Latest WHO urban air quality database shows air pollution levels rising in many of the world’s poorest cities

The latest urban air quality database, released today by the World Health Organization (WHO), shows that from 2008 to 2013 global urban air pollution levels increased by 8%, despite improvements in some regions.

In Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia Regions and low-income countries in the Western Pacific Region, levels of urban air pollution has increased by more than 5% in more than two-thirds of the cities.

The highest urban air pollution levels were experienced in low-and middle-income countries in the Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia Regions, with annual mean levels often exceeding 5-10 times WHO limits, followed by low-income cities in the Western Pacific Region.

Helena Molin Valdes, Head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) hosted Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Secretariat, said that air pollution is a growing concern for many urban residents but real results can be achieved in cities and countries that make improving air quality and climate protection a priority.

“There are cost effective and technologically feasible measures and policies that can be implemented today to reduce air pollution. These have both air quality and climate protection benefits," Ms Molin Valdes said. "Reducing air pollution from soot (black carbon), methane and tropospheric ozone will deliver quick results, since these pollutants are short-lived in the atmosphere. These actions will also help achieve many of the global sustainable development goals, save lives now, and protect future generations."

Reducing these short-lived climate pollutants can reduce global warming by 0.5°C by the middle of the century, and save 2.4 million lives a year from reduced air pollution by 2030.

The CCAC is working with countries, local governments, cities, businesses and civil society organizations on a number of initiatives to reduce air pollutants most harmful to health and the climate. These include: replacing traditional biomass heat and cook stoves with more efficient modern fuel ones, improving the management of municipal solid waste to reduce methane emissions and pollution from open burning, and introducing more stringent standards and regulations for diesel fuel and heavy duty diesel engines in order to create soot-free urban public transport and green freight transport.

The CCAC Urban Health Initiative, led by the WHO, is also working with the Ghana Environment Protection Agency, Ghana Health Service, World Bank, US EPA, UNEP and the Global Alliance of Clean Cookstoves, to launch a pilot city project in Accra, Ghana to improve air quality and raise awareness of the health and climate impacts of air pollution.

“It is crucial for city and national governments to make urban air quality a health and development priority,” says WHO’s Dr Carlos Dora. “When air quality improves, health costs from air pollution-related diseases shrink, worker productivity expands and life expectancy grows. Reducing air pollution also brings an added climate bonus, which can become a part of countries’ commitments to the climate treaty.”

Improving global air quality will be a key theme of two important gatherings of the world’s environment and health communities later this month: UNEP’s United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi (23 - 27 May), and the WHO’s World Health Assembly in Geneva (also 23 - 27 May). The UN Environment Assembly will provide a global overview of actions being taken to promote better air quality, and at the World Health Assembly, Member States will discuss a road map for an enhanced global response to the adverse health effects of air pollution.