AR4: Mitigation of Climate Change

Chapter 4

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4.5 Policies and instruments

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4.5.2 Air quality and pollution 

The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (UNDESA, 2002) called on all countries to develop more sustainable consumption and production patterns. Policies and measures to promote such pathways will automatically result in a reduction of GHG emissions and be useful to control air pollution (Section 11.8). Non-toxic CO2 emissions from combustion processes have no detrimental effects on a local or regional scale, whereas toxic emissions such as SO2 and particulates can have local health impacts as well as potentially wider detrimental environmental impacts.

The need for uncontaminated food and clean water to maintain general health have been recognized and addressed for a long time. However, only in recent decades has the importance of clean air to health been seriously noted (WHO, 2003). Major health problems suffered by women and children in the developing world (acute respiratory infection, chronic obstructive lung disease, cancer and pulmonary diseases) have been attributed to a lack of access to high-quality modern energy for cooking (Smith, 2002; Smith et al., 2000a; Lang et al., 2002; Bruce et al., 2000). The World Health Organisation (WHO, 2002) ranked indoor air pollution from burning solid fuels as the fourth most important health-risk factor in least developed countries where 40% of the world’s population live, and is estimated to be responsible for 2.7% of the global burden of disease (Figure 4.31). It has been estimated that half a million children and women die each year in India alone from indoor air pollution (Smith et al., 2000a). A study of indoor smoke levels conducted in Kenya revealed 24-hour average respirable particulate concentrations as high as 5526 µg/m3 compared with the EPA standards for acceptable annual levels of 50 µg/m3 (ITDG, 2003) and the EU standard for PM10 of 40 µg/m3 (European Council Directive 99/30/EC). Another comprehensive study in Zimbabwe showed that those who came from households using wood, dung or straw for cooking were more than twice as likely to have suffered from acute respiratory disease than those coming from households using LPG, natural gas or electricity (Mishra, 2003).