Air pollution and need for solutions - EDITORIAL

Last Thursday, a haze which many people believed to be a blanket of mist covered Colombo’s environs. However, the day’s particular haze was different from the mist which normally covers our skyline during the Christmas season. But the ‘mist’ on Thursday continued through the day blocking out the sunlight. The country was in reality covered in smog. 

We were to learn later, that the north of our country was even more thickly blanketed by ‘this particular mist’. Radio broadcasts announced that for the first time the country was blanked with an influx of dust particles contaminating Sri Lanka’s air space through strong winds from neighbouring India, which were said to be a major cause for this issue.  According to the US Air Quality Index (AQI), the air quality in Colombo stood at 249 on Thursday (December 8), a dangerous and serious health hazard risk to all people. The Air Quality Index is broken down into 6 levels:

0-50 AQI: (Green) means there is little or no health risk.
51-100 AQI: (Yellow) moderate designates acceptable air quality. But people sensitive to pollution or experience breathing issues, depending on the type of contaminants in the air.
101-150 AQI: (Orange) Unhealthy for sensitive groups; health risk for children, older adults and people with heart and lung disease. Even healthy sections of population experience health risks.
151-200 AQI: (Unhealthy) Red, is considered unsafe and anyone could experience negative health effects from pollution in the air.

201-300 AQI: Very Unhealthy (Purple) a serious health risk level for everyone
300 or greater AQI: Hazardous (Maroon): is considered hazardous and it’s likely that an emergency or evacuation warning could be issued.
What is sad is that our giant neighbour India, had been victim to air pollution (smog) over the last couple of years, large areas of China have also been covered in smog and this was not the first time pollution covered the city.
Last week’s air pollution was of course by far and a danger sign for us all. Environmental activists have for some time been raising red flags regarding AQI levels. Unfortunately, the government authorities took little remedial action. A proactive measure being the imposition of pollution emission standards for motor vehicles.

But past heads of state, either having little knowledge on the subject or because they cared less, knowingly increased chances of oceanic and air pollution, when they towed into our waters, a dangerous flaming ship filled with chemical cargo which was embargoed from entering into waters of neighbouring countries.
The burning-up and ultimate sinking of the container carrier the - Express Pearl - with its cargo of chemicals in our waters is the best example of how past leaders viewed environment pollution. Earning a ‘few dollars more’ was of greater concern, than the long-term damage to the environment. A study published in The Lancet has estimated that in 2017 air pollution killed 1.24 million Indians - half of them lesser than 70.  Open-air burning especially of agriculture waste is one of the main causes of air pollution in India’s capital. It is also widely practiced in the South Asian region as a means of agri-waste disposal. 

Open-air burning of agri-waste is part the world’s largest source of black carbon, - a short-lived climate pollutant that lasts for a few days to weeks, but has a warming impact 460-1,500 times stronger than carbon dioxide. As in India, in our own country, inefficient agricultural waste management, especially in rural areas, where agricultural waste is burned in open spaces and slash-and-burn agricultural practices continue unabated, is an important cause of environmental and air pollution. Unfortunately, neither in India nor in our own country or in the South Asian region have government authorities attempted to find permanent solutions to problems of agricultural waste.
In Denmark and Finland, the waste management infrastructure is well-developed. Farmers transport their waste to municipal sites and pay an annual tax to the local authority. Similarly in Germany and Belgium, farmers are also able to use municipal sites as waste streams. In each of these countries, the level of waste recovery is relatively high. On-farm disposal is still said to occur in remote locations.  

Today, the question we in South Asia face is, what measures we collectively need to take in the face of what in the future may become a regular feature - wind-blown pollution, during the monsoon seasons.
Will we leave our populations open to the vagaries of the winds bringing air pollution or do we have the political will to recycle and reuse our agricultural waste?