Only seven nations met WHO air quality standards last year, data showed yesterday, as researchers warned that the war on smog would only get harder after the US shut down its global monitoring efforts.
Chad and Bangladesh were the world’s most polluted nations last year, with average smog levels more than 15 times higher than WHO guidelines, according to data compiled by Swiss air quality monitoring firm IQAir.
Only Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Estonia and Iceland made the grade, IQAir said.
Photo: AP
Significant data gaps, especially in Asia and Africa, cloud the worldwide picture, and many developing nations have relied on air quality sensors mounted on US embassy and consulate buildings to track their smog levels.
However, the US Department of State has ended the scheme, citing budget constraints, with more than 17 years of data removed last week from the US government’s official air quality monitoring site, airnow.gov, including readings collected in Chad.
“Most countries have a few other data sources, but it’s going to impact Africa significantly, because oftentimes these are the only sources of publicly available real-time air quality monitoring data,” IQAir air quality science manager Christi Chester-Schroeder said.
Climate change is playing an increasing role in driving up the amount of pollution, Chester-Schroeder said, with higher temperatures causing fiercer and lengthier forest fires that swept through parts of Southeast Asia and South America.
Christa Hasenkopf, director of the Clean Air Program at the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute, said at least 34 countries would lose access to reliable pollution data after the US program was closed.
The state department scheme improved air quality in the cities where the monitors were placed, boosting life expectancy and even reducing hazard allowances for US diplomats, meaning that it paid for itself, Hasenkopf said.
It “is a giant blow to air quality efforts worldwide,” she said.
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