AIR pollution in Pakistan — and in fact across South Asia — is shortening lifespans and affecting the overall quality of life. These are the grim findings of the University of Chicago’s annual Air Quality Life Index report. The document should serve as a wake-up call both to policymakers in this country, as well as the larger region, as the report has dubbed South Asia the “global epicentre of pollution”. This means that pollution is not only an environmental issue, it is also a public health one. Lahore has been termed Pakistan’s most polluted city, while the report notes that lives in the Punjab capital and Sheikhupura, Kasur and Peshawar, are being shortened by around seven years due to bad air. In fact, particulate pollution is said to be the second biggest threat to human health in Pakistan after cardiovascular disease. The reality is that South Asia as a whole is in the grip of a health crisis caused by polluted air. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan have been termed the top four most polluted countries in the world, with New Delhi earning the unenviable title of “world’s most polluted megacity”. The causes behind high air pollution levels include the burning of fossil fuels by large populations, while crop burning and brick kilns add to the toxic mix.

The report notes that some progress has been made in Pakistan and Bangladesh in the regulation of brick kilns. But considering the nature of the threat, no one country can deal with this issue on its own. Indeed, the state needs to address the key factors locally — cutting down on emissions, shifting to cleaner fuels and technologies etc — but it will take a ‘whole of South Asia’ approach for air pollution to be effectively tackled. After all, pollution knows no boundaries, and unless all regional states work in unison, efforts will not deliver the desired results. The Chinese model can be referred to; the AQLI report says China has had “remarkable success” in its “war against pollution”. While the South Asian states, particularly Pakistan and India, rarely see eye to eye on anything, this is a ‘soft’ issue where multilateral cooperation is urgently required for the health and well-being of over 1.5bn people who call this region home. With political will and resources, as the AQLI study observes, change is possible.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023