Stronger policies needed to fight air pollution

While global leaders incessantly pontificate about emission-reduction targets, pollution-related respiratory complications continue to kill millions of people, many economically vulnerable and politically underrepresented. The data are clear about the urgency for intervention, and the content of good policy is no mystery. The greatest hurdle is the political indifference implicated in repeated policy failures.

While terrorism, political violence and pandemics are formidable threats to people's livelihoods, air pollution continues to have an unparalleled impact on human survival. An estimated 6.5 million deaths worldwide are attributable to air pollution each year, according to the International Energy Agency.

The World Health Organization has issued guidelines for air quality based on the concentration and size of particulate matter; the smaller the particulates, the deeper and more harmful their penetration into human lungs can be. For particulates with a diameter of 10 microns or less (PM10), the critical threshold is 20 micrograms per cubic meter as an annual mean, and 50 micrograms as a daily mean. WHO says a reduction in PM10 from 70 micrograms per cubic meter (a common level in developing cities) to 20 micrograms could reduce pollution-related deaths by 15 percent.