World Bank Report on Air Pollution

On 14th December, 2022, the World Bank released a report, titled 'Striving for Clean Air: Air Pollution and Public Health in South Asia'.

Background

  • Persistently hazardous levels of air pollution have caused public health crises in South Asia demanding urgent action.
  • Using a modelling approach over South Asia as a whole, the report lays out multiple scenarios and costs involved in reducing the region’s exposure to particulate matter (PM).

Key Highlights of the Report: Exposure to PM 2.5: Over 60% of South Asians are exposed to an average of 35 µg/m3 of PM2.5. In some parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) it spiked to as much as 100 µg/m3 – nearly 20 times the upper limit of 5 µg/m3 recommended by the WHO.

The report shows that current policy measures will only be partially successful in reducing PM2.5 concentrations across South Asia, even if fully implemented.

Airsheds: According to the report, South Asia has the following six large airsheds, where spatial interdependence in air quality is high, that is, the air quality in one can affect the air quality in another.

When the wind direction was predominantly northwest to the southeast, 30% of the air pollution in Indian Punjab came from the Punjab Province in Pakistan and, on average, 30% of the air pollution in the largest cities of Bangladesh (Dhaka, Chittagong, and Khulna) originated in India.

Airsheds

  • The World Bank defines an airshed as a common geographic area where pollutants get trapped, creating similar air quality for everyone.
  • The concept is demonstrated by a 2019 study that found approximately half of the population-weighted PM2.5 in Delhi comes from outside the territory, of which 50% is from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

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