Under the shadow of
many premature deaths such as pulmonary and respiratory diseases due to
exposure to heavy air pollution; life in Dhaka seems to be going on as
normal. According to the Department of Environment (DoE), the density of
airborne particulate matter (PM) reaches 463 micrograms per cubic meter
(mcm) in the city during December-March period - the highest level in
the world (Noor, 2013, TUNZA Eco Generation). Negative impacts on human
health and financial costs of air pollution have remained staggeringly
high. At the turn of the century, the World Bank has estimated that the
costs associated with air pollution in Dhaka are approximately 800
million USD every year and 15,000 human lives (DoE and the Norwegian
Institute for Air Research, 2011). In the face of changing climate and a
warming world, moving into the city in search of shelter and
livelihood, Dhaka city will be more crowded with people and more
vehicles will have to be accommodated; hence it will contribute further
to the problem of air pollution.
Major sources of air pollution are from the traffic congestion and industrial emissions such as clusters of brick kilns are situated on the outskirts of Dhaka city. However, vehicular emissions are the most visual in this case. Travelling through Dhaka city, one will have to experience chocking on exhaust fumes, smoke and dust; a mixture of highly obnoxious gases which would immediately cause eye and throat irritations. But, what can city dwellers do about it? They can neither move out of the city, nor are they ready to breathe more toxic air. However, the consequences of air pollution are hardly seen by the millions of city dwellers in their day to day business unless the effects of air pollution hit them personally. Many disadvantaged people (e.g. street hawkers, rickshaw pullers, regular bus and taxi drivers, street children etc.) carry a double burden – working closely to the sources of the road traffic pollution and breathing the bad air around.
During the manufacturing season from October to March; air emissions from brick kilns especially from the North of the city travel to the main city in the direction of the wind. Fine Particulate Matter 2.5 microns in diameter (commonly referred to PM 2.5) are mostly emitted as a result of burning low-grade coal and wood. PM 2.5 has the ability to penetrate deeper inside the respiratory system, which can effectively carry other variety of hazardous substances in the air, for example heavy metals (e.g. lead, cadmium, arsenic), acid oxides (e.g. sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen) organic (e.g. organic carbon, elemental carbon) and also biological pollutants (e.g. bacteria and viruses). According to UNDP half of Bangladesh’s brick kilns are operating illegally, as investors fail to obtain licenses and flout existing environmental laws. Under these circumstances, the authority faces uphill challenges to curb illegal activities. We don’t often hear about the accidents within this particular business sector which we often see in the garment industries. Air pollution is a silent killer where it kills yearly more than the entire garment industries combined.
If the authority can tackle these two sources of air pollution efficiently, then it would be a huge step forward. There have been a number of landmark policy initiatives that were taken over the last decade (by each successive government). For example, decision of providing only unleaded gasoline, banning two-stroke three wheelers, imposing stricter penalties on polluters, introduction of vehicle emission standards, improvement of city traffic management and public awareness campaign etc. However, nothing will work if people act irresponsibly and disobey the laws. A comprehensive review of potential air pollution mitigation (e.g. technology potential) and management tools are required by the government. Nothing will achieve in one day, it took UK hundreds of years to sort out their urban air quality problems but still cannot get it right. A few places in the streets of London the air pollution levels are above the legal limit values e.g. pollution levels exceeded the yearly Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) quota in Putney High Street within three days of 2013, also Marylebone Road in London reported the fourth highest annual mean concentrations of NO2 at 98 ug/m3 behind individual sites in Florence, Stuttgart and Munich (Birkett, 2012). This parallel may not be relevant, nor it is equal between the city of Dhaka and London, however the fact of the matter is, in the city of London people are more inclined to cooperate with the laws and more aware of the consequences of breaking it as the overall government intervention is far more efficient and effective.
Cleanest available technologies would help to curb ambient air pollution to some extent but it is not the only option considering its availability and affordability to the general people. Here is a simple example for instance, only rich urbanites can afford efficient cars with low environmental impact but driving efficient cars in the congested roads would quickly become inefficient as the cars get caught in the queues that end up wasting fuel and create more pollution. Combinations of technical and non-technical solutions need to be implemented, which should be backed by stronger enforcement laws. While traffic dispersion from the congestion roads is one of the main priorities, it is sensible to build more planned flyovers and geographically shift some of the educational, financial and commercial hubs out of central Dhaka city in order to ease the congestion. Having said that, the policy of shift out some of the above mentioned hubs could be quite unpopular, which would face stiff resistance from the members of public.
Other non-technical solution of tackling traffic congestion is to charge motorists to use the road space. In this case, centre of the capital could be under traffic congestion charge where motorists will pay to enter the congestion zone. This needs to be combined with the improvement of overall public transport system, increased enforcement of the parking and traffic regulations. There are no magic bullets and technological quick-fix, but some draconian measures can save the city otherwise the city of Dhaka will lose its battle against air pollution.
Major sources of air pollution are from the traffic congestion and industrial emissions such as clusters of brick kilns are situated on the outskirts of Dhaka city. However, vehicular emissions are the most visual in this case. Travelling through Dhaka city, one will have to experience chocking on exhaust fumes, smoke and dust; a mixture of highly obnoxious gases which would immediately cause eye and throat irritations. But, what can city dwellers do about it? They can neither move out of the city, nor are they ready to breathe more toxic air. However, the consequences of air pollution are hardly seen by the millions of city dwellers in their day to day business unless the effects of air pollution hit them personally. Many disadvantaged people (e.g. street hawkers, rickshaw pullers, regular bus and taxi drivers, street children etc.) carry a double burden – working closely to the sources of the road traffic pollution and breathing the bad air around.
During the manufacturing season from October to March; air emissions from brick kilns especially from the North of the city travel to the main city in the direction of the wind. Fine Particulate Matter 2.5 microns in diameter (commonly referred to PM 2.5) are mostly emitted as a result of burning low-grade coal and wood. PM 2.5 has the ability to penetrate deeper inside the respiratory system, which can effectively carry other variety of hazardous substances in the air, for example heavy metals (e.g. lead, cadmium, arsenic), acid oxides (e.g. sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen) organic (e.g. organic carbon, elemental carbon) and also biological pollutants (e.g. bacteria and viruses). According to UNDP half of Bangladesh’s brick kilns are operating illegally, as investors fail to obtain licenses and flout existing environmental laws. Under these circumstances, the authority faces uphill challenges to curb illegal activities. We don’t often hear about the accidents within this particular business sector which we often see in the garment industries. Air pollution is a silent killer where it kills yearly more than the entire garment industries combined.
If the authority can tackle these two sources of air pollution efficiently, then it would be a huge step forward. There have been a number of landmark policy initiatives that were taken over the last decade (by each successive government). For example, decision of providing only unleaded gasoline, banning two-stroke three wheelers, imposing stricter penalties on polluters, introduction of vehicle emission standards, improvement of city traffic management and public awareness campaign etc. However, nothing will work if people act irresponsibly and disobey the laws. A comprehensive review of potential air pollution mitigation (e.g. technology potential) and management tools are required by the government. Nothing will achieve in one day, it took UK hundreds of years to sort out their urban air quality problems but still cannot get it right. A few places in the streets of London the air pollution levels are above the legal limit values e.g. pollution levels exceeded the yearly Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) quota in Putney High Street within three days of 2013, also Marylebone Road in London reported the fourth highest annual mean concentrations of NO2 at 98 ug/m3 behind individual sites in Florence, Stuttgart and Munich (Birkett, 2012). This parallel may not be relevant, nor it is equal between the city of Dhaka and London, however the fact of the matter is, in the city of London people are more inclined to cooperate with the laws and more aware of the consequences of breaking it as the overall government intervention is far more efficient and effective.
Cleanest available technologies would help to curb ambient air pollution to some extent but it is not the only option considering its availability and affordability to the general people. Here is a simple example for instance, only rich urbanites can afford efficient cars with low environmental impact but driving efficient cars in the congested roads would quickly become inefficient as the cars get caught in the queues that end up wasting fuel and create more pollution. Combinations of technical and non-technical solutions need to be implemented, which should be backed by stronger enforcement laws. While traffic dispersion from the congestion roads is one of the main priorities, it is sensible to build more planned flyovers and geographically shift some of the educational, financial and commercial hubs out of central Dhaka city in order to ease the congestion. Having said that, the policy of shift out some of the above mentioned hubs could be quite unpopular, which would face stiff resistance from the members of public.
Other non-technical solution of tackling traffic congestion is to charge motorists to use the road space. In this case, centre of the capital could be under traffic congestion charge where motorists will pay to enter the congestion zone. This needs to be combined with the improvement of overall public transport system, increased enforcement of the parking and traffic regulations. There are no magic bullets and technological quick-fix, but some draconian measures can save the city otherwise the city of Dhaka will lose its battle against air pollution.
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