Air quality

Air quality

What is the cost of air pollution? What does the region deal with it?

Rapid urbanisation and development of industries led to a high level of air pollution in the region of Pearl River Delta. To examine the situation, a regional network of air quality monitoring stations was created in 2005. The area also invested in research programs to analyse the issue and formulate strategies aiming at increasing air quality. Stricter control measures were implemented, which were followed by closing down many factories that emitted high amounts of pollutants (Wan et al., 2011). Primary pollutants such as SO2 and PM mainly affect industrial cities, whereas secondary pollutants are formed due to the oxidation processes, which are enhanced in the Greater Bay Area due to the increase of O3 levels in Hong Kong and Macau. It may have a strong impact on regional climate and public health (Lin et al., 2011). As stated in the GBD studies, ambient PM2.5 and O3 cause most premature deaths related to air pollution (Forouzanfar et al., 2016). PM2.5 can cause diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease and stroke. The graphs above show that even though the emissions are on a decline, the number of deaths related to PM2.5 has not changed. This is attributed to the increase in the population. In the case of O3-related deaths, the number is much higher in the cities with a higher concentration of air pollutants from vehicles as well as increased population (Wu et al., 2019).