Islamabad: Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Musadik Masood Malik on Tuesday called for urgent and coordinated action to tackle worsening air pollution, saying Pakistan needed to move beyond policy commitments and adopt a time-bound plan to improve air quality.
‘Time is running out; air quality is not a secondary environmental luxury; it is a primary indicator of human survival and dignity, ‘ he said while opening a three-day stakeholders’ workshop on the implementation of the Pakistan National Clean Air Policy (NCAP).
The workshop is being organised by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) and brings together representatives of federal and provincial governments, development partners, academia, researchers and civil society.
Musadik Malik said air pollution had become one of the world’s most serious environmental and public-health challenges.
Citing the World Health Organisation, he said 99 per cent of the global population lived in areas where pollution exceeded its recommended limits.
Pakistan, he said, faced a particularly serious challenge, with recurring winter smog affecting Punjab and other areas.
Citing World Bank analysis, he said average PM2. 5 exposure across Punjab was around 52 micrograms per cubic metre, more than 10 times the WHO guideline, while annual averages of 110 to 130 micrograms had been measured in central Lahore.
‘This is not an abstract global problem for Pakistan. It is a reality that millions of our citizens experience every year, ‘ he said.
The minister said Pakistan had adopted its first dedicated National Clean Air Policy in 2023 after decades of environmental legislation and air-quality initiatives. The country’s first National Air Pollutant Emission Inventory, prepared in 2022 with development-partner support, provided an important evidence base for the policy.
He said the current workshop would help identify gaps in the existing air-quality management system, set priorities and clarify institutional responsibilities, financing and investment requirements.
An independent review of the NCAP had also been commissioned by ADB, in collaboration with the ministry, to examine governance arrangements and sectoral measures and help develop a more effective, measurable and legally enforceable implementation framework.
Musadik Malik said the government was also considering establishing a National Clean Air Secretariat within the ministry to strengthen coordination and implementation.
Pak-EPA Director General Syed Abrar Hussain said Pakistan had moved from dealing with air pollution mainly through general environmental regulations towards a dedicated national clean-air framework.
He said the Federal Cabinet had unanimously approved the NCAP on March 9, 2023, after consultations with provinces, AJK, GB, government institutions, civil society, academia and the private sector.
The policy targets a 38 per cent reduction in PM2. 5 emissions by 2030 and 81 per cent by 2040 compared with the baseline. It identifies transport, industry, waste, agriculture and households as priority sectors.
Measures include Euro-5 and Euro-6 fuel standards, enforcement of industrial emission standards, prevention of open burning of municipal and agricultural waste and promotion of low-emission cooking technologies.
Hussain said implementation required stronger federal-provincial coordination because air-pollution monitoring, control and mitigation had largely been devolved to the provinces under the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
He called for a review of the existing committee-based mechanism and supported a lean, robust and science-based implementation secretariat focused on clean air.
He also stressed the need for regular air-quality data, annual updating of the Air Pollutant Emission Inventory, resource mobilisation and sustained public communication.
Ministry Media Spokesperson and Climate Policy Advocacy Expert Mohammad Saleem Shaikh said tackling air pollution required coordinated policy action alongside greater public awareness and advocacy.
He said air pollution should not be viewed merely as a seasonal smog issue because its effects extended to public health, the environment, economic productivity and climate resilience.
‘People cannot support solutions to a problem they do not fully understand. We need to make clean air a public conversation that connects scientific evidence and government policy with people’s everyday lives, ‘ he said.
Shaikh said government institutions, provinces, researchers, development partners, industry, civil society and the media needed to work together, while air-quality data and scientific evidence should be translated into information that citizens could understand and act upon.
‘Public awareness must become part of implementation, not an afterthought, ‘ he said.
He said stronger public engagement would help build support for measures concerning fuel quality, industrial emissions, waste and crop-residue burning and cleaner household energy.
The workshop, which continues until Aug 20, is expected to help shape a national implementation plan with clear actions, institutional responsibilities, financing arrangements and timelines.
