By 2020, 148 cities leading the list of the worst air pollution in the world are all in the Asia-Pacific region …
A day of bad air pollution recorded in New Delhi in January 2021 – Photo: AFP Chiang Rai is one of Thailand’s most beautiful provinces, with undulating hills, forests, elephant camps and top quality agricultural products. At the northernmost point of Chiang Rai is the confluence of the majestic Mekong River, which flows down from China and the Ruak River. Located on a nearby mountain slope, Anantara Golden Triangle Resort is one of a number of 5-star resorts attracting hikers, elephant lovers and landscape lovers. However, last week, only a few rooms here had guests staying. According to Nikkei Aisa, it was not the Covid-19 epidemic, but the haze in the dry season every year, making the scenery not only lose its breathtaking appearance but also toxic. The concentration of PM2.5 – fine dust with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm in the air – measured here on April 4 is nearly 400 micrograms / m3 of air, nearly 40 times higher than the safety level of the group. World Health Organization (WHO). 
Tourists wearing masks in Chiang Mai, Thailand in April 2019. For at least 15 years, this region has recorded many days with the highest PM2.5 in the world. Dust covered the northern provinces of Thailand. For at least the past 15 years, Chiang Mai, the neighboring province of Chiang Rai, has seen many days with the highest PM2.5 in the world. Unlike many parts of Asia, the air pollution crisis in northern Thailand was not caused by factories, cheap fuels and transportation, but from fires caused by intentional burning and burning agricultural by-products. “ENTRANCE DAY” OF ASIA Thailand’s green north, which has no industrial zones, is now at the heart of the global air pollution crisis. As recommended by the World Health Organization, the safe level of PM2.5 concentrations averaged 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air annually. Currently, however, less than 8% of the world’s population can breathe that safe atmosphere. And nowhere in the world has this index worse than Asia. According to the Swiss air quality technology firm IQAir, in the ranking of the worst air pollution cities in the world last year, the top 148 cities were all in the Asia-Pacific region. 
Thailand’s city of Chiang Rai was covered in smoke from forest fires and straw burning in 2019 – Photo: Getty Images According to a study published in the Journal of Cardiology Research in 2015, the air pollution death rate has caused nearly 8.8 million deaths globally, of which nearly 6.5 million are in Europe. ASIAN. This is becoming one of the most serious public health risks globally, even more so than cigarettes. In terms of health threats, the response to air pollution and the Covid-19 epidemic is completely different. Because, while a huge public budget is allocated to control the spread of the disease, addressing air pollution has remained largely flat. However, the annual number of deaths due to dust is many times higher than that of the more than 300,000 deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic last year in Asia, according to data compiled on worldometers.info. For many years, health agencies have raised the alarm about air quality in Asia. China’s so-called “doomsday atmosphere” has set off a decade of alarming about the serious health effects of air pollution. This situation has gradually improved thanks to strict Beijing measures. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are now replacing China with the worst air quality in the world. “The world has turned its back on cigarettes, but now it has to deal with ‘new cigarettes’ – the toxic air that billions of people breathe every day,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “No country, rich or poor, can escape air pollution. This is a silent public health emergency.” 
A coal-fired power plant of Huaneng Shandong Rui Group is owned by the Chinese government in Sahiwal, Pakistan – Photo: Getty Images One of the reasons that Asia is hit hard by air pollution is its high population density. Top 4 countries with the most population density in the world have 3 Asian representatives: China, India and Indonesia. The total population of these three countries is 3.1 billion, accounting for about 39.2% of the global population. INDONESIA: SWEETS In Indonesia, fires caused by forest clearing are the cause of serious pollution. Seven out of 10 ASEAN countries were affected by haze caused by burning fires in Indonesia, according to a Greenpeace report. In particular, Singapore and Malaysia were most affected. The report, released after two decades of research, says the haze “causes widespread health problems including lung and cardiovascular disease”. In 2015, scientists at Harvard and Columbia Universities (USA) estimated that haze caused about 100,000 premature deaths in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. According to estimates of the World Bank (WB), the haze caused more than 16 billion USD in damage to the Indonesian economy. In February, Mr. Mohammad Mahfud MD, Indonesia’s Security Minister, said the total area affected by forest fires last year was nearly 300,000 hectares. This figure, although improved compared to 2019, is still 5 times larger than the area of the capital Jakarta. In 2019, about 1.6 million hectares of forests in Indonesia were burned, leaving at least 900,000 people with respiratory problems. Economic loss of the eight affected provinces is 5.2 billion USD. INDIA AND PAKISTAN: GENERAL POINT OF CONTAMINATION According to IQAir 2020, in terms of PM2.5 fine dust concentration, the air quality in the Indian city of Delhi has improved by about 15% compared to 2019 thanks to nationwide blockade measures to prevent Covid-19 epidemics. . However, this is still the city with the worst pollution levels in the world. By 2020, air pollution is estimated to have killed some 54,000 people in the Indian capital, causing $ 8.1 billion in damages – or 13 percent of Delhi’s GDP, according to Greenpeace and IQAir. The (avoidable) air pollution deaths in Mumbai and Bangalore cities are 25,000 and 12,000, respectively. 
Smoke enveloped the Indian Gate in New Delhi on December 25, 2018 – Photo: Nikkei Asia India has 22 representatives in the top 30 most polluted cities in the world. Despite improving over the past few years, the country’s air pollution remains at a “dangerously high level”, according to a Greenpeace report. The annual average PM2.5 concentration of Delhi is 84.1 micrograms / m3 of air. For comparison, Beijing’s figures are 37.5, Seoul 20.9, Paris 12.2 and London 9.6. India and Pakistan have something in common about pollution: Vehicle dust. IQAir ranks Pakistan as the second most polluted country in the world and is estimated that about 20% of deaths in the country are related to air pollution. Malik Amin Aslam, Pakistan’s climate change minister, said 40 percent of the haze in the country was caused by vehicle emissions. Some other causes are industrial emissions and crop burning around the Lahore region and the border in India. “In Pakistan, the use of dirty fuels has exacerbated air pollution,” said Ahmad Rafay Alam, environmental lawyer at Lahore and Yale World Fellow. To mitigate the air pollution crisis, the Pakistani government has set a target to increase the sales of electric vehicles to about 30% of total vehicle sales by 2020, while also requiring the import of only fuels that meet Euro-V standards. . However, Mr. Ahmad Rafay Alam said that the fuel and electric vehicle import policy exists only on paper because the government has not taken practical steps to implement them. VIETNAM: THE PRICE OF GROWTH? According to GlobalData’s forecast, Vietnam is the most growing economy in ASEAN with real GDP growth of 8.5% this year. However, with this growth, concerns about the environment are increasing. According to a Q&M survey of nearly 800 people aged 18-49, 79% of respondents said that air pollution is their biggest environmental concern. 84% consider environmental problems to be more serious in 2020. According to official data, Vietnam lost about 10.8-13.2 billion USD per year due to air pollution. The Global Alliance for Health and Pollution estimated 50,232 people died from air pollution in Vietnam in 2017. 
Motorcyclists in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2019. In a recent survey, 79% of Vietnamese respondents said that air pollution is their biggest environmental concern – Photo: EPA PM2.5 concentrations around Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City hit a particularly high level in November and December 2020. Facing this situation, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has directed the local government to install an additional air monitoring system. Last January, the Prime Minister also issued a directive on air pollution control. The government recommends that people close windows, wear outdoor masks and wash their noses with salt water for both the young and the elderly. CHINA: DETERMINATION MEASURES China is ranked 14th out of 106 countries for IQAir’s 2020 air pollution level. However, this ranking has improved significantly compared to previous years when the country’s average PM2.5 concentration fell from 41.2 micrograms / m3 of air in 2018 to 34.7 last year (albeit still). 3 times the WHO safety standard). Over the past few years, China has taken drastic measures at the government level to clean up the atmosphere. Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a carbon neutral goal by 2060. Last January, China’s National Energy Administration was warned by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment for its negligence in controlling coal production. This is a rare reprimand in China’s state agencies. According to Nikkei Asia, China only really started to tackle its air pollution problem drastically in 2013, when coal could meet two-thirds of domestic electricity demand. China currently leads the world in solar power development at a significantly reduced cost relative to the world. The country’s electric vehicle and battery sectors also lead the world. Drastic measures by China in recent years include relocating polluting old factories. Earlier last year, 46 factories in Hebei province, near Beijing, were relocated to reduce industrial pollution, especially from steel, cement and glass production. 
The Forbidden City in Beijing was covered in smog in 2018 – Photo: Nikkei Asia However, not all solutions to China’s air pollution are environmentally friendly. The country’s push to build hydroelectricity to reduce coal use has raised environmental concerns in many Southeast Asian countries.
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