Transboundary air pollution: dirty air knows no territories
Margaux Giruadon doesn’t smoke. She also doesn’t hang out with people who do. She doesn’t live near a factory, or a coal-fired power plant. Yet, she has developed an inflammatory airway condition called Asthmatic Bronchitis, which has caused her lung capacity to reduce by almost a third when compared to others her age. Margaux is three years old. This little girl is just one of the victims of mainland China’s air pollution — and she doesn’t even live in mainland China.
We may think of air pollution as harmful only to those living in polluted areas, but the sad truth is that it goes beyond territories. Also known as long-range transboundary air pollution, this type of air pollution travels far from its physical origin, thus having sources that are difficult to individually identify. In Margaux’s case, wind swept from mainland China has brought into Hong Kong about 60–70% of its total particulate matter (PM). Unlike airplanes, air pollution does not go through border control.
PM is primarily directly emitted into the air by sources like fuel combustion, but it can also be formed in the atmosphere from chemical gas reactions. These pollutants are known to remain in the atmosphere for days, and even weeks.
From its birthplace, smog from mainland China travels all the way to Hong Kong, especially during the winter due to wind direction. Although cars and container ships are some of the largest contributors to the island’s smog, nearly 80% of the dust in its air comes from China. This pollution creates a range of health issues, from changes in the respiratory tract and impaired pulmonary function, to increased death from cardiovascular and respiratory disease or lung cancer. According to a report by Hong Kong University, over 1,600 premature deaths last year were caused by air pollution alone.
While China often makes the headlines for its hazardous air quality, Thailand, too, is facing its own case of haze pollution. Chiang Mai, originally popular among tourist for its fresh breeze and chilly mountains, has become home to a blanket of haze as a consequence of forest fires, agricultural burning, and other sources of pollution. During the same period, high levels of air pollution were recorded in neighboring provinces in the Northern region, and even Bangkok.
Likewise, in Indonesia, the palm oil industry and other agribusinesses are the main culprit for the haze that spreads across the nation. The Global Fire Emissions Database shows that in 2015, fires generated in the country accounted for about 600 million tons of greenhouse gases, or roughly the same as Germany’s entire annual output. In 2013, haze from Indonesia’s forest fire led to a peak in Singapore’s pollution levels, and even all the way in Thailand in late 2015. Evidently, this amount does not only pose a negative impact on Indonesia itself, but also other surrounding nations.
Though actions are being taken by a number of organizations for both human well-being and environmental conservation, measures enforced by the government still lack legal accountability. In late 2016, a team of environmental investigators were taken hostage by almost a hundred men, who are believed to have been hired by a palm oil firm. Even families and communities, affected by their own health or the loss of loved ones, struggled in court because of strict requirements for evidence in order to charge those they believed to be responsible. While lawyers and advocates lack access to strong proof, many judges and witnesses seem hesitant about the case — regardless of scientific confirmation that support it — most likely due to violent threats imposed upon them from benefactors of the accused palm oil firm, as well as corruption in the judicial and law enforcement system.
These issues follow long after the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in 2002, in which member countries ratified an environmental treaty aimed to prevent and mitigate haze pollution. Almost a decade and a half after the adoption, Southeast Asia still suffers from transboundary air pollution, seemingly due to the weak mechanisms for dispute settlements and punishments present.
A similar case could be traced back to a dispute between the United States and Canada in the late 1980s, with air pollution from American industries causing acidic precipitation over Canada. After roughly a decade, the two countries agreed on what was known as the Acid Rain Treaty, as to commit to reductions in pollutant emissions. However, the effects of acid rain can still be seen in Canadian ecosystems up to this day.
From city to city, and country to country, transboundary air pollution also moves from continent to continent, having gone from Asia to North America, taking around five to eight days depending on wind speed. Over the vast Pacific Ocean, up to a quarter of sulfate pollution in the western United States is blown in from the China. Having already affected neighboring countries Japan and South Korea, China’s smog contributes to at least an extra day of exposure to nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide for residents of cities like Los Angeles.
Over the years, the term ‘globalization’ has stepped out of its box — from originally referring to culture, it has seemed to shift its meaning to international air pollution. Unfortunately at this point, sharing is not always caring. Just because we don’t pollute doesn’t mean we won’t live with pollution — after all, each of us, polluters or not, coexist on the same planet.
Although the ‘Polluter Pays’ Principle is an important key in environmentalism, it has become clear that the concept does not always apply. Big players in the global palm industry, mainly consisting of Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian producers, get away easily with illegal burning practices mostly due to their networks in politics. At the same time, small-scale producers tend to practice cheap and traditional slash-and-burn agriculture, and are mostly too fragmented to be identified. With palm oil being one of the major parts of their economies, these countries prioritize the revenue produced by these manufacturers over the cost that comes with public health and welfare.
As politicians and businessmen profit from the industry, innocent lives are the ones paying the price, not only locally, but globally. By expressing our voice in urging governments and corporates to not only measure, but also moderate emissions, we decide the air we breathe. It is time polluters take responsibility in what they make and the lives they take. It is time we refuse to sit still and stand up against smog that we inhale. It is time we all make the call to have back our right to clean air.
On Greenpeace Thailand: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/th/news/blog1/-/blog/59924/
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