A Review of Transport and Urban Air Pollution in Pakistan

Nowadays air over major cities throughout the world has become over burdened with gases produced by automobiles. The death rate due to automobiles pollution is increasing rapidly in the metropolitan areas. With passage of time people realized that polluted air had serious effects on their health, climate and economics. Weather and climate have the integrated impact on human activities which are resulting in worldwide concentration of the particulate of environmental pollution viz.chloroflorocarbons (CFCs), carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, lead and several other dust and gaseous particles.The rapid growth in motor vehicle activity in Pakistan and other rapidly industrializinglow-income countries is contributing to high levels of urban air pollution, among other adverse socioeconomic, environmental, health, and welfare impacts. This paper first discusses the local, regional, and global impacts associated with air pollutant emissions resulting from motor vehicle activity, and the technological, behavioral, and institutional factors that have contributed to these emissions, in Pakistan.The paper then discusses some implementation issues related to various policy measures that have been undertaken, and the challenges of the policy context. Finally, the paper presents insights and lessons based on the recent Pakistan experience, for better understanding and more effectively addressing the transport air pollution problem in Pakistan and similar countries, in a way that is sensitive to their needs,capabilities, and constraints

Leveraging Rural Energy Investment for Parasitic Disease Control: Schistosome Ova Inactivation and Energy Co-Benefits of Anaerobic Digesters in Rural China

Cooking and heating remain the most energy intensive activities among the world's poor, and thus improved access to clean energies for these tasks has been highlighted as a key requirement of attaining the major objectives of the UN Millennium Development Goals. A move towards clean energy technologies such as biogas systems (which produce methane from human and animal waste) has the potential to provide immediate benefits for the control of neglected tropical diseases. Here, an assessment of the parasitic disease and energy benefits of biogas systems in Sichuan Province, China, is presented, highlighting how the public health sector can leverage the proliferation of rural energy projects for infectious disease control. ova) counted at the influent of two biogas systems were removed in the systems when adjusted for system residence time, an approximate 1-log removal attributable to sedimentation. Combined, these inactivation/removal processes underscore the promise of biogas infrastructure for reducing parasite contamination resulting from nightsoil use. When interviewed an average of 4 years after construction, villagers attributed large changes in fuel usage to the installation of biogas systems. Household coal usage decreased by 68%, wood by 74%, and crop waste by 6%. With reported energy savings valued at roughly 600 CNY per year, 2–3 years were required to recoup the capital costs of biogas systems. In villages without subsidies, no new biogas systems were implemented.Sustainable strategies that integrate rural energy needs and sanitation offer tremendous promise for long-term control of parasitic diseases, while simultaneously reducing energy costs and improving quality of life. Government policies can enhance the financial viability of such strategies by introducing fiscal incentives for joint sanitation/sustainable energy projects, along with their associated public outreach and education programs

The state of ambient air quality in Pakistan—a review

Background and purpose: Pakistan, during the last decade, has seen an extensive escalation in population growth, urbanization, and industrialization, together with a great increase in motorization and energy use. As a result, a substantial rise has taken place in the types and number of emission sources of various air pollutants. However, due to the lack of air quality management capabilities, the country is suffering from deterioration of air quality. Evidence from various governmental organizations and international bodies has indicated that air pollution is a significant risk to the environment, quality of life, and health of the population. The Government has taken positive steps toward air quality management in the form of the Pakistan Clean Air Program and has recently established a small number of continuous monitoring stations. However, ambient air quality standards have not yet been established. This paper reviews the data being available on the criteria air pollutants: particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and lead. Methods: Air pollution studies in Pakistan published in both scientific journals and by the Government have been reviewed and the reported concentrations of PM, SO2, O3, CO, NO2, and Pb collated. A comparison of the levels of these air pollutants with the World Health Organization air quality guidelines was carried out. Results: Particulate matter was the most serious air pollutant in the country. NO2 has emerged as the second high-risk pollutant. The reported levels of PM, SO2, CO, NO2, and Pb were many times higher than the World Health Organization air quality guidelines. Only O3 concentrations were below the guidelines. Conclusions: The current state of air quality calls for immediate action to tackle the poor air quality. The establishment of ambient air quality standards, an extension of the continuous monitoring sites, and the development of emission control strategies are essential. © Springer-Verlag 2009

Air pollution problems and diseases caused by hazardous gases in Quetta, Pakistan

Nowadays air over major cities throughout the world has become over burdened with gases produced by automobiles. The death rate due to automobiles pollution is increasing rapidly in the metropolitanareas. With passage of time people realized that polluted air had serious effects on their health, climate and economics. Weather and climate have the integrated impact on human activities which are resulting in worldwide concentration of the particulate of environmental pollution viz. chloroflorocarbons (CFCs), carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, lead and several other dust and gaseous particles. The present study is an attempt to exploit air problems and diseases caused by the lead, CO, NH3,NO2 and SO2 of the Quetta city. Data at differentlocations recorded for the pollutants,.i.e., CO, NH3,NO2, Pb and SO2 for a period of two months have been analyzed by two indices ,.i.e. air pollution control status index (APC-Status index) , urban air quality index (Urban AQ index) and the determination of Pb (lead) emitted from vehicle at roadside in Quetta city was analyzed for two months without any interval at nine different stations. We conclude from our results that blood pressure, ENT (eye, nose and throat), fatigue, gastrointestinal, diseases and cancer were highly correlated with lead distribution.We also conclude that the motor vehicles/ automobiles now constitute the main source of air pollution. The coal burning, kiln backing in furnaces and natural gas burning are the other sources of air pollutio

Solving vehicle assignment problems by process-network synthesis to minimize cost and environmental impact of transportation

A method and software are proposed for optimal assignment of vehicles to transportation tasks in terms of total cost and emission. The assignment problem is transformed into a process-network synthesis problem that can be algorithmically handled by the P-graph framework. In the proposed method, each task is given by a set of attributes to be taken account in the assignment; this is also the case for each vehicle. The overall mileage is calculated as the sum of the lengths of all the routes to be travelled during, before, after and between the tasks. (Desaulniers et al. 1998; Baita et al. 2000). Cost and emission are assigned to the mileages of each vehicle type. In addition to the the globally optimal solution of the assignment problem, the P-graph framework provides the n-best suboptimal solutions that can be ranked according to multiple criteria. The viability of the proposed method is illustrated by an example