Concerns expressed about rising air pollution

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Sept. 2: Minister for Forest and Environment Ain Bahadur Shahi Thakuri has expressed the ministry's commitment to reducing and controlling the impacts of air pollution, especially on children, women and marginalised communities.

Speaking at an interaction programme organised by Triple Media Pvt. Ltd. recently, Minister Thakuri emphasised that addressing the impacts of climate change and air pollution was the top priority of the ministry. 

He mentioned that the ministry was committed to implementing further policy and institutional reforms to effectively manage the impacts of air pollution driven by climate change. He expressed concern over the significant impact of air pollution on human, biological and ecological systems.

"The ministry will collaborate with the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), local governments and all other concerned stakeholders and take effective steps to identify and control the impacts of climate change," said Minister Thakuri.

On the occasion, Sarita Rai, acting head of the Department of Environment of KMC, said that effective solutions to waste management were being carried out as a part of efforts to control air pollution. 

She said that KMC was working to generate public awareness about air pollution to help build a cleaner Kathmandu.

Bhusan Tuladhar, an environmentalist, highlighted the negative impact of air pollution on health. According to Tuladhar, 99 per cent of the global population lives in areas with polluted air. He noted that air pollution causes the death of 8.1 million people annually, with 90 per cent of these deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.

 In Nepal, air pollution causes 48,500 deaths annually, with over 5,000 of these deaths taking place in Kathmandu, he said.

According to Tuladhar, air pollution plays a significant role in major causes of death in Nepal, including 66 per cent of chronic lung diseases, 34 per cent of heart diseases, 37 per cent of strokes, 47 per cent of lower respiratory infections and 22 per cent of neonatal deaths. 

Studies suggest that reducing air pollution to meet WHO standards could increase the life expectancy of Nepali people by 3.4 years and of Kathmandu residents by 2.6 years.

Dr. Samir Kumar Adhikari, senior health administrator at the MoHP, said that the impacts of climate change in Nepal were evident in extreme weather events. He noted that both day and night temperatures were rising, leading to reduced cold days and nights. The melting of glaciers due to rising temperatures has started affecting drinking water and irrigation systems in hilly regions.

Dr. Adhikari referred to WHO estimates predicting that between 2030 and 2050, climate change could cause an additional 250,000 deaths annually due to malaria, malnutrition, diarrhoea and heat stress.

Environmental health problems, particularly air pollution, were identified as the most significant challenge of 2019. Dr. Jagat Jeevan Ghimire, a paediatrician at Kanti Children’s Hospital said, He warned that children in Nepal were at higher risk of air pollution compared to others in South Asia. He said, “As the effects of air pollution are not immediately visible, policymakers have not yet felt its impact.”

There are no statistics in Nepal on the impact of air pollution on humans. In countries like China and India, schools are closed to protect children from high levels of air pollution, but despite reaching similar levels, the Nepali government did not close schools.