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Air pollution is the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the environment. Air pollution can be chemical, physical or biological.[1] There are many different types of air pollutants, such as gases (including ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and methane), particulates (such as soot), lead[2] and biological molecules. Air pollution can cause diseases, allergies, and even death; it can also cause harm to animals and crops and damage the natural environment (for example, climate change, ozone depletion or habitat degradation) or built environment (for example, acid rain).[3] Air pollution can occur naturally or be caused by human activities.[4]
Air pollution causes around 7 or 8 million deaths each year.[5][6] It is a significant risk factor for a number of pollution-related diseases, including heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma and lung cancer.[7][6] It is the fourth-largest risk factor overall for human health[8] as 99% of people are exposed to harmful levels of air pollution.[9] Outdoor particulate pollution (PM2.5) is the largest cause of death (4.7 million), followed by indoor air pollution (3.1 million) and ozone (0.5 million).[5]
The World Bank has estimated that welfare losses (premature deaths) and productivity losses (lost labour) caused by air pollution cost the world economy over $8 trillion per year. Air quality is closely related to the Earth's climate and ecosystems globally. Many of the contributors of local air pollution are also sources of greenhouse emission i.e., burning of fossil fuel.[1]
Many different technologies and strategies are available for reducing air pollution.[10] National air quality laws have often been highly effective, notably the 1956 Clean Air Act in Britain and the US Clean Air Act, introduced in 1963.[11][12] Some of these efforts have been successful at the international level, such as the Montreal Protocol,[13] which reduced the release of harmful ozone-depleting chemicals, while others, such as international action on climate change, have been less successful.[14]
- ^ a b "Air pollution". www.who.int. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- ^ "Carbon Monoxide (CO) Air Quality Standards". United States Environmental Protection Agency. 16 September 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2025.
- ^ Manisalidis I, Stavropoulou E, Stavropoulos A, Bezirtzoglou E (2020). "Environmental and Health Impacts of Air Pollution: A Review". Frontiers in Public Health. 8: 14. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.00014. ISSN 2296-2565. PMC 7044178. PMID 32154200.
- ^ Howell R, Pickerill J (2016). "The Environment and Environmentalism". In Daniels P, Bradshaw M, Shaw D, Sidaway J, Hall T (eds.). An Introduction To Human Geography (5th ed.). Pearson. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-292-12939-6.
- ^ a b Health Effects Institute, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, UNICEF (2024). State of Global Air Report 2024: A Special Report on Global Exposure to Air Pollution and its Health Impacts with a Focus on Children's Health. Health Effects Institute. pp. 3–4. ISSN 2578-6873.
- ^ a b "Health consequences of air pollution". World Health Organization. 25 July 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
- ^ Fuller R, Landrigan PJ, Balakrishnan K, Bathan G, Bose-O'Reilly S, Brauer M, et al. (June 2022). "Pollution and health: a progress update". The Lancet Planetary Health. 6 (6): e535 – e547. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00090-0. PMID 35594895. S2CID 248905224.
- ^ Juginović A, Vuković M, Aranza I, Biloš V (18 November 2021). "Health impacts of air pollution exposure from 1990 to 2019 in 43 European countries". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 22516. Bibcode:2021NatSR..1122516J. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-01802-5. eISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8602675. PMID 34795349.
- ^ "Billions of people still breathe unhealthy air: new WHO data". World Health Organization. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
- ^ Boubel R, Vallero D, Fox D, Turner B, Stern A (2013). Fundamentals of Air Pollution (Third ed.). Elsevier. pp. 447–522. ISBN 9780080507071. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
- ^ Brimblecombe P (2006). "The clean air act after 50 years". Weather. 61 (11): 311–314. Bibcode:2006Wthr...61..311B. doi:10.1256/wea.127.06. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
- ^ "Progress Cleaning the Air and Improving People's Health". US Environmental Protection Agency. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
- ^ Environment UN (29 October 2018). "About Montreal Protocol". Ozonaction. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
- ^ "Global Climate Agreements: Successes and Failures". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved 7 June 2022.