Department of Information Registration No. But this winter, the haze barely let us see through it. It remained at above 500 from 10PM till 5AM, falling to 480 at 7AM on Tuesday. "I don't remember this level of pollution in Kathmandu in the past," Khadka told Reuters. Nepal is not far behind with 98% of its people living in such areas. WASHINGTON - Today the Environmental Working Group published an analysis of peer-reviewed data that for the first time shows the global scope of contamination by the "forever chemicals" known as PFAS, which may be harming over 330 wildlife species around the world.. Nepal's Environment Protection Rules 2020 (2077) lists projects that need IEEs under Schedule 2, and those that need EIAs under Schedule 3. Though the readings slowly became less alarming after the morning hours, at 10:00 am and onwards, the readings for Simara was still lingering above 300; others (stations mentioned above) showed the index between 151 to 200. Use of pesticides and fertilizers must be controlled. The funds are the first . The country of 30 million people lies in the Himalayas between China and India, two of the worlds biggest polluters. A breakdown of whats known, and whats not, about the incident and its aftermath. I dont remember this level of pollution in Kathmandu in the past, Khadka told Reuters. To receive the magazine, become a member now. . But air pollution issues are continue to increase. , Change the direct speech to indirect speech; She said, "I am going to London today". Similarly, one-fifth of the total diesel is used inKathmandu. Collective action from many sectors is needed to assure that everyone can breathe clean air.. With New Delhi and parts of northern India suffering under hazardous pollution levels, Nepal needs to take heed and prepare accordingly, environmental activists say. of tens of millions of people by 3.7 years. Nepal is not far behind with 98% of its people living in such areas. As reported by the World Bank, Nepal is one of the poorest nations in the world with an estimated GDP per capita of US$470. This trend is increasing rapidly and it is estimated that urban population will reach 60 million by 2040 [ 32 ]. The air in Kathmandu, already dubbed one of the most polluted cities in the world, gets worse once the winter sets in. In 2013, a team of Cambridge University scientists were in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley, developing a device to measure . Similarly, the hotel business (khaja ghar) of Ram Karki has also slowed down majorly due to road dust emission. Most make various performance claims based on lab tests but factors like the masks fit play important roles. ? Similarly, Dhangadhi was third in line to have the most degraded air quality among the list of stations measuring the AQI. Phil Murphy but which has yet to take full effect should prevent the . There will be very less production of crops and the economy of the whole country can go downhill by this negative decision made by the government. In 2000 / 2001 there were 24,003 vehicles registered in Kathmandu and this has increased dramatically to 79,822 in 2015 / 2016. The same report ranked Nepal the eighth most polluted country in the world. The analysis, based on more than 100 recent peer-reviewed studies, detected over 120 unique PFAS compounds in these animals . Since the festival of Diwali ended last week, the air quality in New Delhi has drastically deteriorated, resulting in air pollution levels reaching nearly 10 times healthy limits. Publisher: Kunda Dixit, Himalmedia Pvt Ltd | Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur | GPO Box 7251 Kathmandu The smoke generated from the wildfires worsened the pollution, according to an officer at the Division. While asked about the poorest air quality index of the capital city, Shankar Prasad Poudel, information officer for the Department of Environment, said that three major factors have affected the air quality of the Valley. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to update its water pollution rules for slaughterhouses for the first time in nearly 20 years, the agency announced on Wednesday, following a lawsuit from environmental groups arguing current standards are too weak, according to Reuters. The high mountains around the Kathmandu valley allows air pollution to accumulate inthe city. As the new year gets underway, the world continues to grapple with a number of familiar challenges - the continued COVID-19 pandemic, resurgent wildfires, enduring crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. The study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, found that in polluted urban areas, reducing air pollution could do as much as completely eliminating smoking would to lower rates of the 12 types of cancer most commonly associated with smoking, including lung cancer, stomach cancer, kidney cancer . While the quality of air in some of these places has degraded tremendously, air quality in other places is becoming increasingly unhealthy. Over the weekend, pollution levels hit their highest in the capital since the government began keeping records in 2016, government official Shankar Paudel told Reuters. In recent years, cities in the Tarai have become infamous for the poor quality of their air, mostly because of the heavy presence of industries, dust from construction, and also trans-boundary pollution. People must stay safe indoors and not come out except for emergencies, the health ministry said. Even before Covid-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned that poorair qualityin northern India and the Tarai was already thereducing average lifespanof tens of millions of people by 3.7 years. We know what we're looking at when brown haze settles over a city, exhaust billows across a busy highway, or a plume rises from a smokestack. New Delhis AQI levels, which have been consistently high all winter because of crop residue burning as well as vehicular and industrial pollution, got a respite on Monday because of rainfall. The agency, along with local and . The size of dust particles are larger compared to biomass burning or vehicular emissions. The rapid use of fossil fuels, increase in deforestation, unstable use of natural resources, overuse of pesticides and other chemicals, sewage and wastewater, nuclear waste, industrialization, urbanization, use of plastics and a lot more factors contribute to environmental pollution. Find out more. Dealing with a problem that is transboundary in nature requires strong regional cooperation, she said. Under the US Clean Water Act, the EPA regulates wastewater discharge from meat and poultry plants into . The recent Environmental Performance Index 2016 has suggested increase in overall PM 2.5 in Nepal over the last decade. It is a call to mobilize, say the authors who . As people fear another wave of Covid-19 a year after the government first imposed restrictions in the country, another health concern related to respiratory illnesses caused by toxins in the environment has come to the fore. Arjun Khadka, 65, who owns a grocery store in Kathmandu, said he experienced itching and burning sensations in the eyes and nose which could be due to pollution. The Art of Dealing with Breaking Up: Get over those blues and Take Break-Ups Lightly. Officials at Nepals only international airport in Kathmandu said poor visibility, which was down to 1,000 metres on Monday, widely disrupted flights. When a vehicle passes by, dust is released into the air and pollutes the clothes that are kept for selling and the customers do not like the polluted ones. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports fine particulate matter of up to 140 g m-3 - which is around ten times higher than the WHO limit. Students participate in activities such as program evaluation and monitoring, public health surveillance, program development, risk assessments and analysis, development of policy briefs . Globally, air pollution results in around seven million deaths annually. Furthermore, the life expectancy in the Kathmandu Valley is four years less than that of other Nepalese regions. Site By: Hiti Design, On Monday night, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in parts of Kathmandu crossed 500, according to measurements at the. Moreover, Kathmandu is ranked as one of the most polluted cities in Asia:according to the airvisual.com, Kathmandu is the seventh most polluted city. The rapid use of fossil fuels, increase in deforestation, unstable use of natural resources, overuse of pesticides and other chemicals, sewage and wastewater, nuclear waste, industrialization, urbanization, use of plastics and a lot more factors contribute to environmental pollution. In Nepal and Kathmandu the annual premature death due to air pollution hit37,399 and 9943 respectively,according to aRepublica news report published on 23 November 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) reportsfine particulate matter of up to 140 g m-3 - which is aroundtentimes higher than the WHO limit. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh recently concluded that surgical masks blocked 80% of particles sized 0.007 microns. And with reports of Indias north and its capital New Delhi struggling with extreme air pollution, Sunil wonders how much worse the air will get this winter. But so far, the government has done almost nothing to control air pollution.. Krishna Kumar, a local business person at Kirtipur explained: Many businesses have gone down due to high amount of road dust. Basudev Paudel is in his late fifties and at his age, he believes that regular morning walks are important for keeping healthy. The government slashed taxes on electric vehicles, butmuch of the supporting infrastructure required, likecharging facilities, uninterrupted electric supply and adequate parking lots, has not even been planned. 2426/077-78 If there is any health advisory from the government, our family will stop going on regular morning walks, said Sunil. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The theme for World Environment Day (5 June) is #BeatAirPollution. Education ministry spokesman Deepak Sharma said about eight million students have been affected by the closures. Nepal, with a population of 30 million people, is located in the Himalayas between China and India, two of the world's biggest polluters. Similarly, the hotel business (khaja ghar) of Ram Karki has also slowed down majorly due to road dust emission. This means Kathmandus pollution has been 15 times higher than the WHO standard. 30 Mar 2021. People must stay safe indoors and not come out except for emergencies, the health ministry said. Vehicular emissions or traffic related particulate matter has serious health effects such as increased respiratory disease, reduced lung function, asthma, cardiac arrhythmias, heart disease etc. In terms of air pollution, the 2016 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranked Nepal 177th out of 180 countries. But poor air quality from as far as New Delhi cannot penetrate deep into Nepal.. editors@nepalitimes.com | www.nepalitimes.com | www.himalmedia.com | Tel: 01-5005602 Education ministry spokesman Deepak Sharma said about eight million students have been affected by the closures. Officials for the railroad company pulled out hours earlier, infuriating some residents who said they wanted answers from the company. Ironically, World No Tobacco Day falls on 31 May, just four days ahead of Environment Day. Taking action to tackle the pollution in Nepal Q : Which country has the highest number of time zones. As AQ AirVisual data shows, PM2.5 levels in Kathmandu saw a continuous rise last yearfrom 65.6 g/m3 in November, followed by 91.9 g/m3 in December, 92.5g/m3 in January and peaking at 96.3 g/m3 in February. However, two years later, the action plan has neither been finalised nor enforced. Winter inversion, vehicular emission, wildfires, and cross-border industrial pollution have combined to give Kathmandu Valley the worst air quality among cities in the world this week, adding to the risk of respiratory complications for Covid-19 patients. There are cloth masks and surgical ones, some are disposable but many use replaceable filters. AQI is a composite measurement of the concentration . Motorcycles and passenger vehicles such as jeeps, cars and vans accounted for 92 percent of total registered vehicles in Bagmati by the end of 2014-15. There are dozens of varieties of masks available in the market, along with air purifiers that cost more than Rs130,000. Poor air quality in Kathmandu and inside rural homes due to smoky kitchen fires kill far more people across South Asia than SARS-CoV-2. All of these vehicles degrade the air quality byemitting huge quantitiesof smoke into the ambient environment. Adriana Paulo de Sousa Oliveira, Paula Assemany, Lidiane Covell, Maria Lcia Calijuri. Submissions ? Mass media have been a critical avenue to reach, communicate, and influence people on the alarming intensity and frequency of environmental problems [1, 2, 3].The world is facing a multitude of environmental problems, ranging from biodiversity loss, environmental pollution, spread of the vector-borne diseases and climate change at varying spatial and temporal scales [4]. Sunil Paudel, Basudevs son, stopped going on morning walks last year after learning that Kathmandus air quality was reaching unsafe levels. In . There will be complications in irrigation facility, deforestation will take place and landslides may occur, the water resources will get soaked. That said, old diesel vehicles are contributing significantly to the poor air quality in the city. The leaves of plants are covered in dust particles which limits the photosynthesis rate and affects the plants growth and natural beauty. at Phora Darbar. This also adds to the risk of COVID-19, said Sher Bahadur Pun, a doctor at a tropical and infectious disease hospital in the capital. Because Nepals national government and municipalities have done little to reduce risk, citizens have adopted their own methods of personal protection: wearing masks, installing air purifiers at home and office, cancelling morning walks, and monitoring air pollution levels on apps before allowing children to play outside.