There’s nothing normal about children in Pakistan getting sick every December

In 2018, the World Health Organization admitted to 7 million deaths per year due to hazardous air quality in the world. More than 128,000 people in Pakistan lose their lives to air pollution every year. Between 2016-2018 the WHO reported that there were 543,000 deaths in children less than 5 years of age and 52,000 deaths between children aged 5 – 15. Should loss of life not shake the foundations of the status quo and push for serious and immediate change?

The political mobilization on air pollution has been shamefully slow in most countries around the world. In January this year, a Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill, also known as Ella’s law was successfully passed through the House of Lords in the UK Parliament and will now be looked at in the Commons. Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, a nine-year-old girl who died in 2013, became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as her cause of death. It took the UK 10 years to act on pushing for a bill to make clean air a priority, a basic human right for everyone.

As a first step, Pakistan has managed to draft a National Clean Air Policy (NCAP), which was approved by the caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab on April 6, 2023. The policy highlights the death rate and the other health impacts of hazardous air on the people of Pakistan. It mentions how life expectancy rate has fallen by 2.7 years and there were 235,000 premature deaths because of air pollution alone in 2019. It also highlights the acute food security challenges in the near future. The World Bank is already predicting a loss of GDP due to air quality and that is exactly where the nation of Pakistan is headed.

The ambitious plans laid down in the NCAP seem like a regurgitation of laws and policies of the past. The Policy mentions engaging with stakeholders, resource mobilization, communication and outreach, etc., but the outcome of these exercises reflects the same methods used time and again – reading well on paper but failing in clout. As clichéd as it may sound, there is serious lack of implementation of these policies. The actors in play put ambitious words on paper but cannot follow through with the requisite practical plans to carry them forward. The political will to deliver is non-existent.

The work and sheer breadth of research being done at the policy level for the energy transition in Saudi Arabia is an experiment worth studying for policymakers in Pakistan who have to tackle the smog crisis for a few months of the year.

Moghees Uddin Khan

But there are ambitious initiatives in the region that should shape the way we think about clean air policy. The world is in transit to fewer and fewer emissions at the highest level. Home to the oil and gas giant, Aramco, Saudi Arabia has plans to reach net zero emissions by 2060-- while remaining the world’s no.1 oil exporter. Is this going to be possible? Hard to say right now, but the work and sheer breadth of research being done at the policy level for the energy transition in Saudi Arabia is an experiment worth studying for policymakers in Pakistan who have to tackle the smog crisis for a few months of the year.

In Pakistan, environment, climate change and human rights usually take a back seat and political and economic stability takes priority in policy decisions. If the election goes ahead in May and a change of guard takes place, there is a high chance of the clean air policy drafted this month to be shelved, and Pakistan going back to the drawing board.

The need of the hour is actual effective ways to tackle the smog crisis. Create an awareness campaign with an action kit that reaches stakeholders across the board (business, activists, politicians etc.). One way of doing this is through design. We live in a digital world and we need to start catering to that audience. Visuals, infographics, actionable data is needed to depict the harsh reality of smog in the effected months so policymakers take note.

Pakistani people need to know why Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI), heart ailments, lung cancers, chronic bronchitis, tuberculosis, low birth weight and death are so common between November and January, and what can be done to prevent them. In order for change to take place, information about smog and its affects needs to be circulated in simpler terms. It cannot just be accepted as a reality our children have to live with. It is fixable.

The PM2.5 measure does not create any impact on how dangerous those few months of smog are. We need to show the harsher reality of smog by designing a method that hits hard – nothing gets taken seriously till it hits hard and hits too close to home. Well, it hit home a while back, let this be the year we finally pay attention.

- This writer is Associate Director at the International College for Legal Studies, and Co-Founder, Phir/Se-- a law and design consultancy working on highlighting the devastating effects of smog.