The Air Quality Life Index recently released by the Peshawar Clean Air Alliance (PCAA) has revealed that the annual fine particulate matter in Peshawar exceeds the current national and provincial standards by 4-5 times and the WHO air quality guidelines by 12-16 times. The report further claims that the health of citizens are at risk as high levels of air pollution have decreased life expectancy by 2.3 years.
A staggering 850,000 motor vehicles were registered in the city by the end of 2020, which indicate that vehicular emissions could be the leading cause. Industrial waste has also been a longstanding issue and authorities have failed to regulate the 3,000 industrial units and 450 brick kilns currently operating openly across the city. Moreover, an unusual amount of dust aerosols in the air was observed during the previous year, owing to low rainfall or large-scale construction projects. Other factors include domestic solid fuel usage and municipal waste burning. Unfortunately, all of the above have culminated in a massive 58.72 gigagrams of air pollutants being emitted in Peshawar during 2020-2021. The crisis has mutated into a two-headed beast — one that not only affects the environment and restricts movements but also actively affects the health of citizens by causing respiratory and cardiac illnesses. This comes as no surprise given that Peshawar is considered as the third most polluted city in Pakistan and stands at 9th worst globally in the World Air Quality Report.
Despite the many sustainable projects initiated to fight climate change, those at the helm refuse to acknowledge the severity of the situation and have failed to take prudent measures to address the growing concern. Strict regulations and harsh penalties must also be imposed on the transport and industrial sectors to decrease the amount of carbon emissions and waste. But most importantly, authorities must collaborate with local engineers to develop an adequate monitoring system that helps in data collection to identify air pollution trends during different times of the year.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2022.
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