Daily Times

The approval of Pakistan’s first National Clean Air Policy should be celebrated as historic legislation albeit one considered too late in the game. Air pollution swirling on both sides of the border has been killing so many of us in the past few years.

Metropolitan cities like Karachi and Lahore have fallen in love with their crowned positions among the most polluted cities while the poorest air quality did not hesitate before engulfing as many as 19 lives in February in just one area of Karachi alone. With reduced life expectancy and millions battling intensified health complications, the writing on the wall had been screaming out loud the need for viable policy interventions year after year. What the state needs to do is not a hard nut to crack.

There is ample evidence to suggest that five key sectors–households, transport, industry, agriculture and waste–carry the greatest burden of pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions. Straight-forward mitigation actions that range from strengthened controls for industries and a ban on burning crop residues and household waste to emphasis on reduced vehicular emissions can considerably bring down the particulate matter in the air. While no one can play devil’s advocate to breathing in the fresh air, these actions contributing to climate change targets add brownie points to the appeal; positing us in a far stronger position to make a case for reparations.

Policies that encourage the use of public transport or clean fuels in a bid to reduce emissions are nothing more than lifestyle changes, but so apathetic has been the state in this regard that the resulting uproar continues to fall on deaf ears.

It is quite heartening that following on the heels of Pakistan’s climate defender in the list of most powerful women comes the first-ever official unrolling of the blueprint to help save the dirty air. May 2023 finally be the year we all open our eyes to the grieving environment and how its collapse could spell the end of our own time on this planet we call home. *