Study reveals the state of air quality and shows how the topic is neglected in Brazil

A silent epidemic that kills about 51 thousand Brazilians every year and for which the vaccine are well developed and implemented public policies. Air pollution cannot remain a silent problem, with a national policy that has no targets for reducing pollutant emissions, is not implemented, in addition to having legal weaknesses. Today, Brazil does not monitor the air in an acceptable way, baseline standards are more permissible than those recommended by the World Health Organization and there are no penalties for breaches. To worsen, study done in the United States indicates that the Covid-19 mortality rate may increase by up to 15% in cities where people are exposed for many years to high concentrations of pollutants.

Science provides evidence for the subject to be treated with due seriousness, in addition to possible ways to resolve the issue. a group of 14 specialists carried out the most comprehensive systematization of studies on air quality in the country, gathering the best available evidence. The studyThe State of Air Quality in Brazil, coordinated by WRI Brazil, shows how this neglected topic makes Brazilians vulnerable.

Furthermore, reveals how the impacts of pollution go far beyond the environmental and health issue, also affecting the economy, to agriculture, climate change, between others. Although the air is apparently the same for everyone, as in the case of Covid-19,the effects are uneven: in general, the children's exhibition, elderly and the poorest to pollution is greater.

Look 6 reasons to make air quality a priority in 2021 and which paths the experts indicate to get there.

Threat to health in the midst of a health crisis With

We live in a health crisis unprecedented in recent history and, to aggravate the picture, Covid-19 has an important correlation with exposure to air pollution. before the pandemic, air quality was already the biggest environmental risk to human health on the planet. If vaccination is successfully carried out on a large scale, everything indicates that air pollution will return to the leadership of this threatening ranking.

You health impacts of air pollution are connected with the incidence of premature deaths, lung diseases, cardiovascular, strokes, willingness to cancer and diabetes, in addition to impaired cognitive development in children and dementia in the elderly.

In just six Brazilian metropolitan regions, where do you live 23% of the country's population, if pollution patterns remain the same as in 2016, will occur about 128 thousand early deaths between 2018 e 2025, which will represent a cost of R$ 51,5 billions in lost productivity, secondHealth and Sustainability Institute study. there will still be 69 thousand public admissions at a cost of R$ 126,9 millions for the Unified Health System (THEIR). The estimate was made before the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, which can even aggravate this situation.

Air pollution: silent and still ignored enemy

Although the health impacts of air pollution are well described and are of concern, Brazil faces an enemy that is largely unaware of. It is estimated that pollution kills about 51 thousand Brazilians annually, butonly 1,7% of the municipalities of the country have air quality monitoring coverage, most of them in the Southeast region. In practice, this means that most of the country does not have information about the air conditions that citizens breathe.. Without that information, is facing an unknown enemy.

Youair quality standards established by the National Environmental Council (Conama) are not served in most large Brazilian cities, and there are no clear penalties for non-compliance with them.. An important weakness is the lack of data that allow for a deeper analysis of the level of policy implementation, as well as the impacts achieved by them. Another weakness is the existing legal framework, which in practice does not configure a robust and comprehensive air quality policy, with legal loopholes and uncertainties that affect its effectiveness (access the webinar on here).

Weak national policy to change scenario

Brazil has a series of laws and regulations that establish air quality management and pollution control, but a large part of the normative basis that supports the National Air Quality Control Program (owner) it's infralegal, as it only appears in Conama resolutions. This means that new resolutions can lead to setbacks., as the ongoing discussion forpostpone phases of the Vehicle Emission Control Program (Proconve).

According to the study, the reality of the implementation of Pronar instruments shows important effectiveness failures. Between them, difficulties in periodically updating national air quality standards, the lack of financial and human resources to sustain a national monitoring network and the absence of a comprehensive national inventory of emissions.

Part of the weaknesses of the national policy lies in the distribution of competences in relation to air quality management. The legislative competence is concurrent between the Union and the States, that is, the Union is responsible for establishing the basic general rules, States being able to define their own rules, as long as more protective. The program does not provide clear resources or incentives for states. To the municipalities, it is up to the establishment of norms of eminently local interest, but without explicit accountability in Pronar, although cities are responsible for relevant policies that affect air quality. In short, the existing legal framework has gaps and uncertainties that affect the effectiveness of policies.

The impacts go far beyond cities

The study helps to show that the impacts of pollution go beyond urban centers. In the Amazon region, for example, the levels of pollutants generated by fires reach particulate material values (MP 10) from 500 micrograms per cubic meter, which represents about 25 times more pollution than the historical average for the region (20 micrograms per cubic meter).

According tosurvey do Human Rights Watch, from july to october 2019 were more than 2 thousand hospitalizations for respiratory diseases directly related to fires, the most affected were babies and people over 60 years old, answering for 21% e 49% of total admissions, respectively. Data from the Municipal Secretariat for the Environment of Rio Branco, not acre, show thatonly three of 22 municipalities of Acre did not register worsening of air quality in the comparison between 2020 e 2019. Until September 2020, at least 12 cities remained for more than 30 days with concentrations of particulate matter (MP 2.5) – ultra-fine substance that profoundly affects the respiratory system – above what is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is from 25 and/m3.

This particulate material also moves following the air currents that act in the Amazon, the same ones that carry humidity from the region to the Midwest, South and Southeast, known as flying rivers. Therefore, the smoke from the fires not only pollutes the countryside and the main cities of the Amazon, it also affects the climate and air quality in cities in other regions of the country..

The effects can also reach agriculture.Estimates show that an ozone concentration between 65 e 100 parts per billion can generate losses between 15% e 62% in soybean productivity, respectively.

In cities, air quality becomes more visible

The effects of air pollution go beyond large urban centers, but it is in them that they are most evident. Also in cities, facing the challenge of improving air quality can boost the fight against climate change and improve people's quality of life.

opinion polls show that Brazilians are willing to change: 67% of people would exchange their cars or motorcycles for cleaner transport alternatives. This transformation, Nonetheless, it is not just about advancing clean mobility options, as the electrification of public transport, for example, as well as by encouraging active modes, like bike and walk. Antool launched by WRI Brasil helps estimate economic and health gains from replacing diesel buses with electric ones.

several cities, especially in Europe, are setting targets to ban combustion vehicles from the streets, many of them even 2030 - only 9 transition years. Furthermore, are using urban planning to give people back the streets, restricting the spaces in which cars now have priority, and encouraging walking and cycling. Paris, for example, is adopting the concept of the city of 15 minutes, where services and opportunities are available at distances that do not require transport by vehicle. Amsterdam, already recognized for transport by bicycle, intends to get rid of vehicular emissions as well until 2030 – creating emission-free zones that start in the central region until reaching more distant areas. It's the search for the end of the exhaust pipes.

Many countries also havetargets to zero emissions for all vehicles, including heavy, like trucks and buses. A systemic change that seemed unthinkable a few years ago now has a deadline to happen in many places. About that, our automotive industry triespostpone Proconve phases for heavy vehicles, which are already less ambitious than those of many nations, including from developing countries.

To reverse the scenario, many changes need to take place at the same time and require an ambitious vision of public managers. The sooner we accelerate the transition towards sustainable urban mobility, more lives will be saved.

Change makes sense for the economy

The good news for the country, especially for decision makers, is that fighting air pollution also makes sense from an economic point of view. It is estimated that the costs associated with premature deaths due to polluted air were equivalent, in 2015, a 3,3% of the Gross Domestic Product (START) Brazilian. The negative impact on the Brazilian economy is due to the drop in worker productivity, of premature deaths, limitations for the acquisition of cognitive skills relevant to education caused by exposure to pollutants and losses in agricultural productivity.

Study of the New Economy for Brazil showed that electric buses, both for urban mobility and for potential export, represent an opportunity for low-carbon development and competitiveness in Brazil. The electric bus production chain, including batteries, charging stations, renewable energy generation and improvements in electricity distribution infrastructure, would result in the generation of direct and indirect jobs. The implementation of adequate public policies could attract private sector investments, increase production at scale and reduce high cost barriers. IT'S, therefore, an example of sustainable opportunity and feasible implementation that can generate a leap in innovation in Brazilian industry. This move is among the pillars of China and Europe's post-Covid-19 economic recovery plans, for example.

Ways to reverse the scenario

Based on the evidence raised by the study, the researchers pointed out 10 priorities for advancing air quality improvement policies in Brazil. These are political and scientific advances that must happen simultaneously:

1. Create a systemic national air quality policy guaranteed by law;
2. Set a clear schedule for the execution of the next phases of national air quality standards, as well as explicit punishments for non-compliance with them;
3. Create policies and incentives that seek to reduce regional asymmetries in air quality management in the country, as the technical improvement of teams from state environmental agencies;
4. Strengthen the data science behind air quality policies, mainly by the expansion and improvement of the national atmospheric monitoring system, prioritizing critical areas and using new technologies;
5. line up, strategically, national policies to control air pollutants and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GEE);
6. Strengthen synergies and compatibility between air quality policies and structuring urban planning policies, such as the master plan and urban mobility plans;
7. Promote research on the economics of air quality and the analysis of public policy implementation, including governance challenges;
8. Promote research on the interface between air quality and socioeconomic inequality in Brazil;
9. Develop regional and national policies for fire management and health risk prevention;
10. More equitably include civil society and health sector representatives in air quality governance, with decision-making powers and full participation equivalent to representatives of the environment.

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