The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News , Press Conferences | WMO
WMO Press conference: Air Quality and Climate Bulletin - 05 September 2024
We must do more to keep the air we breathe clean: UN weather agency
Unchecked climate change, wildfires and air pollution continue to have “a spiralling, negative impact on health, ecosystems and agriculture”, with millions of deaths attributed to dirty air, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
“Almost everybody on Earth, basically nine out of 10 people breathe air that is essentially unfit for purpose,” said Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer at WMO. “This means that it is air that exceeds the [UN World Health Organization] WHO guideline limits and contains a high level of pollutants with low and middle-income countries basically being the most affected.”
Heat driver
That stark finding is just one of many unsettling discoveries featuring in the latest WMO Air Quality and Climate Bulletin. It highlights, for instance, that the first eight months of 2024 have seen no let-up in periods of intense heat and persistent droughts around the world, fuelling the risk of wildfires and air pollution.
“Climate change means that we face this scenario with increasing frequency. Interdisciplinary science and research is key to finding solutions,” the UN agency warned.
The clear link between polluted air and poor health is clear, according to the WHO, which has urged global action to counter “one of the greatest environmental risks to health” and numerous preventable illnesses including stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory diseases, including asthma.
“Ambient air pollution alone mostly coming from vehicles and industry causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths a year,” WMO’s Mr. Labrador told journalists in Geneva.
“This is more than those death by malaria and HIV AIDS combined; so air pollution is the biggest environmental risk of our time. But not only is it a health risk in itself, it also exacerbates climate change.”
Regional trends
A snapshot of regional emissions variations featured in the UN agency report indicated a trend for “lower pollution in Europe and China” than North America and India, where there was an increase in pollution emissions from human and industrial activities.
This is likely the “direct result of a reduction in emissions in those countries over the years, and we have been noticing this tendency since we started publishing the bulletin back in 2021.”
And while it is generally widely understood that polluted air containing microscopic particulates - including sulphates, nitrates, ammonia, soot from human activity and wildfires - is harmful, Mr. Labrador reiterated the UN agency’s 2023 findings that these and other pollutants have a damaging impact on food security, too.
Crop yields down
“Particulate matter can severely affect the productivity of crops - of staple crops - such as maize, rice and wheat,” he said. “Many of this particulate matter pollution that affect crop yields are due to man-made practices, which include the land use practices such as tillage and harvesting. Also, application of fertilizers and stubble-burning at the end the season, of the growing seasons.”
New data-crunching on naturally occurring wildfires around the world last year also indicated that the inferno that spread across Canada in 2023 “was even stronger with respect to emissions” than the 2021 wildfire season in Siberia – although that was “very, very strong”, the WMO officer insisted.
“[The Canada fires] broke records concerning the amount of surface area burned over a 20-year period.”
To coincide with this year’s Clean Air for Blue Skies Day on Saturday 7 September, the UN agency urged governments to protect health, the environment and the economy, given the cost ramifications of the air pollution.
“The first thing that cities have to do is to recognize that the problem exists in the first place,” Mr. Labrador said. “So, those cities and those countries have to acknowledge first that there is an air quality problem and there is sufficient data around the world to basically acknowledge that it is a worldwide problem, particularly in urban areas.”
Story: WMO Press conference: Air Quality and Climate Bulletin
TRT: 03’08”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 05 September 2024 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley.
- Wide shot of the podium at the press conference room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer, WMO: “Almost everybody on Earth, basically nine out of 10 people breathe air that is essentially unfit for purpose. This means that it is air that exceeds the WHO guideline limits and contains a high level of pollutants with low and middle-income countries basically being the most affected.”
- Medium-wide, podium speakers and Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer, WMO: “Ambient air pollution alone mostly coming from vehicles and industry causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths a year. Just for context, this is more than those death by malaria and HIV AIDS combined; so air pollution is the biggest environmental risk of our time. But not only is it a health risk in itself, it also exacerbates climate change.”
- Medium, podium speakers from above, TV screens showing speakers in Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer, WMO: “We tend to believe that the lower pollution in Europe and China are the direct result of a reduction in emissions in those countries over the years, and we have been noticing this tendency since we started publishing the bulletin back in 2021. So, we can say that we are starting to see a tendency in that regard.”
- Medium-wide, podium speakers and Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer, WMO: “Whereas particulate matter is responsible for about eight million premature death a year worldwide, you would not find surprising that the focus is usually on the effects of particular matter on health. However, a 2023 World Meteorological Organization report pointed out that particulate matter can severely affect the productivity of crops - of staple crops - such as maize, rice and wheat.
- Medium-close, TV screen showing Mr. Labrador.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer, WMO: “Many of this particulate matter pollution that affect crop yields are due to man-made practices, which include the land use practices such as tillage and harvesting. Also, application of fertilizers and stubble-burning at the end the season, of the growing seasons.”
- Medium, speaker’s hands on desk and screen.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer, WMO: “We reported back in 2022 about the 2021 wildfire season in Siberia, which was very, very strong. But there are indications that the wildfire that we had in Canada last year was even stronger with respect to emissions. It broke records concerning the amount of surface area burned over a 20-year period in Canada.”
- Medium-wide, raised shot of podium speakers and Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Lorenzo Labrador, Scientific Officer, WMO: “The first thing that cities have to do is to recognize that the problem exists in the first place. So, those cities and those countries have to acknowledge first that there is an air quality problem and there is sufficient data around the world to basically acknowledge that it is a worldwide problem, particularly in urban areas.”
- Wide, podium and speakers with UN logo providing backdrop.
- Medium, journalist.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on the Georgian authorities to respect and protect the rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly following several nights of protests that were marred by violence, and dispersed using disproportionate, and in some cases unnecessary, force by the police in the capital, Tbilisi.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said today he was extremely concerned about the recent escalation in hostilities in northwest Syria, which further compounds the suffering endured by millions of civilians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , WHO , OCHA
Syria escalation: Civilians face deadly attacks, health care in distress and aid access compromised
The ongoing escalation of violence in northwest Syria linked to the wider conflict in Gaza and Lebanon has left civilians dead and injured, hospitals “overwhelmed” and attacks on healthcare on the rise, the UN warned on Tuesday.
2
1
4
Press Conferences , Edited News | OCHA
Multiple unending conflicts, climate change and a glaring disregard for long-established international humanitarian law are set to leave a staggering 305 million people in need of lifesaving assistance next year, the UN’s top aid official warned on Wednesday.
Embargo Wednesday, 4 December 2024 at 0600 CET / 0000 ET
1
1
1
Press Conferences | UNRISD , UNHCR , IFRC , OHCHR , WHO , OCHA
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva (UNIS), chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by representatives and spokespersons for the World Health Organization (WHO), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC).
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Rights Office on Friday warned about the plight of civilians in Ukraine after further attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
An international panel has been set up to protect undersea communications cables that are crucial for international trade and security, the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said on Friday. The creation of the International Advisory Body for Submarine Cable Resilience comes amid an ongoing investigation into the severing of two fibre optic cables in the Baltic Sea, in less than 24 hours between 17 and 18 November.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | FAO , ITU , OHCHR , WHO , UNHCR
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva (UNIS), chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by the Deputy Secretary-General for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), representatives and spokespersons for the World Health Organization (WHO), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | ITU
An estimated 5.5 billion people have access to the internet in 2024, an increase of 227 million people based on revised estimates for 2023, the UN specialized agency for telecommunications, ITU, said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | FAO
Media launch of the FAO State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) 2024 "Trade and Nutrition: Policy Coherence for Healthy Diets"
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNAIDS
Launch of World AIDS Day Report 2024—Take The Rights Path
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
A joint report issued this morning by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) paints a disturbing picture of the media landscape in the country since the Taliban takeover. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk says.