Page 3 – Sullied South

✿ Sullied Senegal

Hi everyone! This is another unplanned post that I figured I could talk about. As I was scrolling through my Instagram as part of my rest time, I chanced upon a post by the NY Times. It talks about plastic pollution in Senegal, a country from the Global South, and I thought I could summarize it on my blog today, and find a useful video to grab your attention on the issue.

Dakar, Senegal’s capital, holds annual marathons for people to race. This year, one man, Modou Fall, participated and wore a cape that was made out of plastic bags. He also wore a hat that was constructed out of plastic sunglasses that he found. The marathon is held every year, and hence, it attracts large crowds and wide media coverage. Hence, Modou felt that he could not miss the chance to share his concern about plastic pollution in his homeland.

During the race, he announced through his loudspeaker “I like my country, I say no to plastic bags”, gaining some fans who asked for selfies during the race. He took every opportunity he had to share with the attendees on the environmental issues haunting Senegal. He took part in the race not to run, but to collect the empty water bottles and plastic bags left behind by different groups of runners that left the starting line. Now, Modou is known as the Plastic Man.

Modou Fall sees himself as an educator, defender, and protector of the environment. Senegal is one of the top countries polluting the world’s oceans with plastic. In 2020, the Senegalese government attempted to ban plastic production, but it has a hard time enforcing this measure.

The image above is taken from the article, showing the scene in Bargny, a coastal town in Senegal, infested with plastic pollution.

Modou sought to change his country, because he has witnessed plastic pollution for far too long. According to him, he has witnessed the damaging effects of pollution since 1998, during his military service, when he saw cows in herding communities fall sick after consuming fragments of plastic bags in the arid landscape. He tried to start off by encouraging shopkeepers he knew to stop using excessive amounts of plastic, and if they could not, they should at least try to dispose of these plastics properly. Nobody listened.

He tried to take matters to his own hands by clearing the plastic produced by these shopkeepers. Although it took him 13 days, the plastic waste came back anyway. Luckily, his efforts managed to convince some shopkeepers to change their ways. But this is not enough.

Not many people in the Global South are convinced that they can do anything. If activists like Modou do not feel encouraged or supported to fight plastic pollution, then no one will. Hence, with the support he gained during the marathon, many are following his footsteps.

What do you think? Do you think activists like these can sustain their efforts in the long run?

I found this video that you can enjoy. You can see Modou yourself!

In this next video, you can see other activists in Senegal doing something to fight plastic pollution.

That’s it for today. Up next, my usual posts. See you in the next one! ✿

References

AFP News Agency (2019) Senegal: Dakar Divers Fight to Clear Plastic Tide. 5 October. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kw4fq5bQj8 [Accessed: 14 February 2022].

Camara, M. & Maclean, R. (2022) This ‘Plastic Man’ Has a Cape and a Superhero’s Mission: Cleaning Up Senegal. 20 January. NY Times. Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/africa/modou-fall-senegal.html [Accessed: 1 February 2022].

TRT World (2019) Plastic Pollution: Senegal Activists Lead Clean-Up. 13 August. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiYlNtmzeiA [Accessed: 14 February 2022].

✿ Fiji (II)

Hi everyone! In today’s second post of the week, I will be sharing what I found from 4 research articles I read during the past few days.

The first paper I found talks about air pollution. According to Isley et al. (2018), the implications of air pollution depend on where pollutants come from. In Fiji, pollutants can come from fossil fuel combustion, road vehicles, or waste burning. Air pollutants in Fiji are mainly black carbon and sulfur. After studying the risk ratios and mortality predictions of PM2.5 concentrations, Isley et al. found that reducing emissions from fossil fuel combustion will greatly improve air quality in the region. As students in Environmental Pollution, this might seem like a “duh” statement. But to the people in the Global South who have no other means of development and progress, such a finding may ignite conflicts and disagreements within the government.

2 papers I found throughout the week talk about microplastics. I briefly mentioned the definitions of microplastics in a previous post. According to Dehm et al. (2020), the implications of microplastics on the coasts of Small Island Developing States are understudied. Hence, in their paper, they focused on Viti Levu, one of Fiji’s main inhabited islands, to study the presence of microplastics in the country. Their findings challenged the common conception that microplastics are largely found in urban areas, rather than rural areas. I personally had that misconception too! Additionally, Ferreita et al. (2020) focused on Suva, Fiji’s capital, and found that microplastics were present as well, as a result of land-based human activities. A lot of the fish in the area’s coasts have high microplastic ingestion levels. Here are some of the different microplastics that they found.

I also found a paper that studied metal pollution in the region. Metals are non-biodegradable, which means that they cannot be deteriorated in the environment. In Park et al.’s (2013) paper, I learnt that there have been high levels of lead, copper, zinc, and iron in the sediments of Suva’s Harbour. There were also high levels of mercury found in lagoon shellfish. They concluded that the release of hazardous metals into the Fiji environment would not reach a plateau anytime soon, because globalization is forcing developing nations in the Global South to industrialize to economically develop. They do shed light on how doing research like theirs is not a futile exercise, since their findings can raise awareness, and pressure their governments to do something. What do you think?

Up next, Haiti. See you in the next one! ✿

References

Dehm, J., Singh, S., Ferreira, M. & Piovanno, S. (2020) Microplastics in Subsurface Coastal Waters Along the Southern Coast of Viti Levu in Fiji, South Pacific. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 156, 1-8. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0025326X2030357X?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 11 February 2022].

Ferreira, M., Thompson, J., Paris, A., Rohindra, D. & Rico, C. (2020) Presence of Microplastics in Water, Sediments and Fish Species in an Urban Coastal Environment of Fiji, a Pacific Small Island Developing State. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 153, 1-9. Available from: https://linkinghub-elsevier-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/retrieve/pii/S0025326X20301090 [Accessed: 11 February 2022].

Isley, C. F., Nelson, P. F., Taylor, M. P., Stelcer, E., Atanacio, A. J., Cohen, D. D., Mani, F. S. & Maata, M. (2018) Reducing Mortality Risk by Targeting Specific Air Pollution Sources: Suva, Fiji. Science of The Total Environment. 612, 450-461. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0048969717322246?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 11 February 2022].

Park, E. K., Wilson, D., Choi, H. J., Wilson, C. T., Ueno, S. (2013) Hazardous Metal Pollution in the Republic of Fiji and the Need to Elicit Human Exposure. Environmental Health and Toxicology. 28, 1-3. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3909747/ [Accessed: 11 February 2022].

✿ Fiji (I)

Hi everyone! To start off the week, we will be looking at Fiji! I could not find any stations measuring the air quality in Fiji (i.e. the IQAir website I usually refer to has no data on Fiji!), hence, let us just examine where Fiji is on the world map!

It is a relatively small island located in the Pacific Ocean. I think a good tag for me to use on this post would be OCEANIA. I want my tags to start with vowels just so it looks nice in the “BROWSE BY TAG” portion at the side of my blog. My apologies. Let’s get back to work.

As of 2020, the IAMAT states that the air quality in Fiji is unsafe. But why is this so? Isn’t Fiji an island in the middle of nowhere? Could it possibly have industries and vehicles too? Recent data indicated that PM2.5 concentrations in Fiji is 11 micrograms/cubic metres in Fiji annually, and this value exceeds the recommended maximum, which is 10 micrograms/cubic metres.

A lot of the pollution in Fiji is caused by plastic. The WWF-Pacific Volunteer Program is a non-governmental organization that seeks to free Fiji from plastics by 2025. According to them, they aim to reduce marine pollution by clearing marine debris and nutrient pollution through coastal clean-ups, product bans and restrictions, and plastic recovery, reuse, and recycling. But can these be achieved? I will try to answer this question in the next blog post.

There have also been attempts to manage wastewater in Fiji. In the Bavu and Namaqumaqua villages in the southeastern coral coast of Fiji, there have been developments in wastewater treatment technologies, to provide communities with better sanitation and hygiene. This was done in collaboration with government agencies and villagers. As I mentioned previously on my post on Bolivia, integrating community knowledges helps increase the effectiveness of intervention measures. There have also been efforts to properly manage toilet systems. The ecoVIP2 toilet was created a few years ago. You can click on the link to view how the toilets look like. It might not seem much to you, but to these people living in the Global South, these toilets are a sign of modernity and development. By having these toilets in place, there will be fewer improper waste disposals in flooding areas, slopes, or underground infrastructures. Put simply, groundwater contamination will be reduced.

Now let’s return back to the air. Why did the IAMAT proclaim that the air quality in Fiji is bad? Well, according to QUT, air pollution is caused mainly by cooking, domestic refuse, agricultural processes, solid waste burning, and transport. It surprises me that islanders could pollute too! Click on the QUT website to find out how locals are engaged in fighting pollution. If you have any more information on pollution in Fiji, do share them in the comments section below. I will do my best to collate whatever I can find in the next blogpost.

See you in the next one! ✿

References

Fiji (n. d.) Beautiful World. Available from: https://www.beautifulworld.com/oceania/fiji/ [Accessed: 11 February 2022].

IAMAT (2020) Fiji General Health Risks: Air Pollution. 16 April. Available from: https://www.iamat.org/country/fiji/risk/air-pollution [Accessed: 7 February 2022].

QUT (n. d.) Assessment of Children’s Exposure to Air Pollution in Fiji, its Drivers and the Burden of Disease Attributable to it. Available from: https://research.qut.edu.au/ilaqh/projects/sensors-fiji/ [Accessed: 7 February 2022].

Reef Resilience Network (2021) Applications of Innovative Wastewater Technology in Fiji. 21 May. Available from: https://reefresilience.org/case-studies/fiji-wastewater-pollution/ [Accessed: 7 February 2022].

WWF – Pacific Volunteer Program (n. d.) Plastic Pollution – Free Fiji Campaign. United Nations Ocean Conference. Available from: https://oceanconference.un.org/commitments/?id=21080 [Accessed: 7 February 2022].

✿ Bolivia (II)

Hi everyone! In today’s second post of the week, I will be going through 2 journal articles and 1 book I found.

The book I discovered was written by Robins in 2011. It features the silver mining industry in the Andes. I briefly read through the book, but to better let you understand what happened in this part of South America, I thought that it would be great if you could watch this simple video instead.

Mining contributes to the country’s economy, and as you can see in the video, it is a precarious form of work. Robins’ book examines the interrelationships between silver (and mercury) production, urban environments, and the people who live and work in them. He specifically focuses on telling the stories of the natives and indigenous people in the region. This complements the paper done by Jacobi et al. (2016). They emphasize that local knowledges are important in development projects, because they better understand the lived and material consequences of pollution. A lot of what was being discussed in the paper ties in well with a political ecology perspective, something that I learnt in GE4219 in NUS. I believe it forms the crux of GE4232 Global Political Ecologies as well! Regardless, in our module that is mainly about environmental pollution, we can still learn about how important integrating local knowledges into pollution management strategies.

Finally, the paper done by Kirikkaleli & Oyebanji (2022) focus on the links between carbon emissions, trade (and globalization), and pollution. Though the paper centres around discussions related to climate change, it does provide some insights on pollution in Bolivia. In some parts of Bolivia, polluting industries continue to pollute because the regulations to monitor pollution are weak. This is a recurring problem in many developing countries in the Global South. Nevertheless, as you did see in the IQAir projection in the previous blog post, the air quality in Bolivia is much less polluted than in other countries in the Global South. It would be ideal for these countries to follow Bolivia’s path. Although imperfect, it is proof that developing countries can instigate improvement themselves.

Up next, Fiji. See you in the next one! ✿

References

BBC News (2014) ‘The mountain that eats men’ in Bolivia – BBC News. 9 October. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHZS74Z9qlM [Accessed: 4 February 2022].

Jacobi, J., Mathez-Stiefel, S. L., Gambon, H., Rist, S. & Altieri, M. (2016) Whose Knowledge, Whose Development? Use and Role of Local and External Knowledge in Agroforestry Projects in Bolivia. Environmental Management. 59, 464-476. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/content/pdf/10.1007/s00267-016-0805-0.pdf [Accessed: 4 February 2022].

Kirikkaleli, D. & Oyebanji, M. O. (2022) Consumption-Base Carbon Emissions, Trade, and Globalization: An Empirical Study of Bolivia. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. Available from: https://link-springer-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/10.1007%2Fs11356-022-18495-6 [Accessed: 4 February 2022].

Robins, N. A. (2011) Mercury, Mining, and Empire: The Human and Ecological Cost of Colonial Silver Mining in the Andes. Indiana University Press. Available from: https://muse-jhu-edu.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/book/12859 [Accessed: 4 February 2022].

✿ Bolivia (I)

Hi everyone! To start off the week, let us dive into Bolivia! I was slightly shocked after searching up on this country because unlike other countries in the Global South, Bolivia is not severely polluted at all! As you can see in the image below, IQAir shows that the AQI index is 2 in Lapaz. That is a significantly low number! It is also shaded in green, which means that the air quality is good.

You can also see in the image some areas of fire. According to IAMAT, Bolivia faces seasonal agricultural fires in the dry months during May to November. It is currently January, so this might the reason why pollution levels seem so low. Apart from that, pollution in Bolivia is mainly caused by oil refineries, on top of usual causes of pollution in other countries, such as vehicle emissions, and waste burning in households and agricultural land.

Other sites tend to praise the efforts by the country in managing pollution levels. According to the UNEP, Bolivia manages its chemicals and waste decently well. Bolivia is considered a low-middle-income country, and in some parts of the country, chemical management policies are not effectively carried out. Regardless, in 2019, these parts of the country have partnered with the UNEP to strengthen national capacities to properly manage chemicals and waste, though the establishment of a Chemicals and Waste Unit in the country. A specific budget has also been allocated to ensure that the government’s treasury department supports other activities under this project. Permanent personnel have also been hired to ensure the operation of this project goes well during the short and long term.

There is also an effective wastewater treatment process in place in the country since 2017. This was developed by the Ministry of Environment and Water, to better regulate wastewater disposal, and to promote a circular economy. This video below explains the initiative better. Maybe other countries in the Global South could emulate such initiatives!

During that same year (2017), there was a nationwide car-free day. The initiative began since 2006, and it has been continuing since, because the country’s people realize how beneficial it is to not use vehicles. You can read more about it by clicking the link! If only many more people in the Global South could live in societies governed by capable leaders. In the next post of the week, I will be delving deeper into understanding how Bolivia can effectively keep pollution levels low.

See you in the next one! ✿

References

Alvestegui, A. (2020) Reuse and Reduce: The Case for Better Wastewater Treatment in Bolivia. 19 March. World Bank Blogs. Available from: https://blogs.worldbank.org/water/reuse-and-reduce-case-better-wastewater-treatment-bolivia [Accessed: 31 January 2022].

Farthing, L. (2017) Pollution Levels in Bolivia Plummet on Nationwide Car-Free Day. 3 September. The Guardian. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/sep/03/bolivia-car-free-day-pollution [Accessed: 31 January 2022].

IAMAT (2020) Bolivia General Health Risks: Air Pollution. 16 April. Available from: https://www.iamat.org/country/bolivia/risk/air-pollution#:~:text=Contributors%20to%20poor%20air%20quality,November)%20due%20to%20agricultural%20fires. [Accessed: 31 January 2022].

IQAir (2022) Air Quality in Bolivia. 31 January. Available from: https://www.iqair.com/bolivia [Accessed: 31 January 2022].

UNEP (2019) Bolivia Takes Steps to Protect its Rich Natural Landscapes and Strengthen Environmental Practices. 8 November. Available from: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/bolivia-takes-steps-protect-its-rich-natural-landscapes-and-strengthen [Accessed: 31 January 2022].

World Bank Water (2020) Working Towards Better Wastewater Treatment in Bolivia. 19 March. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APTRAHJT62A&feature=emb_imp_woyt [Accessed: 31 January 2022].

✿ Bangladesh (II)

Hi everyone! In today’s second post of the week, I will be summarizing the work I found by 5 groups of researchers.

The first paper I found was by Hasan et al. (2019), who explained the issues of water pollution. Bangladesh is actually home to many water sources in Asia. Unfortunately, many of them are polluted with toxic trace metals, coliforms, and other (in)organic pollutants. Groundwater sources in Bangladesh are also polluted with arsenic. This is caused by agricultural runoffs, improper disposal of domestic waste, and untreated industrial effluents. The image below was extracted from their paper. Look at how much dangerous bacteria is water that is deemed drinkable in Bangladesh!

To better visualize how terrible the situation is, you can also take a look at this video showing how polluted the rivers in Dhaka are.

The other paper I found was by Kibria et al. (2016). They examined metal pollution in Bangladesh’s waterways, and found that 8 heavy metals were present on a regular basis in various waterways in Chittagong, Dhaka, and Khulna. They include Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, U, and Zn. They suggested that effluents from tanneries, textiles, agriculture, fish farming, and ship breaking are most likely the reasons why heavy metals are heavily concentrated in these rivers. This is unfortunate, and as mentioned by Kibria et al., Bangladesh is suffering from poor water quality for irrigation and drinking, food contamination and insecurity due to the bioaccumulation of metals in crops and seafood, and health impacts. As such, they suggest that there is a need for better application of regulations and rules, specifically the “polluter pays principle” where parties who pollute have to be liable for the damage they cause to society and the environment. They also call out other scholars to continue monitoring metal concentrations in ecologically critical wetlands.

Apart from these 2 papers, I found 3 papers that focus on how Bangladesh can move forward. In Hoque & Clarke’s (2013) paper, I learnt that there have been pollution prevention activities and initiatives that were developed in Bangladesh. The only problem was that many companies and stakeholders do not utilize them well enough (they have ample room to improve). In Karim et al.’s (2019) paper, I learnt that it is difficult to manage microplastics pollution, because it is hard to manage the indiscriminate use of plastic materials in our daily lives. There is also a limited number of strategies for microplastics cleanup. However, they do suggest some avenues to work on. You can refer to page 89 for this. Finally, in Thornburg’s (2022) paper, I discovered an initiative to help pregnant women deal with indoor air pollution. It is quite a complicated study, but to sum up, they had women try on this MicroPEM to better understand how polluted their surroundings were. From there, they gave some brief comments. I personally found it upsetting that a lot of these scholars report their findings without suggesting how to manage the polluted circumstances people live in. Regardless, I look forward to learning more on how to manage with these polluted scenarios in the upcoming weeks.

P.S: some trivia for you! If you click on the link that directs you to Karim et al.’s paper, you will be able to compare primary and secondary microplastics. According to them, the former are plastic fragments that are smaller than 5mm before entering the environment, and the latter are derived from the breakdown of larger plastic debris, caused by wave action, ultraviolet radiation, or other physical, chemical, and biological processes!

Up next, Bolivia. See you in the next one! ✿

References

Al Jazeera English (2020) Bangladesh factories ordered shut to save Dhaka’s river. 23 February. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NIXtnD-Y98 [Accessed: 28 January 2022].

Hasan, M. K., Shahriar, A. & Jim, K. U. (2019) Water Pollution in Bangladesh and its Impact on Public Health. Heliyon. 5(8), 1-23. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S2405844019358050?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 28 January 2022].

Hoque, A. & Clarke, A. (2013) Greening of Industries in Bangladesh: Pollution Prevention Practices. Journal of Cleaner Production. 51, 47-56. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0959652612004738?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 28 January 2022].

Karim, M. E., Sanjee, S. A., Mahmud, S., Shaha, M., Moniruzzaman, M. & Das, K. C. (2019) Microplastics Pollution in Bangladesh: Current Scenario and Future Research Perspective. Chemistry and Ecology. 36(1), 83-99. Available from: https://www-tandfonline-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/full/10.1080/02757540.2019.1688309 [Accessed: 28 January 2022].

Kibria, G., Hossain, M. H., Mallick, D., Lau, T. C. & Wu, R. (2016) Monitoring of Metal Pollution in Waterways Across Bangladesh and Ecological and Public Health Implications of Pollution. Chemosphere. 165, 1-9. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S0045653516311560?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 28 January 2022].

Thornburg, J., Islam, S., Billah, S. M., Chan, B., McCombs, M., Abbott, M., Alam, A. & Raynes-Greenow, C. (2022) Pregnant Women’s Exposure to Household Air Pollution in Rural Bangladesh: A Feasibility Study for Poriborton: The CHANge Trail. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 19(1), 1-13. Available from: https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/pmc/articles/PMC8744871/ [Accessed: 28 January 2022].

✿ Bangladesh (I)

Hi everyone! To start off the week, let’s take a look at the current air quality in Bangladesh. As seen in the image below, Bangladesh is severely polluted. In Dhaka, the AQI index is at 258, and in Comilla, the value is at 155. These values are above the healthy AQI limit, which is 100. Why is Bangladesh’s air so polluted?

This could be amounted to the presence of industries and vehicles in the country. There are many densely populated cities in Bangladesh. According to Mahmood, the density of lead in the air of Dhaka, a city in Bangladesh, is around 463 nanograms/cubic metre, which is 10 times more than the globally accepted standard of lead concentration. There are also many brick-making kilns in the country. These kilns usually use wood and coal as their energy sources, and as a result, they emit particulate matter, sulfur oxides, and volatile organic compounds, which are all pollutants, as we have learnt in our second seminar with Dr Chen. The main mode of transport in Bangladesh is cars. When the rubber wheels of vehicles are burnt on the scorching hot roads in the cities, black carbon and toxic gases are produced. These are also pollutants. These vehicles are also a main source of pollution because vehicle exhausts in this underdeveloped country come from two-stroke engines and are run by diesel. If you search the Internet to learn more about Bangladesh’s problems, you should find that traffic congestion is one of the leading issues faced by its people.

From 2015-2019, the number of patients suffering from asthma rose from 3326 in 2015 to 78806 in 2019. The value has increased by more than 20 times! Even though experts have urged the governments to eliminate illegal brickfields, cordon off construction sides, control unfit vehicles and implement the Clean Air Act, there has been no significant improvement. About 28% of Bangladeshi deaths are caused by diseases that are triggered by pollution. The global average for deaths caused by pollution is only 16%. Pollution-related deaths in Bangladesh are not only caused by air pollution, but also water and metal pollution. Issues pertaining waste generation, collection and disposal, improper water management systems and hazardous waste management will be discussed by making reference to 5 research papers in the next blog post.

See you in the next one! ✿

References

IQAir (2022) Air Quality in Bangladesh. 24 January. Available from: https://www.iqair.com/bangladesh [Accessed: 24 January 2022].

Mahmood, S. A. I. (n. d.) Air Pollution Kills 195,000 Bangladeshis Each Year. Available from: https://patimes.org/air-pollution-kills-195000-bangladeshis-each-year/?__cf_chl_f_tk=aVQg.vnQJjWbkjOzLAxApPISFFver6RcxZfp3cfYsWs-1642314551-0-gaNycGzNCKU [Accessed: 24 January 2022].

Sakib, S. N. (2021) Bangladesh: Air Pollution Engulfs Lives, Environment. 28 March. Available from: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/environment/bangladesh-air-pollution-engulfs-lives-environment/2190506#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20ESDO%2C%20by,2019%20from%203%2C326%20in%202015. [Accessed: 24 January 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].

✿ Pressing News: Tonga

Hi everyone! This is an unplanned post that I figured I could talk about, since it has been popping up on the news sites I’ve been reading. Do you know about the Tonga volcanic eruption? It happened not too long ago, on the 15^th of January 2022. Tonga is a country in Oceania, and it is a relatively small island filled with plantations and beach resorts. How are volcanic eruptions relevant to our module on environmental pollution? Take a look at these two images below:

Volcanic eruptions are central to pollution because of the highly visible ash that gets released into the atmosphere. Look at the difference in the colour of the island in December and in January! You can read more about the other social and environmental consequences caused by the eruption by clicking on the hyperlink above.

Before I end off this short update, I would like to point out its relevance to pollution. Even after four days after the eruption, ash still prevented relief flights from landing on the island’s airport. Ash is a major concern, because it worsens air quality, but also contaminate drinking water resources (i.e. through pollutants depositing in wells or rainwater tanks). As compared to the pollutants released from coal power stations, industries, and transportation, pollution caused by natural disasters like the Tonga earthquake is hard to assess in real time because each volcano in the world has a unique profile – volcanic smog may all appear the same to us, but each smog differs in toxicity, depending on the magnitude and behaviour of the plume, as well as the altitude the plume reaches.

I am quite interested in this unfortunate incident because it is happening in real time. I will provide more updates if I find anything interesting!

Up next (as mentioned in my previous post), Bangladesh. See you in the next one! ✿

References

Ives, M. & Nagourney, E. (2022) Tonga’s Airport Is Finally Cleared, but Ash Still Poses a Range of Threats. 20 January. New York Times. Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/20/world/asia/tonga-eruption-ash.html?utm_campaign=likeshopme&utm_medium=instagram&utm_source=dash%20hudson&utm_content=ig-nytimes [Accessed: 22 January 2022].

Wei-Hass, M. (2022) The volcanic explosion in Tonga destroyed an island – and created many mysteries. 21 January. National Geographic. Available from: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/volcanic-explosion-in-tonga-created-many-mysteries [Accessed: 22 January 2022].

✿ Afghanistan (II)

Hi everyone! Today’s second post of the week will complement the previous post I made earlier in the week. Apart from air and water pollution, Afghanistan has to deal with nitrate pollution as well.

In Mahaqi et al.’s (2021) paper, I have learnt that nitrate is a common pollutant in many underdeveloped countries in Asia, including Afghanistan. Afghanistan experiences nitrate pollution mainly from domestic sewage, including latrines and cesspits. Latrines are toilets found in camps and cesspits are pits meant for the disposal of liquid waste. Kabul is Afghanistan’s capital, and the most polluted city in the country. The city lacks an effective sewage network, hence, allowing nitrate pollutants to seep into the city’s groundwater system. As seen in the image below, nitrates can enter groundwater sources through various ways, even when an proper sewage network is in place. Nevertheless, Mahaqi et al. suggest that a reactive barrier technique could potentially reduce the extent of nitrate pollution, by removing it from groundwater sources. According to them, this barrier is also relatively cheap and easy to install.

How Nitrate Enters Contaminates Water Sources (DVGW, n. d.)

I mentioned in my previous post that women and children are more affected by pollution than men. This claim is supported by the findings made by Rana et al. (2019). Many Afghan people depend on wood, animal dung, or coal for fuel to cook. This source of fuels are a primary source of indoor air pollutants. Their study found that children who were exposed to indoor air pollution were more likely to suffer from acute respiratory infections. Children have narrower airways and larger lung surfaces because of their underdeveloped epithelial linings of their lungs. As such, they are 50% more likely to inhale polluted air as compared to other older children.

A final paper that I found focuses on the links between terrorism and environmental pollution. This paper by Bildirici & Gokmenoglu (2020) researches on countries affected by terrorism – Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Syria, Somalia, Thailand, and Yemen. I plan to research on environmental pollution in Pakistan a few weeks from now, since it is considered the 2^nd most polluted country in the world. If any of you are interested in learning about the other countries listed above, do update me, so that I can research and share my findings with you. Otherwise, it would be nice to know what you found when researching on these countries! Unsurprisingly, Bildirici & Gokmenoglu found that terrorism does exacerbate environmental pollution, not only because terrorism causes socio-economic and political problems (that inhibit the ability of societies to manage pollution), but also because high-tech equipment used in terrorist acts release a lot of pollutants into the atmosphere.

I look forward to researching more about the relationship between terrorism and pollution. If I do come across other interesting articles, I will be adding them into the comments section below, or make a separate post!

Up next, Bangladesh. See you in the next one! ✿

References

Bildirici, M. & Gokmenoglu, S. M. (2020) The Impact of Terrorism and FDI on Environmental Pollution: Evidence from Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Syria, Somalia, Thailand and Yemen. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 81, 1-12. Available from: https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/science/article/pii/S019592551930277X?via%3Dihub [Accessed: 20 January 2022].

DVGW (n. d.) Too Many Animals – too Little Land. Available from: https://www.dvgw.de/english-pages/topics/water/nitrates-and-drinking-water [Accessed: 20 January 2022].

IQAir (n. d.) World’s Most Polluted Countries 2020 (PM2.5). Available from: https://www.iqair.com/world-most-polluted-countries [Accessed: 20 January 2022].

Mahaqi, A., Mehiqi, M., Moheghy, M. A., Moheghi, M. M. & Hussainzadeh, J. (2021) Nitrate Pollution in Kabul Water Supplies, Afghanistan; Sources and Chemical Reactions: A Review. International Journal of Environmental Sciences and Technology. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-021-03551-4 [Accessed: 20 January 2022].

Rana, J., Uddin, J., Peltier, R. & Oulhote, Y. Associations between Indoor Air Pollution and Acute Respiratory Infections among Under-Five Children in Afghanistan: Do SES and Sex Matter? (2019) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 16(16), 1-13. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6720819/?tool=pmcentrez&report=abstract [Accessed: 20 January 2022].

✿ Afghanistan (I)

Hi everyone! To start off the week, let me share with you what I have gathered from various news websites. According to IQAir, Afghanistan is the 5th most polluted country in the world, as seen in the screenshot below. This platform will be a dominant site that I will refer to, to set the context of future discussions.

As of today, Afghanistan’s PM2.5 concentration (an indicator to measure air pollution) is 9.3 times above the World Health Organization’s air quality guideline value. You might be disillusioned at first, since the green colour shadowing Afghanistan might indicate a good value, as shown on the label at the bottom of the screenshot. This was a mistake I made earlier as well. What you should be focusing on is the number in the circles around the region. As seen in the circle hovering around Kabul, the air quality index right now is 173. This is unhealthy, since the satisfactory AQI value should be a value below 100.

Some news headlines tend to suggest that air pollution in Afghanistan is more deadlier than the war. Kabul is home to around 6 million people. Many children and elderly fall victim to the smog and smoke that lie over the city. As of 2017, more than 26000 people have died from polluted-related illnesses, whereas only less than 3500 civilians died as a result of the Afghan War. Some Afghan officials have pointed out that fighting pollution is as important as fighting terrorism. But how can these people afford to fight two wars at once? Approximately 20 patients would visit the hospital for respiratory diseases caused by air pollution on a daily basis.

Apart from air pollution, Kabul’s refugee camps are home to many families, who have no proper sanitation or water systems. They are surrounded by garbage, and they utilize any cloth, plastics, paper, or sticks to use as fuel to keep them warm. In case you did not know, Kabul experiences a semiarid climate, where temperatures can reach below zero degrees during the winter months. Water pollution is also another major area of concern for the region that experiences low rainfall. Coupled with irregular use of groundwater and insufficient water management infrastructures, many fall victim to illnesses caused by contaminated water.

Unfortunately, many women and children are more vulnerable to pollution than men, because they stay longer at home. It seems ironic that staying at home can expose you to danger, but as explained by the EMRO, being at home exposes people to Household Air Pollution, which can contribute to pre-term birth, stunting, and low birth rate. In the next post for the week, I will be summarizing 3 research papers conducted by environmentalists to learn about the sufferings of these Afghan people.

See you in the next one! ✿

References

AQI (2022) Air Quality in Afghanistan. 18 January. Available from: https://www.iqair.com/us/afghanistan [Accessed: 18 January 2022].

EMRO (n. d.) Afghanistan. World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean. Available from: http://www.emro.who.int/afg/programmes/eh.html#:~:text=In%20Afghanistan%2C%20it%20is%20estimated,over%2011%20000%20deaths%20annually.&text=Women%20and%20children%20are%20at,at%20home%20more%20than%20men. [Accessed: 18 January 2022].

Faiez, R. (2019) In Afghanistan’s Capital, Air Pollution May Be Even Deadlier Than War. 14 November. Available from: https://thediplomat.com/2019/11/in-afghanistans-capital-air-pollution-may-be-even-deadlier-than-war/ [Accessed: 18 January 2022].

German Press Agency (2021) Air Pollution Killed Almost 5,000 People in Afghanistan in 2020, Health Ministry Says. 13 January. Daily Sabah. Available from: https://www.dailysabah.com/world/asia-pacific/air-pollution-killed-almost-5000-people-in-afghanistan-in-2020-health-ministry-says [Accessed: 18 January 2022].

Petrov, V. P., Ali, M., Weinbaum, M.G., Allchin, F. R., Dupree, N. H.& Dupree, L. (2021) Afghanistan. 2 November. Encyclopedia Britannica. Available from: https://www.britannica.com/place/Afghanistan [Accessed: 18 January 2022].

Sadat, S. K. (2020) Afghanistan: Air Pollution More Dangerous than Civil War. 2 January. Available from: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/afghanistanair-pollution-more-dangerous-than-civil-war/1690496 [Accessed: 18 January 2022].