Introduction. Photo Courtesy: Department of Environment/Air Quality Montoring, A screenshot showing Air Quality Index (AQI) for various cities as measured at 9 am on Thursday, March 25, 2021. climbed to hazardous levels, forcing millions of students to stay home across the country. "Trans-boundary pollution can affect our air quality too as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, connected to Nepal, are also polluted. 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 news agency. The Art of Dealing with Breaking Up: Get over those blues and Take Break-Ups Lightly. AQI level between 0-50 is Good, 51-100 is Moderate, 101-150 is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, 151-200 is Unhealthy, 201-300 is Very Unhealthy, and anything above 301 is regarded as Hazardous. In Nepal, a Cabinet decision last year adopted the Department of Environments guidelines for air pollution to declare a health emergency if AQI exceeded 300 meaning the government can ban open burning, close factories, and take measures to reduce vehicles on the roads. We've received your submission. There are dozens of varieties of masks available in the market, along with air purifiers that cost more than Rs130,000. The average global citizen loses 2.2 years of life with today's levels of air pollution and, if nothing changes, that adds up to . With New Delhi and parts of northern India suffering under hazardous pollution levels, Nepal needs to take heed and prepare accordingly, environmental activists say. The victims of air pollution urgently require an appropriate action plan . Fewer, though still substantial minorities ranging between 40% and 45% . Adriana Paulo de Sousa Oliveira, Paula Assemany, Lidiane Covell, Maria Lcia Calijuri. Find out about our mission, and our team, here. Recently the government has decided that the plastics that are less than 40 microns will be banned from use from the month of Shrawan 2078. 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. Education ministry spokesman Deepak Sharma said about eight million students have been affected by the closures. Air qualities in cities like Birgunj, Nepalgunj and Bhairahawa get worse due to local air pollution, supported by stagnation of air in this season where there is an inversion of temperature, a reversal of the normal behaviour of temperature in the troposphere, said Poudel, the meteorologist. The statement declared that the level of pollution in the valley is increasingly -- especially in the mornings and the evenings -- creating negative implications on people's health. As we see the readings from air quality metres located in various stations of the country, we find that Simara has the poorest air quality. This can significantly affect the local environment and the health of people living nearby. An article by three Brazilian researchers published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research aims to contribute to progress in this field by proposing a novel perspective on particle . The Department of Environments own measuring station in parts of Kathmandu showed the AQI staying above 400 all day on Monday. A new disease caused solely by plastics has been discovered in seabirds. systema Similarly, the hotel business (khaja ghar) of Ram Karki has also slowed down majorly due to road dust emission. The effect of dust is not limited to human beings, but is also felt by plants, particularly to those closer to the road. Besides the quantity of fuel consumption, the poor road conditionof older vehicles istriggeringair quality problems in the valley. Q : Emu bird is found in the country. . The EPI recently found Nepal to have the worst air pollution in the world. The CPV power plant operates in Woodbridge N.J. on Feb. 27, 2023. newspaper article on environmental pollution in nepal Posted by July 3, 2022 morenci area schools staff on newspaper article on environmental pollution in nepal The victims of air pollution urgently require an appropriate action plan for mitigating these problems. Photo: Skanda Gautam/THT, A screenshot showing Air Quality Index (AQI) for various cities as measured at 8 am on Thursday, March 25, 2021. 1 ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN NEPAL Prof. Dr. Meen B. Poudyal Chhetri a and Anil Shakyab a Disaster Preparedness Network, Kathmandu, Nepal b Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, Government of Nepal ABSTRACT Environmental degradation is a very big problem in Nepal which is causing human health The victims of air pollutionurgently requirean appropriate action plan for mitigating these problems. Air pollution shortens lives more than any other external cause. Barun Poudel, a senior meteorologist at the Meteorological Forecasting Division, says that the chances of pollution travelling as far north as Kathmandu from Indian cities are slim, but that Nepali cities bordering India have already seen some impacts. Quantifying the socio-economic impact of air pollution on a country will be vital in raising awareness among the public as well as policy makers and leaders, but as we have seen in Nepal it does not immediately lead to policy change. The World Health Organisation ('WHO') has reported that PM2.5 levels of particulate matter in urban areas of Nepal . The polluter pays' principle was introduced in 1972 in order to address this issue. In addition, vehicles passing over broken or traveled road release huge amounts of dust particles into the air, worsening air pollution further. Says Pallavi Pant, air quality scientist at the Health Effects Institute: Exposures to air pollution have been shown to affect the human bodys immune defence, making an individual more susceptible to respiratory infections such as pneumonia., Editor Online: Sahina Shrestha | Executive Editor: Sonia Awale The Department of Environments own measuring station in parts of Kathmandu showed the AQI staying above 400 all day on Monday. Afforestation should begin and deforestation should come to an end. That compares with the governments standard level of 40 micrograms per cubic metre. Also, news from United Nations. PM2.5, or Particulate Matter less than 2.5 microns thick, are among the most dangerous of air particles as they can get past the nose and throat to enter the lungs and even the bloodstream. The US Environmental Protection Agency gave the all clear for residents to return home shortly after the February 3 derailment and controlled burn that followed. 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. According to the World Air Quality Report, Kathmandu is the seventh most polluted capital city in the world, based on its average yearly PM2.5 level. 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. Submissions Three members of the Paudel family followed suit, but they never gave much thought to the quality of the air they were breathing in. But poor air quality from as far as New Delhi cannot penetrate deep into Nepal.. In addition, vehicles passing over broken or traveled roadrelease huge amounts of dust particles into the air, worsening air pollution further. In 2000 / 2001 there were 24,003 vehicles registered in Kathmandu and this has increased dramatically to 79,822 in 2015 / 2016. The index stood at 214 as per DoE's data. editors@nepalitimes.com | www.nepalitimes.com | www.himalmedia.com | Tel: 01-5005602 According to Poudel, the pollution level in the border towns of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar can slightly influence pollution along the border area. Benchmarks . Factors contributing to this level of pollution are local, said Shankar Prasad Paudel, information officer with the Department of Environment. It has a negative impact on various environmental aspects which directly or indirectly affect the quality of human health. at Phora Darbar. PM2.5 levels of 403.72 g/m3 were recorded at 7pm on November 4 in Nepalgunj, the highest for the country in the past week. UNICEF, on Wednesday, issued a statement calling for urgent action to address this air quality crisis in South Asia. Average life expectancy is reduced by at least four years in the worst-affected areas like Kathmandu Valley, Chitwan and other parts of the Tarai. Kathmandus AQI has remained at the Maroon Hazardous level for two days in a row. That said, old diesel vehicles are contributing significantly to the poor air quality in the city. Advertisement However, two years later, the action plan has neither been finalised nor enforced. A Love Beyond Measure: The Unforgettable Reunion, , . This may collapse the whole ecosystem in general. Butair pollution issues are continue to increase. Dealing with a problem that is transboundary in nature requires strong regional cooperation, she said. Air quality in the capital has deteriorated recently but average pollution readings were not available. A general view of a street during a smoggy day as the government has orderedschoolsto close for four days after the air pollution climbed to hazardous levels, forcing millions of students to stay home across the country, in Kathmandu, Nepal March 30, 2021. AQI is a composite measurement of the concentration of particulate matter below 10 and 2.5 microns, carbon monoxide, sulphur and nitrogen dioxide and ground ozone. In 2017, solar electricity costs dropped from $0.28 to $0.06 per kilowatt-hour for utility-scale photovoltaic solar power. One of those rivers is the Melamchi, about 25 . Krishna Kumar, a local business person at Kirtipur explained:Manybusinesseshavegone down due to high amount of road dust. Rivers, ponds and lakes should not be polluted because it affects animals and plants lives too. This is a grave threat to public health, the government should have declared an emergency and taken urgent measures to curb pollution, says environmental expert Bhushan Tuladhar. , , , , . Even before Covid-19, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned that poor, in northern India and the Tarai was already the. Most make various performance claims based on lab tests but factors like the masks fit play important roles. 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. In Chabahil, Sunil remains concerned for his fathers health, who continues to take his walk despite the morning haze.