e0322865 – Sullied South

✿ Goodbye ✧˖*°࿐

Hi everyone! Thank you for tagging along and reading up on what I’ve learnt throughout the past few weeks! Oftentimes, we tend to push aside the struggles faced by marginalized people because we do not see how they suffer, and we do not have direct contact with them. Our indifference to pollution might also be caused by our country’s good governance. We forget about the problems faced by other people because we live a satisfactory society, and always compare ourselves with people who are doing better than us, than comparing ourselves with people doing worse than us.

Due to time constraints, I was only able to cover these unique countries on my blog. If any of you decide to start a blog, do consider researching and writing on other countries in the Global South! Raising awareness first starts with effective communication, and to communicate effectively, we can use blogs! If you do take up the challenge, do update me. You can reach me on my LinkedIn! Let’s stay in touch. Until then, I hope I have managed to spark your interest in learning beyond books, and to learn through lived experiences.

Thanks for tuning in. See you around! ✿

✿ The Future

Hi everyone! This will be my final post of the week, and the penultimate post of the semester! We have discussed a lot of things through my research on 11 different countries in the Global South. One thing I find in common between these countries is the severity of pollution, and the lack of motivation to fight pollution. I cannot recall the number of times I saw statements that talked about the dangers of high levels of PM2.5 in the atmosphere; they caused heart and lung diseases, various cancers, diabetes, thyroid problems, devastating effects on children, and so on. Yet, we see that even though these countries try to tackle the problem, there is rarely any improvement in the environment. The only remarkable change that occurred was during the lockdown season when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Even though the situation seems unpromising, I believe there is a way forward.

I echo the suggestions made by the World Bank, a source I covered in my blog post on Bangladesh. The only way we can help countries in the Global South is by pressurizing their nation leaders to enhance environmental institutions and their policies, to strengthen their levels of enforcement and accountability, and to promote resource-efficient and cleaner production of materials. By forcing leaders to be more transparent and engage better with their citizens in decision-making processes, we can even leverage on market-based instruments to unlock opportunities for green financing. If these leaders came they do not have the financial resources to do so, we should encourage our nation leaders from the Global North to help. The environment is shared by all of us, and if we do not help these countries, we will eventually suffer the consequences brought about by environmental pollution, which does not restrict or limit itself between territorial boundaries on the world map.

Of course, all of this is easier said than done. What do you think about the situation? Do you have any suggestions for these countries?

Up next, my actual final post. See you in the next one! ✿

References

Salim, N. (2021) Indonesian President Guilty of Environmental Negligence in Lawsuit over Jakarta’s Chronic Air Pollution. 17 September. ABC News. Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-17/air-pollution-in-indonesia-court-case-jakarta/100233996 [Accessed: 21 February 2022].

World Bank (2018) Clean and Resilient Growth in Bangladesh. 16 September. Available from: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2018/09/16/clean-and-resilient-growth-in-bangladesh [Accessed: 24 January 2022].

✿ What Have We Learnt?

Hi everyone! This will be my final week of publishing blog posts, before the blog gets accessed by Prof Taylor and Dr Chen. As such, I would like of my first post of the week by listing out several things I discovered and learnt through my research, and the module.

I always began each week’s series of posts by looking for data on IQAir. Some countries have data on their air quality, whereas others do not. Even if countries had monitoring stations to report to IQAir, some of these real-time AQI indices do not reflect the severe pollution experienced by citizens throughout the years.

When researching on Mongolia, I discovered an article that neatly summarizes why studying pollution in the Global South is extremely important. I echo the sentiments by Jun, in the world, the negative impacts of air pollution fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable people from poor countries. As such, it is important for all sectors from affected and non-affected countries to work in tandem to analyze the root problems of pollution, and design policies that allow each sector to use its expertise and resources to tackle the issue from a multi-dimensional perspective.

Another article also discusses the potential for cooperation. Irfan questioned when and how the responsibility to fight pollution will be evenly distributed in the future. As of now, countries that do not have to struggle with pollution are not assisting other countries who are fighting for their lives. But should non-polluted countries help? What will they get in return? Then again, did these countries not pollute in the past as well? Are the damaging environmental impacts caused by their high levels of development in the past forgotten, simply because they have the technologies and capacity today to develop further?

At the same time, should we argue with leaders of the Global South who defend their pollution levels by claiming that it is imperative in order for them to catch up with the Global North? A report by Greenwood-Nguyen & Roth explains why some forms of pollution are not the fault of the Global South. They posit that pollution is not produced by a group of individuals, but rather, produced by socioeconomic systems that contribute to the making of waste and encourages wasting. They focus more on the plastic pollution in oceans, and how many news headlines tend to sensationalize who to blame. These questions listed above are widely discussed in academia. This article by Bello sums up the environmental movement against pollution and other harmful activities in the Global South.

I encourage you to watch this video from the World Health Organization, because it explains to you the recent initiative set up less than a year ago.

You can read this link which summarizes the video pretty succinctly. You can also refer to this article to see another smaller-scale example of communities trying to fight pollution on their own. If you click on the hyperlink, you will be directed to a brief summary of pollution done by Harting, and her insights on the Clean Air Toolbox, which is a project that aims to help many poor countries grapple with pollution.

Up next, what lies ahead. See you in the next one! ✿

References

Bello, W. (2007) The Environmental Movement in the Global South. 12 October. TNI. Available from: https://www.tni.org/en/article/the-environmental-movement-in-the-global-south [Accessed: 4 April 2022].

Greenwood-Nguyen, A. & Roth, R. J. (2019) Plastic in the Oceans is not the Fault of the Global South. 31 January. The Conversation. Available from: https://theconversation.com/plastic-in-the-oceans-is-not-the-fault-of-the-global-south-110247 [Accessed: 4 April 2022].

Harting, C. (2021) Air Pollution is Harming People in the Global South at an Alarming Rate. A Climate School Project Wants to Help. 23 July. Columbia Climate School Climate, Earth, and Society. Available from: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2021/07/23/air-pollution-global-south/#:~:text=Menu-,Air%20Pollution%20Is%20Harming%20People%20in,South%20at%20an%20Alarming%20Rate.&text=According%20to%20a%202019%20UNICEF,deaths%20in%20New%20Delhi%20alone. [Accessed: 4 April 2022].

Irfan, S. (2021) The Global North’s Environmental Impact on the Global South. 20 April. Basel Action Network. Available from: https://www.ban.org/news/2021/4/20/the-global-norths-environmental-impact-on-the-global-south [Accessed: 4 April 2022].

Jun, S. (n. d.) Is the Raw Coal Ban a Silver Bullet to Solving Air Pollution in Mongolia?: A Study of the Mongolian Government’s Air Pollution Reduction Policies and Recommendations in the Context of COVID-19. Journal of Public & International Affairs. Available from: https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/raw-coal-ban-silver-bullet-solving-air-pollution-mongolia-study-mongolian-governments-air [Accessed: 7 March 2022].

WHO (2021) Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health, alongside climate change. 22 September. Available from: https://www.who.int/news/item/22-09-2021-new-who-global-air-quality-guidelines-aim-to-save-millions-of-lives-from-air-pollution. [Accessed: 4 April 2022].

World Health Organization (WHO) (2021) LIVE: Launch of the WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines with Dr Tedros. 22 September. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiO5V4ZZRwI [Accessed: 4 April 2022].

✿ Vietnam (II)

Hi everyone! In today’s second post of the week, I will be writing my last case-study post. We are coming to the end of the semester and it’s a pity that I have to focus on my other modules and assignments. It has been a joy searching up on these countries on the Global South and their journey with pollution. I hope to make this last write-up as meaningful as I can – I found 7 articles!

I want to start off my reviewing the paper by Babut et al. (2019) that looks at contaminants in bed sediments. It remined me of the second seminar conducted by Dr. Chen; through studying the concentration of pollutants in soil, we can predict how and what other cascading effects are brought into other realms such as the atmosphere and water sources. Babut et al. studied the Saigon River bed to investigate the presence of organic contaminants in Ho Chi Minh City, a city in Vietnam which is one of the most polluted in Southeast Asia, as mentioned in my previous post. They distinguished certain organic chemicals in the river bed – PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), PFAs (perfluoroalkyl substances) and insecticides. They found that PAHs in Vietnam were of similar concentration levels as other cities in Southeast Asia, and were influenced by the Saigon River’s tides, water management and monsoon control systems.

Then I found a paper by Nguyen et al. (2020) that examines the Saigon River as well, but focuses on heavy metals in the sediment of the river. They provided a unique study because they integrated questions on seasonal and spatial variations. Through their study, they found that during the rainy season, there was a higher concentration of 11 heavy metals than during the dry season. They also found that river catchments and low-lying areas were the sources of these heavy metals. These heavy metals were mainly Mn, Al, Fe, Zn, Sr, In, B, Ni, Co, Pb, and Cd.

I also found papers on air pollution. Le et al. (2014) provided a descriptive paper to prove the correlation between air pollution and vegetation fires. They showed that during March, the forest fire hotspots in the Northwest and Central Highlands emit vast amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere. To understand more about the socio-economic conditions in Vietnam, I referred to a short paper done by London (2019). You could also refer to the paper if you are interested in learning about the country’s general growth and progress. What I found more interesting was Kim et al.’s (2019) paper on studying more humane issues of pollution in Vietnam. Kim et al. examined the factors that influenced public awareness regarding pollution in Vietnam. Even though Vietnamese people are aware of the consequences of pollution, and are dissatisfied with their governments, they do not provoke opposition to the maintenance of coal-fired power generators in the country. As such, Kim et al. wanted to find out if education levels played a role in changing the mindsets and behaviours of Vietnamese people. Their results showed that Vietnamese people will only call out their leaders for effective policy measures to control pollution only if they are educated.

I started to include research on pollution and COVID-19 during the week I searched on Pakistan. As such, I also decided to integrate such a paper in this blog post. The paper by Ngo et al. (2021) examines the reduction in air pollution levels during the COVID-19 lockdown, or period of social isolation in Vietnam. They found that NO2 concentration levels in the atmosphere reduced significantly when countries worldwide implemented lockdowns, which is unsurprising, given the slowing down of all socio-economic activities.

Finally, the paper by Hoang et al. (2019) suggest various strategies Vietnam, and other developing countries to adopt to control environmental pollution. They focus more on sustainable development, so I suggest that you take a look at it, to see how tackling environmental pollution is crucial to protect the environment for our current and future generations. This would be a good way to end this blog post. I hope you enjoyed this lengthy piece today!

Up next, some ways to move forward. See you in the next one! ✿

References

Babut, M., Mourier, B., Desmet, M., Simonnet-Laprade, C., Labadie, P., Budzinski, H., Alencastro, L. F. D., Tu, T. A., Strady, E. & Gratiot, N. (2019) Where has the Pollution Gone? A Survey of Organic Contaminants in Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon River (Vietnam) Bed Sediments. Chemosphere. 217, 261-269. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0045653518321052?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 1 April 2022].

Hoang, T. C., Black, M. C., Knuteson, S. L. & Roberts, A. P. (2019) Environmental Pollution, Management, and Sustainable Development: Strategies for Vietnam and other Developing Countries. Environmental Management. 63, 433-436. Available from: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00267-019-01144-z.pdf [Accessed: 1 April 2022].

Kim, S. E., Harish, S. P., Kennedy, R., Jin, X. & Urpelainen, J. (2019) Enviromental Degradation and Public Opinion: The Case of Air Pollution in Vietnam. The Journal of Environment & Development. 29(2), 196-222. Available from: https://journals-sagepub-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/full/10.1177/1070496519888252?utm_source=summon&utm_medium=discovery-provider [Accessed: 1 April 2022].

Le, T. H., Nguyen, T. N. T., Lasko, K., Ilavajhala, S., Vadrevu, K. P. & Justice, C. (2014) Vegetation Fires and Air Pollution in Vietnam. Environmental Pollution. 195, 267-275. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0269749114003157 [Accessed: 1 April 2022].

London, J. (2020) Vietnam in 2019: The Politics of Growth, Progress, and Pollution. Asian Survey. 60(1), 93-99. Available from: https://online-ucpress-edu.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/as/article/60/1/93/109896/Vietnam-in-2019The-Politics-of-Growth-Progress-and [Accessed: 1 April 2022].

Ngo, T. X., Do, N. T. N., Phan, H. D. T., Tran, V. T., Mac, T. T. M., Le, A. H., Do, N. V., Bui, H. Q. & Nguyen, T. T. N. (2020) Air Pollution in Vietnam during the COVID-19 Social Isolation, Evidence of Reduction in Human Activities. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 42(16), 6126-6152. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/full/10.1080/01431161.2021.1934911 [Accessed: 1 April 2022].

Nguyen, B. T., Do, D. D., Nguyen, T. X., Nguyen, V. N., Nguyen, D. T. O., Nguyen, M. H., Truong, H. T. T., Dong, H. P., Le, A. H. & Bach, Q. V. (2020) Seasonal, Spatial Variation, and Pollution Sources of Heavy Metals in the Sediment of the Saigon River, Vietnam. Environmental Pollution. 256, 1-12. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0269749119338084?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 1 April 2022].

✿ Vietnam (I)

Hi everyone! We have finally come to our last country – Vietnam! Let’s check out what the air quality is like today:

The air quality in Vietnam is moderate, and unhealthy for sensitive groups. In this blog, Vietnam is the only country I covered which is nearest to where we are right now. Does this mean we do not have to worry about the current reality on the ground?

The Vietnamese are extremely concerned about the air pollution that has been deteriorating in recent years. According to a survey done by Quy, 79% of the respondents are most worried about air pollution, 71% are worried about water pollution, 62% are worried about food contamination, 59% are worried about plastic waste pollution, and 55% are worried about deforestation. It seems like the people of Vietnam are environmentally conscious, which is a good thing.

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have been considered as the top 15 polluted cities in Southeast Asia in 2020. Because air quality in Vietnam is below the standard set by the World Health Organization, life expectancy of Vietnamese people are reduced by a year, and this costs the country about 5% of its annual GDP. If you click on the hyperlink in the previous sentence, you will read about Vietnam’s poor urban planning that exacerbates Vietnam’s transportation issues. Just as I mentioned in my post on Pakistan, old vehicles tend to have limited emission control technology. During traffic jams, large amounts of air pollutants get released into the atmosphere. The article also mentions about the residential and commercial construction sites that fill the city centre with dust, the pollutants that get released from biomass cooking stoves in informal settlements in the city, as well as the coal power plants and cement and steel manufacturers, which all contribute to worsening air quality. The article ends by suggesting that Vietnam is too focused on short-term measures, and there are almost no long-term policies in place.

Another relevant article I found claims that the smog in Hanoi is a bigger threat than COVID-19. Despite this, I think that unlike Pakistan, the Vietnam government is being proactive to local concerns. My post on Pakistan talks about the lack of alternative modes of transport to ease congested roads. In Vietnam, this is not the case. Take a look at the video below which shares more about the initiative to reduce traffic jams, and to control air pollution:

If other countries discussed on this blog had an effective government like this, air pollution caused by transportation can be significantly reduced. But is this enough? And more importantly, can the Vietnam government do more? My next post, which is the last post covering a specific country, will examine 7 papers from various journals.

See you in the next one! ✿

References

Do, T. N. (2020) Vietnam’s Big Air Pollution Challenge. 30 March. The Diplomat. Available from: https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/vietnams-big-air-pollution-challenge/ [Accessed: 28 March 2022].

IQAir (2022) Air Quality in Vietnam. 28 March. Available from: https://www.iqair.com/us/vietnam [Accessed: 28 March 2022].

Nguyen, S. (2021) In Vietnam, Air Pollution a Bigger Daily Threat than COVID-19, as Smog Envelops Hanoi. 27 January. South China Morning Post. Available from: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3119332/vietnam-air-pollution-bigger-daily-threat-covid-19 [Accessed: 28 March 2022].

Quy, N. (2021) Air Pollution Top Environmental Concern Among Vietnamese Citizens. 12 March. Available from: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/air-pollution-top-environmental-concern-among-vietnamese-citizens-4247705.html [Accessed: 28 March 2022].

South China Morning Post (2021) Vietnam rolls out first urban railway in Hanoi to reduce traffic and environmental pollution. 9 November. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv5m275w53Y [Accessed: 28 March 2022].

✿ Ukraine (III)

Hi everyone! Since we are talking about Ukraine, it is important to consider the war it is currently going through.

Russian forces have taken control over the Chernobyl power plants as of 25th February 2022. There have already been reports of spikes in radiation readings, possibly from the presence of heavy military vehicles churning up contaminated soil in Chernobyl. Even though the readings are low and don’t pose a danger to the public, there is still the danger of an accidental strike on the concrete shelter that contains the radiation still leaking from the reactor core.

Nevertheless, local scientists have shared their concerns over the future of Chernobyl. This war will most likely affect the continuation of research on radioactivity and the environment in Ukraine.

Furthermore, the Russians have taken control of Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant. One of the 6 reactors was caught on fire. Despite this, authorities report that radiation levels are not dangerous. Some claim that the plant’s reactors were protected by robust containment structures that were being safely shut down now that the war is culminating. But how protected are they? Ukraine’s president Zelenskyy has shared his fear of the end of Europe and the world, if the nuclear power plant explodes.

We are living in a very scary time. Let us hope that another nuclear disaster does not repeat itself, and that the Ukrainians manage to seek safety.

References:

Heintz, J., Karmanau, Y. & Chernov, M. (2022) Russian Forces Take Control of Europe’s Biggest Nuclear Plant After Shelling It. 4 March. TIME. Available from: https://time.com/6154672/russian-troops-shell-zaporizhzhia-nuclear-plant/ [Accessed: 8 March 2022].

Lynn, B. (2022) Scientists Concerned about Ukraine War’s Effects on Chernobyl. 5 March. Available from: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/scientists-concerned-about-ukraine-war-s-effects-on-chernobyl/6468933.html [Accessed: 8 March 2022].

Polityuk, P. & Crellin, F. (2022) Ukraine Reports Higher Chernobyl Radiation after Russians Capture Plant. 26 February. Reuters. Available from: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-nuclear-agency-reports-higher-chernobyl-radiation-levels-due-heavy-2022-02-25/ [Accessed: 8 March 2022].

Savage, N. (2022) Russia Took Control of the Chernobyl Nuclear Site in Ukraine. What Does That Mean? 25 February. Available from: https://cen.acs.org/safety/Russia-took-control-Chernobyl-nuclear-site-in-Ukraine-What-does-that-mean/100/web/2022/02 [Accessed: 8 March 2022].

✿ Ukraine (II)

Hi everyone! In today’s second post of the week, I want to start off by discussing the effects of Chernobyl. My group plans to present on the Chernobyl nuclear disasters that happened in 1986. As such, I figured that this post would be a good way for me to refresh what I have found in preparation for the good presentation in the last two weeks of the semester. In case you still don’t know, the Chernobyl disaster happened in the northern part of Ukraine, when it was part of the Soviet Union.

The book “Chernobyl – Catastrophe and Consequences” provides a fundamental overview of the aftermath of the nuclear disaster. I plan to use it when preparing for my group’s presentation. Having briefly read the book, I’ll give you a brief synopsis. The authors, Smith & Beresford, focused on the impacts of radioactivity in both terrestrial and aquatic systems, as well as wildlife. If you are interested in more-than-human geographies, this book would be useful for you! I should stop now before I ramble on about things not related to pollution.

Another relevant book that talks about Chernobyl is “Groundwater Vulnerability: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster” by Faybishenko et al. (2014). This book is more useful for our module because it explains how the nuclear disaster caused water pollution. In short, the accident released radionuclides that contaminated groundwater sources, thus affecting food chains, through the water, soil, and atmosphere. Faybishenko et al. examine the hydrogeological and physico-chemical processes and factors that facilitated the contamination process. In case all of this is too boring for you, you may wish to watch these two videos during your free time. As you can see, forest fires in the Chernobyl region exacerbate pollution levels, because they release whatever substances in the environment into the atmosphere:

You can learn more about this by tuning into our group presentation. Now, let’s take a look at the other papers I found.

A paper by Popov et al. (2020) also echoes the sentiments made by Pehchevski in my previous post – Ukraine’s monitoring systems are ineffective and have significant problems. Even if there are data collection and analysis centres, results are rarely stored in paper form. To make matters worse, there are almost no pollution risk assessments on public health.

Meanwhile, Menshov et al.’s (2020) suggest a way to deal with this. In their paper, they posit that they have found a rapid, low cost, non-destructive and efficient technique to monitor soil and assess air quality. This method is called a magnetic analysis. To learn more on how it can be applied, just click on the link in the references below.

Finally, I found a paper that discusses water pollution. Briefly, Nazarov et al. (2007) claim that Ukraine cannot do much to improve water quality, and that if they were to achieve change, they had to change public attitudes and obtain funds abroad to strengthen current systems of pollution control. I wonder if this is the case of many other countries in the Global South too. What do you think?

Up next, a short post to review the Russian-Ukrainian invasion. And next week, Vietnam. See you in the next one! ✿

References

CBS News (2020) Pollution levels soar as wildfires scorch Chernobyl region. 20 April. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6feLH75fnA0 [Accessed: 25 March 2022].

Faybishenko, B., Nicholson, T., Shestopalov, V., Bohuslavsky, A. & Bublias, V. (2014) Groundwater Vulnerability: Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster. Wiley. Available from: https://agupubs-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/book/10.1002/9781118962220 [Accessed: 25 March 2022].

Global News (2020) New Chernobyl forest fires push pollution levels in Kiev to worst in the world. 17 April. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6YZ_ztLmfk [Accessed: 25 March 2022].

Popov, O., Iatsyshyn, A., Kovach, V., Artemchuk, V., Kameneva, I., Taraduda, D., Sobyna, V., Sokolov, D., Dement, M. & Yatsyshyn, T. (2020) Risk Assessment for the Population of Kyiv, Ukraine as a Result of Atmospheric Air Pollution. Journal of Health and Pollution. 10(25), 1-11. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7058139/ [Accessed: 25 March 2022].

Menshov, O., Spassov, S., Camps, P., Vyzhva, S., Pereira, P., Pastushenko, T. & Demidov, V. (2020) Soil and Dust Magnetism in Semi-Urban Area Truskavets, Ukraine. Environmental Earth Sciences. 79(182), 1-10. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/content/pdf/10.1007/s12665-020-08924-5.pdf [Accessed: 25 March 2022].

Nazarov, N., Cook, H. F. & Woodgate, G. (2007) Water Pollution in Ukraine: The Search for Possible Solutions. International Journal of Water Resources Development. 20(2), 205-218. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/full/10.1080/0790062042000206110 [Accessed: 25 March 2022].

Smith, J. T. & Beresford, N. A. (2005) Chernobyl – Catastrophe and Consequences. Springer. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/book/10.1007%2F3-540-28079-0 [Accessed: 25 March 2022].

✿ Ukraine (I)

Hi everyone! This week, we have Ukraine, the second last country I will be covering in this blog. In this post and the next, I will be covering material before the Russian-Ukrainian invasion. I will cover how the invasion has an effect on pollution patterns in my third post!

Regardless, let’s look at Ukraine’s current air quality. If you look at the image below, there are very few monitoring stations in eastern Europe, as compared to western Europe:

Is this an accurate representation of what pollution is really like in Ukraine? Unfortunately not. Pehchevski explains that there are many reporting errors on emissions data in many of the cities in the country. As a result, locals have had to take it upon themselves to fill up this information gap, by creating a wide network of citizen-installed monitoring stations that measure particular matter in the air. According to the IAMAT, data on Kyiv shows that Ukraine has consistently high levels of air pollution. This is largely due to aged industrial infrastructures, coal mining, vehicle mining, and forest fires.

According to the National Geographic, Mariupol, Ukraine’s port city, is a war zone. It is one of the most polluted cities in Europe. Locals have shared that oftentimes, the smoke that hovers the skies is not only grey, but sometimes orange too, and it emits a very sour smell. As such, many couples who wish to have children have been advised to move elsewhere. In Mariupol, PM2.5 concentration levels can be as much as 50 times higher than the recommended maximum by the World Health Organization. As we have learnt in class and through my previous blogposts, these particulate matter are very dangerous because their tiny size allows them to pass through our bloodstreams and give us cancer, heart diseases, dementia, and all sorts of suffering. Air pollution is so bad, that it can lead to soil contamination, due to the deposition of heavy metals that cause adverse health effects.

Energy generation contributes to as much as 30% of the air pollution in Ukraine. This is because 70% of Ukraine’s primary energy consumption comes from fossil fuels. Fossil fuel plants can emit all kinds of pollutants, but mainly nitrous oxides, sulphur dioxide, and dust, as we have learnt early on in the module’s seminars. Some local scholars have suggested that to prevent people from falling ill from exposure to air pollution, citizens should have a device outside their windows to assess air quality information. Will this really be effective? Even if locals were quick to visit the hospital to get their health conditions assessed, will they be protected from air pollution? It was such a sketchy claim, that I had to add it into my post. What do you think? In the next post, I plan to uncover academic articles on Ukraine’s air pollution, but also some work on Chernobyl. And just to reiterate again, I will account for the Russian-Ukrainian invasion in the post after that!

See you in the next one! ✿

References

Gardiner, B. (2021) Inside a Ukrainian War Zone, Another Fight Rages – for Clean Air. 30 November. National Geographic. Available from: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/inside-a-ukrainian-war-zone-another-fight-ragesfor-clean-air [Accessed: 21 March 2022].

IAMAT (2020) Ukraine General Health Risks: Air Pollution. 16 April. Available from: https://www.iamat.org/country/ukraine/risk/air-pollution#:~:text=In%20accordance%20with%20the%20World,annual%20mean%20concentration%20of%20PM2.&text=Available%20data%20indicates%20that%20Kyiv%20has%20consistently%20high%20levels%20of%20air%20pollution. [Accessed: 21 March 2022].

IQAir (2022) Air Quality in Ukraine. 21 March. Available from: https://www.iqair.com/ukraine [Accessed: 21 March 2022].

Pehchevski, D. (2020) Ukraine’s Dangerous Air Pollution Problems in Desperate Need of Solutions. 19 October. Bankwatch Network. Available from: https://bankwatch.org/blog/ukraine-s-dangerous-air-pollution-problem-in-desperate-need-of-solutions [Accessed: 21 March 2022].

UNDP (2021) Satellite Data Monitors Air Pollution From Space During COVID-19, Helps Inform Policymakers. 12 February. Reliefweb. Available from: https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/satellite-data-monitors-air-pollution-space-during-covid-19-helps-inform-policymakers [Accessed: 21 March 2022].

✿ Pakistan (II)

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].

✿ Pakistan (I)

Hi everyone! This week, we will be covering Pakistan. Let’s take a look at the current air quality in the region. According to IQAir, the AQI index is currently 193 in Bahawalpur, a city bordering Pakistan and India. You might be wondering why I chose to cover Pakistan instead of India. The main reason in IQAir’s website, Pakistan ranks 2^nd amongst countries that have the worst air qualities; Bangladesh ranks first, and India ranks third.

Why exactly is Pakistan one of the most polluted countries in the world?

Many of the vehicles in Pakistan use a highly polluting sulphur-laden gas. Transportation in Pakistan is a source of many problems. There has been an attempt to switch vehicles into the Euro 5 emissions standard, to reduce the amount of pollutants being released into the atmosphere. Despite this, progress has been slow. Some government authorities do not even take the current pollution issue seriously. This is what the city of Lahore looked like in December, which is just around less than 3 months ago:

Some locals argue that pollution is a result of government failure because even though more than 500 industrial units have been fined, and smoke-emitting vehicles and brick kilns have been banned, the air quality in many Pakistani cities remain like the one in the image above.

Many government officials and politicians refuse to take the blame, and instead point to innocent farmers for being the cause of much of the smog in cities such as Lahore (i.e. crop burning for agricultural purposes). They refuse to reflect and consider investing in proper public transport structures to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.

Some people have claimed that maybe more lockdowns should be set to reduce the number of people going out. These people drew inspiration from the lockdowns at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m sure you and I can agree that this is not a sustainable strategy. What Pakistan needs to do is to tackle pollution at its source – in this case, managing vehicle and road network systems.

Others, such as mothers, have forged a way against pollution, by lobbying other parents and schools to reinstate buses to reduce vehicle emissions. They are activists who have sought to make change because their government leaders have failed them.

It is unfortunate that leaders in many countries in the Global South lack the necessary qualities to protect its people. As reported by Greenstone & Fan (2019), if Pakistan worked on improving the air qualities in many of its cities, its residents would live up to 1.2 to 1.9 years longer. In the next post of the week, I will be glossing over 6 papers done by scholars to study the different types of pollution experienced in Pakistan.

See you in the next one! ✿

References

Al Jazeera (2021) Pakistan’s Lahore Again Tops World’s Most Polluted Cities List. 3 December. Available from: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/3/pakistan-lahore-tops-most-polluted-cities-list#:~:text=Pakistani%20authorities%20blame%20industrial%20emissions,10%20most%20climate%2Dvulnerable%20nations. [Accessed: 14 March 2022].

Ali, S. M. (2021) How Lahore Became the World’s Most Polluted Place. 29 November. FP. Available from: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/29/pakistan-lahore-pollution-fossil-fuels-climate/ [Accessed: 14 March 2022].

Butt, D. (2021) The World Must Pay Attention to Pakistan’s Air Pollution Crisis. 16 December. Atlantic Council. Available from: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/southasiasource/the-world-must-pay-attention-to-pakistans-air-pollution-crisis/ [Accessed: 14 March 2022].

Greenstone, M. & Fan, Q. C. (2019) Pakistan’s Air Pollution Challenge & Potential for Longer Lives. Air Quality Life Index. Available from: https://aqli.epic.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Pakistan-Report.pdf [Accessed: 14 March

Hadid, D. (2020) ‘Scary Moms’ are Part of the Citizen War Against Pollution in Pakistan. 6 January. NPR. Available from: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/01/06/792693712/scary-moms-are-part-of-the-citizen-war-against-pollution-in-pakistan [Accessed: 14 March 2022].

IQAir (2022) Air Quality in Pakistan. 14 March. Available from: https://www.iqair.com/pakistan [Accessed: 14 March].

Khan, S. (2021) Why Pakistan has Some of the Most Polluted Cities in the World. 1 November. DW. Available from: https://www.dw.com/en/why-pakistan-has-some-of-the-most-polluted-cities-in-the-world/a-59686579 [Accessed: 14 March 2022].

Tanis, F. (2022) Lahore, Pakistan, is Locking Down to Improve Air Quality. 9 January. NPR. Available from: https://www.npr.org/2022/01/09/1071663548/lahore-pakistan-locks-down-for-air-quality [Accessed: 14 March 2022].