Millions of people across the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Himalayan Foothills continue to breathe hazardous air

The image above shows a plume of PM 2.5 pollution sweeping across the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Himalayan Foothills into the Bay of Bengal on 15th November, 2024.

Kathmandu, 2 December 2024Millions of people across the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Himalayan Foothills (IGP-HF) continue to breathe hazardous air, with recent atmospheric concentrations of PM2.5, the finest and most dangerous particulate matter that measure less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, reported to be as high as 20 times the WHO’s recommended daily limit.

With major cities across the region, including Multan, Lahore, New Delhi, Kolkata and Dhaka seeing elevated levels of smoke, fog, particulate matter and other air pollutants, researchers at regional intergovernmental knowledge centre, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), are developing a suite of visualisation tools that gives users an option for seeing historical and forecasted trends in local, sub-regional and regional air pollution levels.

Using a combination of real-time data captured from ground sensors and satellite imagery, these visualisation tools are hosted on ICIMOD’s Air Quality Dashboard, which is open to the public for use.

Using one such tool, which uses data generated from the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), the team has been able to show daily PM2.5 levels across the IGP during the first three weeks of November.

The resulting timelapse shows plumes of PM2.5 stretching across the IGP and reaching out into the Bay of Bengal. The values are as high as 300 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³,as daily values) in certain hotspots including Lahore in Pakistan and New Delhi in India, which is 20 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) daily guideline of 15 µg/m³.

The WRF-Chem is a model that helps air pollution scientists understand the interaction between weather and pollution factors, and helps monitor and anticipate outbreaks of air pollution. Data from WRF-Chem combines data on both local and regional emissions to give a more accurate picture of how air pollution behaves at a transboundary scale, as often seen in the IGP-HF. Visitors can use this tool to get a two-day forecast of likely air pollution scenarios as they unfold.

Transboundary air pollution is a huge issue in the IGP-HF, with this latest episode of pollution resulting in school closures in Pakistan’s second largest city, Lahore, and across parts of North India. A substantial body of global evidence – that continues to grow – shows that there are serious health consequences of people living in polluted conditions. While globally it was the second leading risk factor for early death in 2021, it is estimated that 2 million premature deaths happen due to air pollution in South Asia every year.

Spokespersons (details provided on request):

• Ajay Pillarisetti- Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, U.C. Berkley School of Public Health
• Bertrand Bessagnet- Coordinator, Action for clean air, ICIMOD
• Bhavreen Kandhari- Co-Founder, Warrior Moms
• Bhupesh Adhikary- Senior Air Quality Specialist, ICIMOD
• Jill Baumgartner- Professor and Director, McGill Centre for Climate Change and Health, McGill University
• Pallavi Pant- Head of Global Health, Health Effects Institute
• Wajid Ijaz- Deputy Director, Punjab Green Development Program, Government of Pakistan

For media inquiries, please contact:

Neraz Tuladhar (Raz), Media Officer
Email: media@icimod.org