Pollution and accountability

Without credible air data, Karachi’s fight against pollution remains stalled

Recent reporting on Karachi's air quality has only verified what its foggy, grey skies have been telling for the past few months. Despite urgent warnings, Karachi only has about fifty private air quality monitors for a city of over 15 million people, when experts estimate that meaningful coverage requires over 500 monitors. Meanwhile, valuable government equipment, such as a Japanese-donated air quality monitoring station, has been lying dormant for eight years now. And the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency lacks adequate working equipment and has been making do with only one mobile monitoring van. With private resources insufficient and government resources inoperative, the citizens of Karachi are being deprived of one of the most fundamental necessities: clean air.

A growing socioeconomic middle class means families now have the privilege of being able to own multiple personal vehicles. But government initiatives have not yet caught up to this progress. Lack of reliable public transportation pushes people towards personal conveyance, which has led to around 70 per cent of the city's pollution. Even existing public vehicles, such as buses, are decades old and have outdated equipment that produces exorbitant amounts of traffic emissions. While the traffic police have cancelled several fitness certificates and issued multiple fines, the department still lags behind in creating meaningful change. The public, on the other hand, is now treating air purifiers as essentials rather than conveniences, once again compensating for the government's inaction.

The state has a responsibility to act. Protecting the public means investing in reliable air monitoring infrastructure and enforcing emissions standards that match the scale of this problem. Providing reliable data is the first step toward accountability and effective policy. Without an accurate system, the channels to eradicating pollution will always remain obstructed. Karachi simply cannot prosper if its administration manoeuvres challenges through uncertainty.