by Zoe Hough –
I would describe air pollution as unjust towards developing countries. Many developing urban cities for example, Tehran, Mumbai, Lahore experience higher levels of air pollutants than some developed cities due to their lack of knowledge and technology to make everyday fundamentals like transport more sustainable, shown by how recent trends indicate transport is responsible for almost 80% of air pollution in developing cities [1].This poses social threats to the populations since air pollution is like an ‘invisible killer’, accounting for 9% of yearly global deaths [2]. Unfortunately, this issue will only increase in the future due to current rapid urbanisation of developing cities (More people move to cities from rural areas to find better opportunities). It’s difficult for one individual to solve these issues, as we all know humans are a selfish species. Therefore, I believe it’s vital for national governments to take environmental action into their own hands through policies and regulations.
The developing city of Tehran
Tehran is the bustling capital of Iran. Tehran’s already large population of 9.1 million increases by 1 million daily due to commuters arriving in, since it contains 30% of Iran’s industrial establishments, including the largest car industry in the Middle East [3]. Clearly, Tehran experiences lots of air pollution from vehicles. Farhad Atash (2007) highlights how government action attempted to solve this developing city’s air pollution issue through the creation a 10-year master plan in 2000, aimed at reducing vehicular emissions by 40%. But was it successful?
As many people say, good things take time. Atash shows how this can be applied to the master plan by emphasising it’s a long-term strategy. For example, one aim was to replace 600,000 of Tehran’s 17-year-old car engines, since they consume 50% more fuel than a newer engine. However, this is expensive and the majority of Tehran’s working population are poor commuters, so cannot easily replace their cars. Therefore, replacing older engines is a gradual transition still happening today. Additionally, the plan aimed for annual inspection of vehicles to make sure they do not exceed permitted levels of emissions. You could say this was successful since 500,000 cars were inspected [4]. However there was a lack of enforcement of penalties on vehicles exceeding the limit…
Tehran’s tallest building -the Milad Tower- can only faintly be seen due to the smog (fog made from atmospheric pollutants). Source: Farsnews.com CC-BY-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
What are the next steps?
Overall, air pollution is a global issue. While developing countries may experience the effects more, it still presents in countries like the USA and UK. Therefore, this issue should be tackled together, with countries sharing knowledge and resources to better the planet for future generations. This may seem difficult, due to the self interest present in the world today. However, I believe future generations will have the sense to become more environmentally interconnected.
If you are interested in learning more about air pollution, here are some resources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749107002849
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231099001442
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199312093292401
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References
[1] United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (2001) The state of the World’s Cities. Nairobi, Kenya.
[2] Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2017) Air Pollution. Our World in Data. 1
[3] Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2017) Tehran – Isalamic Republic of Iran. https://tehran.embassy.qa/en/iran/general-information-about-tehran [30/11/20]
[4] Madadi M, (2017) Air Pollution of Tehran. Fars News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Air_pollution_of_Tehran_-_5_January_2013_07.jpg [01/02/21]
[5] Atash, F. (2007) Cities.The deterioration of urban environments in developing countries: Mitigating the air pollution in Tehran, Iran, 24, 399-409
