Toxic cities

With the WHO having released its urban pollution index last week, the world’s focus has been turned towards the cost of the high levels of air pollution we tolerate in urban spaces. The WHO figures are alarming. Nine of out 10 people breathe air that is high in pollutants. Breathing toxic air leads to at least seven millions lives being lost per year. The problem is the most serious in South Asia, which is responsible for one-third of the premature deaths due to air pollution each year. While the headlines have focused on the fact that 14 cities in India are part of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, this is hardly something Pakistan needs to feel smug about. Our own cities of Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Karachi have continued to feature in among the most polluted cities in the world. The alarming smog that has grasped Lahore in the last two winters is another indicator that Pakistan’s cities rank close to unbearable in terms of air quality. Pakistan has preferred to point elsewhere when questions about air quality in the country are asked – but this is nowhere near the type of response that is required.

The situation has been so bad that even air pollution monitors had not been installed in most major cities before a recent Supreme Court ruling. With the SC taking on the issue of air pollution, the federal and provincial governments are being compelled to explain what they have done and what they plan to do. None of them has provided a coherent response yet. The country had not even completed the first step of installing pollution monitors before now. Where policies have been made, the focus has been on curbing emissions from already unfavourable industries, such as brick kilns, and monitoring motor vehicles. Neither of these is alone response for the mess – and a larger and more coherent policy framework is needed rather than satisfying the SC with some fines and penalties. China, which still has some of the most polluted cities in the world, has taken the decision to get rid of its reliance on coal power. Pakistan will have to take similarly bold initiatives. Maintaining the status quo will mean that Pakistani cities will soon join the list of shame on which many of our neighbouring country’s urban spaces are displayed.