From one of the most densely populated and polluted airsheds on Earth, calls for an ‘air pollution revolution’  

Hundreds of millions of people across the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) and Himalayan Foothills (HFH) are still breathing hazardous air today, as the Air Quality Index in cities in Pakistan crossed 1,000+ and in Delhi hit 450+, closing schools and causing disruption to flights.

Air pollution is sometimes called “the invisible killer” because the fine particle contaminants suspended in the air we so often breathe in this region are usually so hard to see.  

Last weekend, however, that changed, when NASA released images that showed the smog engulfing South Asia has grown so big that you can see it from space.  

Sightseers’ photographs from one of the world’s Seven Wonders, the Taj Mahal, meanwhile provided a chilling demonstration, at ground level, of the extent to which visibility had fallen due to the smog.   

Invisible or not, air is now Asia’s no 1 public health risk 

Particulate matter, visible or not, is devastating to human health: entering not just our lungs, but also our bloodstreams, to impact every organ in the human body.  

Researchers who gathered earlier this year at ICIMOD’s headquarters in Kathmandu, a city that sometimes vies with Delhi, Lahore and Dhaka for the title of world’s most polluted city, stressed how hazardous pollution is not only to respiration, but also to heart and brain function, and cognitive development.  

It also ups the risks of chronic conditions, cancer, and strokes, and medics call it the region’s top public health risk. Worldwide it caused 8.1 million deaths in 2021, states the State of Global Air Report.  

The impacts on children are particularly grave: among children under five, exposure to air pollution is linked to the death of more than 700,000 children.

As well as premature birth, low birth weight, asthma and lung diseases, pollution can result in long-term developmental issues that can ricochet down a child’s entire life course in terms of educational attainment.  

• Pollution compromises not just lungs, but hearts and brains.

• Impacts on children are particularly acute, including cognitive impacts that can hit grades and alter a young person’s future life course.  

While air pollution does not discriminate, high population sizes and high levels of poverty hugely compound the levels of exposure and risks faced by people in South Asia, researchers say.  

The poorest populations often live or work in closest proximity to pollution sources.  

They also lack the resources to adopt coping mechanisms, such as buying household air purifiers, or, more drastically, leaving high-pollution zones during spikes, or to switch to lower emissions heating and cooking sources.  

Earlier this year, ICIMOD convened global experts to increase understanding of and awareness about the impacts of the region's air emergency on poverty and health, and to increase the speed and scale of investment in solutions.

As pollution remains at severe levels, we are releasing a series of films recorded at that event, which feature  

“Air pollution accounted for 8.1 million deaths globally in 2021,” says our partner in this work, US research group, Health Effects Institute. “[And] many more millions of people are living with debilitating chronic diseases, putting tremendous strains on health care systems, economies, and societies.”

"The smog we can see from space right now is destroying our lungs, our hearts, our brains, it is hammering our hospitals, and  our economies and accelerating the loss of our frozen water stores," Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of ICIMOD, who earlier this year convened a major science-policy dialogue on air pollution with key regional stakeholders in Thimphu, Bhutan. "We need an air pollution revolution in our region, and ICIMOD is standing by to support diverse stakeholders – from science to policy to industry – to bring about urgently needed change."