Our environmental footprint has continued to worsen at an alarming rate over the past few decades, fueled by many human impacts; from population growth to technological developments. For long-term sustainability, managing these environmental challenges is of critical importance. Among key environmental priorities lies air quality management, which is now within the national agenda of many countries.
WHO reports that 91% of the world’s population lives in places where air quality exceeds WHO guideline limits.1
Air pollution exposure is directly linked to many short term and long term health risks. Short term effects include fatigue, headaches, sore eyes and frequent flu bouts, with children and elderly being the most susceptible. Long term effects include asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, cardiovascular diseases such as strokes and ischaemic heart disease, as well as cancer.
Courtesy: Financial Times
In addition to health risks, urban air pollution has other multiple negative impacts including reduced crop growth, climatic change, damages to concrete structures and acid rain.
The increasing vehicle population is a primary cause of air pollution. Various toxic emissions from vehicles contribute to reduced air quality, damages the ozone layer and causes buildup of greenhouse gases.
Iran has closed schools a number of times over the past few years in its capital Tehran due to air pollution. Its media reports that 80% of Tehran’s pollution is caused by exhaust fumes of motor vehicles. 2 This increases in winter as cold air prevents emissions from rising.
The government of Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, has announced a number of plans to curb air pollution. These include a green cess on commercial vehicles entering Delhi by 100%, as well tightening of vehicle emission standards.
The impact of this in Sri Lanka can also be assessed looking at the alarming rate of increases in the motor vehicle registrations. Taking a bold step towards curtailing vehicle emission levels and improving air quality in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan government also implemented the mandatory annual Vehicle Emission Testing (VET) program in 2008. These mandatory emission standard programs implemented across the world have become progressively stringent, acknowledging its effectiveness in mitigating air pollution.
Passing the vehicle emission test is not only an indication of compliance with mandatory emission standards, it is also indicative of an efficient combustion process and improved fuel efficiency. It also means you are doing your bit to help improve our air quality. After all, reducing air pollution could save millions of lives…
Sources:
1http://www.who.int/airpollution/en/
2http://www.payvand.com/news/09/jan/1007.html
Courtesy:
LAUGFS Eco Sri
LAUGFS Eco Sri is a pioneer in air quality management and is also an appointed service provider for the VET program in Sri Lanka. It currently operates a network of over 110 fixed and mobile VET centers and serves over 120 mobile locations across the country.
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