This is a welcome move that in the face of worsening air pollution mainly in the major cities including Dhaka, the interim government has developed the National Air Quality Management Action Plan. It is primarily aimed for strategic actions to tackle the sources of air pollution, improve air monitoring and enhance enforcement mechanisms of various laws and policies to combat deadly air pollution.
In this connection, a roadmap for implementing stringent regulations and promoting cleaner technologies in industries, transportation, and urban development was announced by Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change on Tuesday saying that this action plan is a part of Bangladesh's broader strategy to achieve sustainable environmental targets, with a focus on reducing the alarming levels of pollution that affect both rural and urban areas.
This is the testament of the government's commitment to prioritize the cleaner air for the well-being of the future generations. But such action plan to protect the environment will not come to fruition without the support and cooperation from the government agencies, development partners, civil society and the private sector entities mainly involved in construction activities and last but not least the public in general.
Air pollution in Bangladesh has become the deadliest environmental concern with hundreds of thousands of people dying of this reason every year. According to an estimate, air pollution annually claims over 6.7 million lives worldwide.
In Dhaka and elsewhere in the urban areas of Bangladesh, air pollution significantly raises the risks of breathing difficulties, cough, lower respiratory tract infections, as well as depression and other health conditions. This is why immediate actions, including improving public health services and response mechanisms, improving air pollution data monitoring systems, investing in early warning systems, and engaging in further research are needed urgently.
What are the whys and wherefores of air pollution in the capital and other cities? Its major sources are brick kilns, surface dust and sand, vehicle emissions, industrial pollution and large-scale construction activities.
For Dhaka city, persistent traffic causes the highest level of air pollution. This is because the number of different types of vehicles like passenger buses, trucks, jeeps, minivans, auto rickshaws and other kinds of motorized transport modes have increased manifold in the last two decades.
Another major pollutant is brick kilns. There are over 2,000 brick kilns in and around Dhaka and about 5,200 more spread all around the country. These brick kilns burn coal to create bricks for our booming construction industry. They are large contributors to air pollution in Dhaka mainly due to their inefficient design.
With rapid urbanization, Bangladesh has seen an increase in construction activities. As a result, extensive unplanned residential development and large projects to build bridges, highways and mass rapid transit create large amounts of resuspended dust.
This is now incumbent on all of us including the government agencies and general public to work together to reduce air pollution in Dhaka and other major cities of the country. Otherwise, we will continue to pay a heavy price by letting our cities become most vulnerable to air pollution.
