Toxic air tightens chokehold on Punjab

LAHORE:

Lahore’s residents endured 44 days of ‘hazardous’ air pollution during last year, revealed and Air Monitoring Report of the United States Consulate.

The report shows that the number of annual days marked by levels of air pollution deemed hazardous for human health in the city increased from 24 to 44 during the past five years.

The frequency of days when then city records ‘very unhealthy’ air pollution has also increased. Lahorites spent 67 days in a 365-day year amidst an unhealthy air pollution level in addition to 44 in hazardous environmental conditions.

Hazardous Air Quality ratio is the worst stage in the monitoring index that spreads cancer and other diseases among citizens.

Environmentalists have warned that worsening of the situation due to lack of effective measures at mitigation could leave the city uninhabitable.

According to the report, air pollution in the city had worsened at an alarming rate during the past five years.

The findings cited in the Punjab State of the Environment Report launched recently showed that the city’s residents faced 44 days of hazardous and 67 of unhealthy air pollution in 2023.

Lahore remained among the five most polluted cities of the world and the situation also forced the authorities to shut educational institutions in the province.

The Lahore High Court also took notice of the air pollution in the city and advised action against smoke-emitting vehicles. The provincial environment department also stepped up efforts to handle the situation following the instructions.

The US consulate’s monitoring follows the global standards, classifying the air quality ratio into six categories of good, moderate, unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy, very unhealthy and hazardous.

According to the air quality standards, ‘hazardous’ is the worst category, showing extreme air pollution that, according to medical and environmental experts, is dangerous for life.

The consulate’s monitoring revealed that Lahore had witnessed 31 days of hazardous air quality in 2022, 35 each in 2021 and 2020, and 24 in 2019.

The number of days when the air quality was deemed very unhealthy was 67 in 2023, 74 in 2022, 49 in 2021, 47 in 2020 and 43 in 2019.

A senior officer of the Environment Protection Agency said the US consulate’s report had shown that the number of good and moderate AQI days in a year in the city had decreased since 2019. The number of days with hazardous and very unhealthy pollution levels have increased.

The official said an improved air quality in 2020 was attributed to limited industrial and transportation activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the provincial environment department’s data was based on the Punjab EPA’s AQI categories with varying boundaries.

An environmentalist said almost half the year in the city is spent in an environment requiring caution and it had become evident that Lahore is facing a situation worse than most of the world.

He said the experts had been demanding that the Punjab government consult the stakeholders on a constructive policy to fight air pollution challenges and initiate steps that immediately provide relief to the citizens.

He said the increasing number of hazardous and unhealthy days every year proves a slide towards destruction and the health problems caused by the pollution are also on the rise.

The expert said the elderly and children would be at a severe risk if the situation was not improved and the air quality deteriorated.

“We have been the worst affected by climate change and are residing in a place that will technically not be fit for human life,” he added.