Taiwan had the 45th-highest average annual PM2.5 concentration among 134 countries, territories and regions rated last year, according to the 2023 World Air Quality Report published by IQAir on Tuesday.
Recording an average concentration of 20.2 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m3), Taiwan performed better than China (32.5mg/m3) and Mongolia (22.5mg/m3), but lagged behind South Korea (19.2mg/m3), Hong Kong (15.6mg/m3) and Japan (9.6mg/m3) in East Asia, according to the report’s Swiss publisher.
The most polluted countries were Bangladesh (79.9mg/m3), Pakistan (73.7mg/m3), India (54.4mg/m3), Tajikistan (49mg/m3) and Burkina Faso (46.6mg/m3).
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Only Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand have met the WHO’s annual guideline of 5 mg/m3 or less, the report said.
In terms of cities and locations, the highest average annual concentration of PM2.5 in Taiwan lies in Changhua County (24.5mg/m3), Tainan (20.9mg/m3) and Pingtung County’s Donggang Township (東港, 20.7mg/m3), according to IQAir.
Taiwan’s data were collected from 48 Ministry of Environment air quality stations and five individual contributors providing observations from six stations, IQAir said.
PM2.5 is particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller. Such particulate matter is a key component of air pollution and a known cause of many health issues, including cardiovascular and neurological diseases, the report said.
Department of Atmospheric Environment head Chang Shun-chin (張順欽) on Wednesday said that the air quality in different parts of Taiwan results from complex factors such as geology and seasonal winds.
For example, flying dust in the Jhuoshuei River region plays an important role in the local air quality. Pollutants often drift to northern Taiwan with the seasonal northeasterly winds in winter, while in April and May, ozone pollution is higher in the north due to the southerly winds, Chang said.
The ministry is conducting the second phase of the air pollution control action plan and ramping up efforts to reduce air pollution in central and southern Taiwan, Chang said.
Major pollution sources, including the Taichung Power Plant, other power plants and steel factories, have been required to redouble efforts to reduce emissions, Cheng said.
Local governments have also been required to provide related plans according to each region’s situation, Chang added.
The ministry said that IQAir was a private company that manufactures air purifying products, with much of its data from private contributors and unclear locations, which might not reflect reality.
For example, the report said that Taiwan’s average PM2.5 concentration in 2022 was 13.4mg/m3 and rose 50 percent to 20.2mg/m3. However, the ministry said that data it compiled showed that the average concentration was 12.4mg/m3 in 2022 and only rose 11.3 percent to 13.7mg/m3.
The Changhua County Environmental Protection Bureau also issued a statement yesterday, echoing similar sentiments.
The ministry’s data showed that the county’s average annual PM2.5 concentration was 16.4mg/m3, not 24.5mg/m3 as the report showed, the bureau said.
Moreover, the county’s air quality has been improving, with the improvement between 2018 and last year being in the top five in the country, it added.
The 2023 World Air Quality Report was IQAir’s sixth annual report. More than 30,000 air quality monitoring stations across 7,812 locations internationally were collected and subsequently analyzed by IQAir’s air quality scientists, IQAir said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS