from the consequences of our actions is more the result of a naive thinking that either our actions would have negligible impact on the surroundings, or that this impact would affect others and not us. It remains to be our gullibility as opposed to reality that the air we breathe knows no boundaries.
The population growth has resulted in a significant increase in vehicle usage and electricity demand—both of which largely require the combustion of fossil fuels, releasing reactive gases into the atmosphere. A flood of vehicles, a consequence of industrialization and urbanization, swarm the roads in the cities all over the country. The vehicles and the industries spew carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and small particles called particulate matter into the atmosphere having hazardous health consequences. Mega cities of Punjab have been facing constant fog problem every winter for quite some years, which may be attributed to transboundary pollution form India. Dense fogs often trap the air pollutants, causing them to accumulate in great quantities—so-called smog. The smog can result in corrosive sulphuric acid droplets that irritate respiratory tracks and cause pervasive environmental damage. Other current sources of human-made pollution include forest and vegetation burning and waste incineration. The poor air quality has agricultural and forestry repercussions as well. Air pollution can damage the cells of trees and plants, harming their leaves and lowering growth rates. The food supplies can also be put to risk.
More consequential effects of greenhouse gas emissions is global warming and climate change, affecting people in a variety of ways: changing the weather, raising sea level, melting glaciers and ice sheets, increasing vulnerabilities to natural disasters and altering the water and food cycles, to name just a few. A warming climate can exacerbate air pollution in a number of ways. Climate change is expected to increase desertification patterns worldwide, thus increasing the risks posed by sand- and dust storms. It also increases the risk of drought, which can lead to more fires and, in turn, more aerosols. Climate-change models indicate that fires will continue to increase in both frequency and intensity with rising global temperatures. On a more local level, higher temperatures can strengthen urban heating, trapping more pollutants within cities. More generally, climate change can exacerbate heat-related pollution events.
Air pollution is a serious threat facing all nations in the 21st century. Working together, meteorologists, hydrologists, atmospheric chemists and environmental scientists must increase their understanding of air pollution and devise coping strategies. There is a need for good regional modelling and cooperation across research disciplines. Because air quality issues cross not only disciplines but also borders, they require international collaboration at the highest levels. Conserving the environment therefore, calls for a multi-pronged participatory strategy, as we all are at once, part of the problem and part of the solution.
Numerous scientific studies link air pollution to respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, cancer and nervous system disorders, as well as airborne and heat-related diseases. The atmosphere deposits contaminants in our waterways and on our land, harming not only people but also animals and plants. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates in its report “Air Quality Guidelines” (2006) that two million people die prematurely every year due to air pollution. The primary culprits are tropospheric ozone and related smog pollutants, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide. These pollutants are responsible for large numbers of death and injury due to respiratory and heart diseases, particularly in developing countries.
The interdependence of the weather-climate system and global pollution is a critically important field of study for the 21st century. The United Nations agency, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) comprises 188 countries and territories and works closely with their national meteorological and hydrological services, particularly in developing countries, to strengthen their abilities to better observe weather, climate and water-related phenomena, to produce forecasts and to make this information widely available on a timely basis. Each year, on 23 March, the WMO, its members and the worldwide meteorological community celebrate world meteorological day around a chosen theme. This year’s theme is “weather, climate and the air we breathe,” to enhance the importance of observing the changes in the atmosphere, analysing the relationship between pollutants and the weather-climate system and then making air-quality forecasts and climate predictions.
In Pakistan, poor air quality has become a point of concern not for environmental enthusiasts or esoteric communities but for the general public due to its economic consequences. According to the World Bank’s Report, “Pakistan Strategic Environmental Assessment” published in September 2007, indoor air pollution alone is the reason for 30,000 child deaths per year, nearly 50 percent of the environmental damage cost is attributed to illness and premature mortality caused by indoor and outdoor air pollution. Around one-third of the cost, or 1.8 percent of GDP, is due to death and illness resulting from waterborne diseases caused by inadequate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene. Using conservative estimates, the report finds that the mean annual cost of environmental degradation is approximately 6 percent of GDP.
On paper, there have been many legislative efforts to attain environmental health in the form of Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance 1983, National Environment Quality Standards (NEQS) and National Conservation Strategy Report (NCSR), 1992 but little is done for their enforcement except lip service. Our isolation from the consequences of our actions is more the result of a naive thinking that either our actions would have negligible impact on the surroundings, or that this impact would affect others and not us. It remains to be our gullibility as opposed to reality that the air we breathe knows no boundaries.
The population growth has resulted in a significant increase in vehicle usage and electricity demand—both of which largely require the combustion of fossil fuels, releasing reactive gases into the atmosphere. A flood of vehicles, a consequence of industrialization and urbanization, swarm the roads in the cities all over the country. The vehicles and the industries spew carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and small particles called particulate matter into the atmosphere having hazardous health consequences. Mega cities of Punjab have been facing constant fog problem every winter for quite some years, which may be attributed to transboundary pollution form India. Dense fogs often trap the air pollutants, causing them to accumulate in great quantities—so-called smog. The smog can result in corrosive sulphuric acid droplets that irritate respiratory tracks and cause pervasive environmental damage. Other current sources of human-made pollution include forest and vegetation burning and waste incineration. The poor air quality has agricultural and forestry repercussions as well. Air pollution can damage the cells of trees and plants, harming their leaves and lowering growth rates. The food supplies can also be put to risk.
More consequential effects of greenhouse gas emissions is global warming and climate change, affecting people in a variety of ways: changing the weather, raising sea level, melting glaciers and ice sheets, increasing vulnerabilities to natural disasters and altering the water and food cycles, to name just a few. A warming climate can exacerbate air pollution in a number of ways. Climate change is expected to increase desertification patterns worldwide, thus increasing the risks posed by sand- and dust storms. It also increases the risk of drought, which can lead to more fires and, in turn, more aerosols. Climate-change models indicate that fires will continue to increase in both frequency and intensity with rising global temperatures. On a more local level, higher temperatures can strengthen urban heating, trapping more pollutants within cities. More generally, climate change can exacerbate heat-related pollution events.
Air pollution is a serious threat facing all nations in the 21st century. Working together, meteorologists, hydrologists, atmospheric chemists and environmental scientists must increase their understanding of air pollution and devise coping strategies. There is a need for good regional modelling and cooperation across research disciplines. Because air quality issues cross not only disciplines but also borders, they require international collaboration at the highest levels. Conserving the environment therefore, calls for a multi-pronged participatory strategy, as we all are at once, part of the problem and part of the solution.
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