eTN, 14-12-2006

With 600,000 people in Asia dying prematurely from air pollution each year, the continent’s major cities face a key challenge in reducing the daunting figure, according to a new United Nations-backed report: although vehicle emissions are being reduced, the volume of vehicles is rising rapidly.

The UN – study, Urban Air Pollution in Asia Cities, released ahead of the first
governmental meeting on urban air quality opening today in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, reports that while air quality has improved in some, pollution remains a threat to health and quality of life in others. Asia’s growth in population, urbanization, motorization and energy consumption remain major challenges.

One of its key findings is that concentrations of the fine particulate matter PM10, one of the main threats to health and life is, “serious” in Beijing, Dhaka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Kathmandu, Kolkata, New Delhi, and Shanghai.

“There is as strong an association between fine particulate matter and health issues in Asia as there is in Europe and the United States, but in Asia the concentrations of particulates are much higher,” the study’s lead author Dieter Schwela said.

But the report, focusing on 22 cities, also finds that Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo have an “excellent” capacity to manage air quality. Beijing, Busan and New Delhi are rated as having “good” air quality management capability. All these cities have achieved major reductions in key emissions but still need to address fine particulate pollution from vehicle fumes.

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