THE HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT IS A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT

Abstract

Environmental degradation and Human Rights are inextricably linked.  A clean and healthy environment is essential for human rights in more ways than one, but the link remained unacknowledged for long, until last the UN Human Rights Council took the historic step in October 2021 and recognized that a clean and healthy environment as an independent Human Right. The UN General Assembly, in July 2022 declared that a clean and healthy environment is a universal human right. ¹ This landmark event has revived efforts for governments to tackle many long-neglected environmental and public health issues. It will also empower citizens to claim their right to a healthy environment

At the top of the list of environmental degradation is air pollution which is responsible for over 10 percent of global deaths. WHO has declared air pollution as the single largest environmental health risk, and WHO data show that almost all of the global population (99%) breathe unsafe levels of air exceeding the WHO guideline limits with toxic levels of various pollutants.

Particularly in low income nations it disproportionately impacts the health of women, children and elderly people. Some studies have established association between unhealthy air quality and COVID-19 health outcomes.²

According to Soo-Young Hwang from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), “This resolution will empower people to claim their right to breathe clean air as it is an integral component of a healthy environment.”³

Air pollution is and outcome of contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by a host of chemical, physical or biological agents with an ability to transform the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. Climate change induced global warming, geographical conditions and environmental variations have an impact on all living beings. Adverse effects of smog not only harm human and animal health but will also affect the entire environment⁴.  

Household combustion devices, vehicular and industrial emissions, forest fires are primary drivers of air pollution. Pollutants of major public health concern include particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Outdoor and indoor air pollution cause many diseases and result in preventable of morbidity and mortality ⁴. 

Medical research has established air pollution as a major environmental determinant of many diseases that impacts human health - not just the respiratory system, like asthma and COPD, but also serious heart conditions, strokes and even cancer.  Lung damage can further lead to several complicated health conditions –Tuberculosis, ARDS (Acute respiratory distress syndrome). Young children are particularly at risk because air pollution exposure adversely impacts their cognitive development⁵.

Smog refers to a mixture of smoke with PM particles and liquid fog. This black / yellowish smog stays suspended in the atmosphere and poses serious environmental and health hazards across the globe.  

Exposure to smog particulate matter measuring 5 µg can pose risks to pregnant women who can give birth to extremely low birth weight babies with birth defects. It also results in extreme malformations like spina bifida (neural tube defects) and anencephaly, a neonate born with an incomplete skull and an underdeveloped brain.⁶

Another study revealed that children living in communities with high levels of PM2.5 had slower lung growth, and had smaller lungs at age 18 as compared to children from communities with low PM2.5 levels. Moreover, children and infants are more susceptible to diseases from inhaling pollutants like PM because they inhale more air per pound of body weight compared to adults – being in physically developing stage, having faster breath per minute, moreover, engaged in outdoor activities outdoor activities. In addition, their underdeveloped immune systems can make them more susceptible to PM.⁷

As per World Health Organization’s Global Burden of Disease Project, many adverse health impacts have been associated with exposure to both PM2.5 and PM10 world-wide. ⁸

A 24-hours duration exposure (short-term) to PM2.5 has been associated with early death, increased hospital admissions owing to heart or lung conditions, acute and chronic bronchitis, asthma attacks and Disease Adjusted Lost Years. These adverse health impacts primarily affect infants, children, and older adults with preexisting heart or lung diseases.

Long-term exposure to PM2.5 has been associated with premature death, particularly in chronic heart or lung disease patients, and reduced lung function growth in children. Association between particulate matter (in outdoor air pollution) and lung cancer has been established in findings by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) review published in 2015.⁹

Major cities of Pakistan have been leading with highly hazardous air quality. On 27 November 2022 (9 pm) Air Visual app and PCAA website ranked Peshawar having the most hazardous air quality at 590 on Air Quality Index worldwide. Lahore ranked first at 438 on 1 November (8 pm) ¹⁰.

The highly hazardous ranking levels are a stark reminder of the worsening air quality in Peshawar and other cities of Pakistan deserving immediate attention for more research on diseases related to air pollution and for the government to strictly implement environmental regulatory laws.

Government policies to reduce air pollution are a win-win strategy for both climate and public health with a decrease in disease burden attributable to air pollution, and can also contribute to the near- and long-term mitigation of climate change.