“Almost everyone on Earth, in principle nine out of ten people breathe air that is essentially unfit for its intended purpose“, said Lorenzo Labrador, a research associate at WMO“This means that it is air that exceeds the (UN World Health Organization) WHO guideline limits and contains high levels of contaminants with low- and middle-income countries being hit hardest.”
Heat driver
That shocking finding is just one of many disturbing discoveries in the latest WMO Air Quality and Climate Bulletin. For example, it highlights that the first eight months of 2024 have not seen an end to periods of intense heat and prolonged droughts globally, increasing the risk of wildfires and air pollution.
“Climate change means that we are increasingly confronted with this scenario. “Interdisciplinary science and research are key to finding solutions,” the UN agency warned.
According to the WHO, there is a clear link between polluted air and poor health. The WHO has called for global action to combat “one of the greatest environmental risks to health” and numerous preventable diseases, including stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma.
“Ambient air pollution alone, mainly from vehicles and industry, causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths each year,” the WMO’s Mr Labrador told journalists in Geneva.
“This is more than the deaths from malaria and HIV/AIDS combined, making air pollution the greatest environmental risk of our time. But it is not only a health risk in itself, it is also exacerbating climate change.”
Regional trends
A snapshot of regional emissions variations in the UN agency’s report showed a trend of “lower pollution in Europe and China” than in North America and India, where there was an increase in pollution emissions from human and industrial activities.
This is likely the “direct result of a reduction in emissions in those countries over the years, and we have noticed this trend since we started publishing the bulletin in 2021.”
While it is well known that polluted air with microscopic particles – including sulphates, nitrates, ammonia, soot from human activities and forest fires – is harmful, Mr Labrador reiterated the UN agency’s 2023 findings that these and other pollutants also have a damaging impact on food security.
Crop yields are declining
“Particulate matter can seriously affect crop productivity – staple crops like corn, rice and wheat,” he said. “A lot of this particulate matter pollution that affects crop yields is due to man-made practices, including land use practices like tillage and harvesting. Also, applying fertilizers and burning stubble at the end of the season, of the growing season.”
New data analyses of naturally occurring wildfires around the world last year also found that the blaze that swept across Canada in 2023 was “even more severe in terms of emissions” than the 2021 wildfire season in Siberia — though that was “very, very severe,” the WMO official insisted.
“(The fires in Canada) broke records for the amount of area burned in a 20-year period.”
To mark Clean Air for Blue Skies Day on Saturday, September 7, the UN agency urged governments to protect health, the environment and the economy, given the costs of air pollution.
“The first thing that cities need to do is acknowledge that the problem exists,” Mr. Labrador said. “So those cities and those countries need to first acknowledge that there is an air quality problem and that there is enough data globally to essentially acknowledge that it is a global problem, particularly in urban areas.”
