Hi everyone! Today’s second post of the week will include a wide range of articles. I would like to start off by reviewing the paper by Khan (2022) because it covers the bulk of what I discussed in my previous post (i.e. air pollution). Khan was interested in studying how air pollution compounded the number of people affected by COVID-19. He found that air pollutants in Pakistan, mainly NO2, PM2.5 and PM10, increased the likelihood of COVID-19 mortality. He ends off his paper by concluding that relevant stakeholders need to work on the kinds of urbanization projects taking place, water and manufacturing systems, home heating, and transportation.
My previous blogpost also briefly mentioned about how the government blamed its agricultural farmers for the smog in cities. As such, I found a paper by Ullah et al. (2018) that examines whether current agricultural ecosystems in Pakistan cause environmental pollution. In short, this is indeed the case – biomass-burned crop residues, livestock stock, agriculture machinery, cereal production, and many other crop productions contribute to a large amount of CO2 emissions in Pakistan, hence, contributing to pollution. Nevertheless, Ullah et al. do not suggest that Pakistan should abandon its agricultural sector. Instead, they suggest that Pakistan should find alternative ways of cycle usage, rather than burning land to make way for crop production. They also recommend more pragmatic agricultural practices, that are also cost-effective. They also highlighted that organic farming could be a way to move forward. Pakistan currently lacks a set of coordinated policies. As such, this is one avenue leaders should work on.
Metal and particularly mercury pollution were also issues faced in Pakistan. Shakir et al. (2016) produced a book that examines the effects of metal pollution to humans. For instance, heavy metals like Hg, As, Pb, and Cd are biologically non-essential, and can be toxic for all of us, if they are present in high concentrations. Other metals such as Zn and Fe can cause gastric disorders, vomiting, or skin irritation. Meanwhile, Ni, Cr, Pb, Cd, and Cu can lead to heart problems, cancer, or leukaemia, and Co and Mg can induce hypertension or anaemia. It is a fairly insightful book to understanding how the effects of metal pollution are diverse and frightening. Ali et al. (2019) focus mainly on Hg (mercury) – mercury enters humans through dust particles in the air, and enters environments through atmospheric deposition and gold mining. It was also interesting to see how they studied mercury concentrations by collecting hair samples, like the ones in Madagascar!
The paper by Jafri et al. (2021) is slightly technical and full of maths, but one thing I found relevant what that they also echoed the sentiments made by the scary moms mentioned in my previous blog post – Pakistani leaders need to properly manage mass bus transit schemes or promote rail travel to prevent the overcrowding of polluting vehicles on roads.
The other two papers I found this week were about water and e-waste pollution. Azizullah et al. (2011) examine how polluted drinking water sources in Pakistan are filled with toxic metals, pesticides, and coliforms. I think I have covered water pollution to great lengths in previous blog posts. So if you are interested in learning more about how they studied water pollution in Pakistan, you can click the link in the references! Finally, the paper by Iqbal et al. (2017) caught my eye because unlike other waste pollution research done in other countries covered on this blog, this paper focuses on electronic waste.
I recall a module I took with Dr Grundy-Warr – GE3210 Natural Resources Policy and Practice. In that module, we learnt about the built-in obsolescence of current digital devices. This characteristic is the reason why there are so many electronic waste being discarded and collected in countries in the Global South. Iqbal et al. examines the heterogenous mixture of metals, plastics, glass, and even ceramics present in this unique form of waste. Countries like Pakistan are prone to recycling these forms of waste through the informal economy to maintain a decent income. I think I have gone a little too much for this blog post. I’ll try my best to make the remaining ones more interactive by sourcing for more interesting videos!
Up next, Ukraine. See you in the next one! ✿
References
Ali, W., Junaid, M., Aslam, M. W., Ali, K., Rasool, A. & Zhang, H. (2019) A Review on the Status of Mercury Pollution in Pakistan: Sources and Impacts. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 76, 519-527. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/10.1007%2Fs00244-019-00613-0 [Accessed: 18 March 2022].
Azizullah, A., Khattak, M. N. K., Richter, P. & Hader, D. P. (2011) Water Pollution in Pakistan and its Impact on Public Health – A Review. Environment International. 37(2), 479-497. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0160412010002060?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 18 March 2022].
Iqbal, M., Syed, J. H., Breivik, K., Chaudhry, M. J. I., Li, J., Zhang, G. & Malik, R. N. (2017) E-Waste Driven Pollution in Pakistan: The First Evidence of Environmental and Human Exposure to Flame Retardants (FRs) in Karachi City. Environmental Science & Technology. 51(23), 13895-13905. Available from: https://pubs-acs-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/10.1021/acs.est.7b03159 [Accessed: 18 March 2022].
Jafri, M. A. H., Liu, H., Majeed, M. T., Ahmad, W., Ullah, S. & Xue, R. (2021) Physical Infrastructure, Energy Consumption, Economic Growth, and Environmental Pollution in Pakistan: An Asymmetry Analysis. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 28, 16129-16139. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/10.1007%2Fs11356-020-11787-9 [Accessed: 18 March 2022].
Khan, Y. A. (2021) Risk of Mortality due to COVID-19 and Air Pollution in Pakistan. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 29, 2063-2072. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/10.1007%2Fs11356-021-15654-z [Accessed: 18 March 2022].
Shakir, S. K., Azizullah, A., Murad, W., Daud, M. K., Nabeela, F., Rahman, H., Rehman, S. U. & Hader, D. P. (2016) Toxic Metal Pollution in Pakistan and its Possible Risks to Public Health. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 242, 1-60. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/chapter/10.1007%2F398_2016_9 [Accessed: 18 March 2022].
Ullah, A., Khan, D., Khan, I. & Zheng, S. (2018) Does Agricultural Ecosystem Cause Environmental Pollution in Pakistan? Promise and Menace. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 25, 13938-13955. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/10.1007%2Fs11356-018-1530-4 [Accessed: 18 March 2022].