EUROPE

Warsaw, Poland

“The air pollution problem in Poland is beyond any western standards. Despite poor conditions, Poland has done nothing to reduce used car imports, promote renewable energy, protect green areas or rationalise precaution levels. (Right now an alert is announced at 600% of the norm and the ministry for environment refuses to change that level because “they would have to announce the alert too often”.)

“Where I live (Warsaw) the air quality is very bad. The intensive development of apartment buildings in suburban areas without proper public transportation pushes people into cars and reduces green space. Over the last decade Warsaw suffered a net loss of 160,000 trees.

“Recently as more groups join the demand for better air, the city hall pretends they care, but there is no real action. I became a father five months ago and air quality has become a reason to stay indoors against our will for most of the winter. I’m a member of Warsaw’s city activist group Miasto Jest Nasze (the City is Ours), an organisation which set up Warsaw’s smog alert.” (Tymon Radwański)

Bath, UK

“Levels of nitrogen dioxide on several roads leading into the city have exceeded the EU limits for years. It’s said that people living off the southern approach road into the city are likely to die nine years younger than those living on the hill on the opposite side of the city, three miles away.” (Louise Hidalgo, Bathampton Meadows Alliance)

AFRICA

Port Harcourt, Nigeria

“Residents of Port Harcourt became aware of a black substance falling from the sky last November. Authorities said an investigation was going to be carried out but not much happened until late January and early February when this pollution became unbearable.

“A lot of residents believed local refineries were the likely cause and took to social media to ask the state government to act. Finally, a committee was set up and a report released showing the soot is petroleum based, but the government said they couldn’t determine which activities were the cause.” (Babajide Odulaja)

“If you wipe surfaces indoors and outdoors with a white towel or tissue paper, you get a black smudge. Perhaps more worrisome is that if you clean your nostrils with a white material, you come up with a jet black residue. If you walk barefooted, the soles of your feet turn black.” (Eben Dokubo)

(Update: The situation was declared an emergency this week. According to reports the state government have shut down a Chinese construction company apparently responsible for the pollution.)

AMERICAS

Envigado, Colombia

“Air pollution is visible here on most days. You can taste it in the air. I believe it’s caused by low-quality diesel, and the high number of motor vehicles. There is no rail system and freight is transported by road. Heavy vehicles emit a thick, black exhaust that is frightening to see and lingers in the air.” (Anonymous)

Los Angeles, US

“I grew up in Los Angeles in the 50s and 60s. I remember days where the air pollution was so bad your eyes would burn and it hurt – actually was painful – to take a deep breath. Combine that with the heat and a shining grey sky that beat down on you, where the soup was so thick all you could see of the sun was a diffuse bright patch in the sky, where even the grass turned brown and the trees died from the pollution, and you have a hell on earth of the sort described by Tolkein when he wrote about the wastelands of Mordor.” (EvilMidnightBomber)

“I remember walking home from my grade school in the late 60s literally crying like I had been teargassed the air was so bad. My parents said it was even worse before incinerators were banned.” (MakeBeerNotWar)

ASIA

Shanghai, China

“We celebrate when we see blue sky and share pictures with each other on WeChat. I purchased an air purifier for my home – we have no idea if it helps. We just feel secure, it’s like buying insurance: you suddenly feel good.” (Artem)

“When the air pollution is bad, many people in my office develop coughs and sick days are taken. I like to walk or ride a bicycle home, but I always need to check the air quality before leaving work. Today I decided to take the bus home because the air quality reading was 150. I have also cancelled weekend plans with friends due to the unhealthy air levels. It can be very depressing.

“When the neighbouring city Hangzhou hosted the G20 and they shut down all the factories for two weeks it was amazing. Shanghai had clear blue skies the whole time. It shows if they really wanted to improve the quality of life and health of their residents they could, but they are not willing to unless a group of rich, powerful people are coming.” (Anonymous)

Hong Kong

“Often, I don’t take my baby outside as I am so concerned about the effect on him. I wear a face mask on the days it is above an orange rating. My husband exercises at the gym instead of running when it’s bad. I often have a bitter taste or thick feeling on my mouth and tongue when I walk home at rush hour. This is a serious and scary problem, it’s obvious in the pollution visible on buildings, skin problems, difficulty breathing, chest pain and coughs.” (Anonymous)

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

“We are a part of the #BreatheMongolia and #MongolsAreSuffering initiatives. Protests and demonstrations in Ulaanbaatar have been raising awareness of the dangerous air pollution in the city and calling upon the government for solutions to the crisis as soon as possible. Thousands of demonstrators marched holding black balloons that represent their damaged lungs caused by air pollution and hung the balloons on the fence around the government house, aiming to show that around 500 children die annually in Mongolia due to air pollution.

“It has officially been declared that air pollution in Ulaanbaatar has reached disaster levels, exceeding 120 times the safe limit; 80% of the air pollution comes from the districts of ger (traditional circular felted tents) households, where people burn coal to stay warm.

“The top three diseases that resulted in the largest number of deaths in Mongolia in 2013 were air pollution-related. Studies show that air pollution exposure also results in miscarriage, premature birth and has an impact on the intellectual and physical development of a child. We know of someone who had multiple miscarriages while living in the city and had to move out to the countryside in order to give birth successfully. The people of Mongolia deserve clean air.” (Nomi Ganbold and JaRed Cameron)

Delhi, India

“I am asthmatic and air pollution makes me sick. In 2014 I packed up and left Delhi, moved to the mountains. But I have to keep coming back to the city and fighting air pollution has become a personal battle for me. I have seen healthy friends become sick in November 2016 as air pollution was at its peak. Tier two and tier three cities in India are worse though, there are no records on them and nothing to make people aware of it.” (Shibayan Raha)

“The air pollution in Delhi is actually pretty scary. I really haven’t ever experienced anything quite like it. There are days where I just have to stay inside because if I go out, I know the next day I’ll be struggling with sinus issues and laboured breathing. I have had a chronic cough since I have been here.

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“Many people here, from young kids to athletic adults, to elders, all have this chronic congestive cough. We call it the Delhi chest, or the Delhi cough. Little kids with chronic respiratory illnesses are the norm here, not the rarity. And still they burn trash, run vehicles on diesel.

“I grew up in Los Angeles, and we had summer inversion layers that were probably the start of the reasoning for things like the Clean Air Act and the EPA. But the intensity of the physical symptoms I have here I have never experienced anywhere before.” (Nancy)

Source - the Guardian

Western consumers who buy cheap imported toys, clothes and mobile phones are indirectly contributing to tens of thousands of pollution-related deaths in the countries where the goods are produced, according to a landmark study.

Nearly 3.5 million people die prematurely each year due to air pollution, the research estimates, and about 22% of these deaths are associated with goods and services that were produced in one region for consumption in another.

The analysis provides the first detailed picture of the extent to which consumer demand in the US and western Europe contributes to pollution in developing countries, with profound health consequences.

“If the cost of imported products is lower because of less stringent air pollution controls in the regions where they are produced, then the consumer savings may come at the expense of lives lost elsewhere,” the authors conclude.

The study also reveals how emissions from industrial hotspots affect the health of people in neighbouring countries and, to a lesser extent, more distant regions, as pollutants circulate on global air currents. About 12% (411,100) of early deaths globally were related to air pollutants emitted in a different region of the world, the research found.

The study focused on the emission of fine particulate matter pollution (PM 2.5) from power stations, factories, aeroplanes and shipping in 13 regions, taking in data from 228 countries. Particulates are thought to account for more than 90% of the global mortality from outdoor air pollution, raising the number of deaths from heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and asthma.

The tiny particles can trigger asthma attacks in the lungs and can cross from the air sacs in the lung into the bloodstream, where they can cause inflammation, alter the way blood clots, and make blood vessels more permeable. Particulates have also been shown to migrate into other tissues, such as the liver, kidneys and brain, although it is less clear what the health consequences are in these organs, and the effects also depend on the chemical makeup of the particulates.

“In general, air pollution links to general ill health,” said Matthew Loxham, a toxicologist at Southampton University who was not involved in the study. “It’s a range of different conditions.”

The scientists used a combination of air pollution data, emissions measurements and models of global air currents to tally up where pollution was emitted and where it ended up in 2007. An economic model, based on data from the Global Trade Analysis Project, was then used to attribute air pollution to the demand of consumers for finished goods, although the results were not broken down by product type.

Chinese emissions caused more than twice the number of deaths worldwide than the emissions of any other region, followed by emissions produced in India and the rest of the Asia region. The scientists calculated that PM 2.5 pollution produced in China is linked to more than 64,800 premature deaths in other regions, including more than 3,000 deaths in western Europe and the US.

However, this figure was significantly outweighed by the 108,600 premature deaths in China linked to consumption in western Europe and the US.

Steven Davis, a co-author based at the University of California, Irvine, said that the paper simply aimed to lay out the evidence for the benefit of policymakers. “It’s not really up to us to say what’s fair or not,” he said.

In a press briefing this week, his co-authors called for international action on the issue.

“For greenhouse gas emissions we have a global agreement. People can argue about whether its been effective or not – but at least we have a global framework,” said Dabo Guan, a professor in climate change economics at the University of East Anglia and the paper’s senior author. “People have thought air pollution was a local issue.”

Guan cites the example of mobile phones made in China, which might be sold for $200, around 70% of which goes to the company that designed the product and just $5-6 to the Chinese manufacturer.

“On average every six months we change our phone,” he said. “It has a health cost on the other side of the world.”

For countries like China, whose economies are dependent on exporting cheaply-made goods, improving environmental standards has to be balanced against potential negative economic impacts.

“Some other country would step up and say hey, we’re willing to let our people die to have that business,” said Davis.

Improving pollution control technologies in China, India and elsewhere in Asia would have a disproportionately large health benefit in those regions and worldwide, according to the analysis in the journal Nature.

Qiang Zhang, another author from Tsinghua University, Beijing, said that consumers in Europe and the US who buy cheap imported toys and clothes also bear a responsibility.

“We need to move our lifestyles away from cheap and wasteful,” he said.

Oliver Hayes, a pollution campaigner for Friends of the Earth air pollution, said: “No-one should be denied the right to breathe clean air, whether they live in Beijing or Barking. But air pollution doesn’t recognise borders, and it’s clear that the devastating impacts of polluters can be felt many miles from their activities.

source : the guardian

The majority of UK parents back the introduction of “pollution exclusion zones” outside schools amid growing concern that illegal levels of air pollution are doing long term damage to hundreds of thousands of young people.

A new study published on Monday by environmental law organisation ClientEarth reveals that 60% of parents want traffic diverted away from school gates at the beginning and end of the school day, with just 13% opposed.

Last year a Guardian investigation revealed that hundreds of thousands of children are being exposed to illegal levels of damaging air pollution outside their schools and colleges – mainly from diesel vehicles.

Health experts have repeatedly warned that exposure to this level of air pollution is doing serious long term damage to children’s health and have described the issue as a public health emergency.

The government has been widely criticised for its lack of action and last week it was defeated for the third time in the high court where its air pollution plans were described as “flawed” and “unlawful.”

Alison Cook, director of policy at the British Lung Foundation, said: “For parents, there is nothing worse than worrying about the health and wellbeing of your child. Yet in Britain we’ve reached a point where children are exposed to damaging levels of air pollution every day. This is simply unacceptable.”

Cook said children’s lungs are far more vulnerable than adults, as they are still developing, and toxic air can stunt their growth.

“Children who grow up to have smaller lungs are likely to have significant health problems in later life, and therefore the negative health effects of dirty air on children need to be given far greater prominence.”

ClientEarth and the British Lung Foundation are launching a new Clean Air Parents’ Network, set up for concerned parents across the country who want to help solve the UK’s air pollution crisis.

Andrea Lee, a senior campaigner at ClientEarth which took the government to court last week, said: “It’s clear from these findings that parents are deeply worried about the air their children are breathing and want something done about it.

“The Clean Air Parents’ Network will help them start conversations and engage with local and national decision-makers who have not just a moral but a legal duty to take urgent and bold action to tackle the illegal and harmful levels of air pollution that are putting their families’ health at risk.”

Monday’s poll, carried out by YouGov for ClientEarth, also found that 63% of parents opposed new schools being built in areas of high pollution; 60% were worried about the effect that air pollution was having on their children’s health and 70% were in favour of the government alerting schools on high pollution days.

The results follow ClientEarth’s third court victory against the UK government over illegal and harmful levels of air pollution across the country.

On Wednesday last week, Mr Justice Garnham ruled ministers’ plans to bring down air pollution unlawful. Following the judgment, clean air in the UK will be overseen by the courts, rather than ministers, in what was described as a “wholly exceptional” ruling.

source:the guardian

B

They take their inspiration from the well-known signs linking people from the past with the buildings they once inhabited, but the symbols now appearing across London are to highlight a different connection.

In the past week, grey plaques – direct copies of the English Heritage blue plaques identifying the homes of the dead and famous – have been put up on buildings across the capital to identify streets and houses in areas where air pollution threatens public health.

Each plaque carries the phrase London’s Choking to point out areas where levels of NO2 – predominantly from diesel traffic – regularly reach levels that are harmful to human health.

Joe Dennett and Rob Donaldson came up with the idea to try to raise awareness of the invisible threat from air pollution to tens of thousands of Londoners.

“It is an issue which Londoners are becoming more aware of, and which we have become increasingly concerned about. But we realised a lot of people were not aware of where pollution levels are high because you cannot see the pollution, it’s quite nebulous.

“We wanted to try and create awareness and anger about it at grass roots and to come up with something that would identify the air pollution.

“The English Heritage blue plaques highlight the invisible past of a building and this is trying to highlight the invisible danger of the pollution in the areas where the grey plaques are being put up.”

The first plaque – with a skull and crossbones at its base – appeared on Brixton Road, which by 4 January this year had breached annual legal limits for NO2 pollution. Further plaques in Putney High Street, Farringdon Street and Oxford Street have also been erected.

The plaques were put up in the week after the government was forced by the high court to publish its new air quality draft plan to tackle illegal levels of NO2 pollution. Ministers have twice lost in the high court after their original plans were challenged by the environmental law firm Client Earth.

But the government’s latest policy – published on 5 May – has, say campaigners, fallen short again. It contains no commitment to a diesel scrappage scheme to subsidise the public to get rid of their diesel vehicles and also fails to mandate local authorities to impose charges on drivers of diesel cars in clean air zones.

The draft plan has been condemned as “woefully inadequate” by Client Earth. The government has to produce a full plan by 31 July.

While English Heritage has 900 blue plaques across London, Dennett and Donaldson are just beginning to identify air pollution blackspots with their grey plaques.

As well as on streets and main routes through London, the pair have put up plaques outside schools in areas where air pollution exceeds legal limits. Figures released by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, revealed in February that more than 800 schools in London are in areas where NO2 pollution is above legal limits and considered harmful.

Khan said: “Toxic air causes more than 9,000 early deaths every year in London, as well as stunting the growth of children’s lungs, causing dementia and strokes. Londoners are understandably concerned about the possible damage to their health of living in high pollution areas and want to make informed choices.

“That’s why I’m writing a new London plan with policies in place to make sure pollution levels are considered when deciding where to build new homes and schools in London, as well as a whole host of other measures to make our air cleaner.

“The Tories are refusing to take any action to clean up our dangerously polluted air, while Labour is delivering the most ambitious clean-air plans of any city on the planet. The best way to clean up our air is to vote Labour.”

Nationally, a Guardian and Greenpeace investigation revealed that more than 2,000 schools and nurseries are within 150 metres of a road where NO2 exceeds the legal limit for long-term exposure of 40 micrograms per cubic metre.

Joe Dennett from London’s Choking. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian source:theguardian

All across the country, kids are leading calls to clean our air. Children, parents, schools and nurseries are speaking out.

UK air pollution is now so bad it’s been called a public health emergency, and has been breaking legal safety limits every year since 2010.  

Just like kids need good nutrition to grow up big and strong, they also need good clean air to breathe.

Research has shown that breathing polluted air can have lifelong impacts on kids’ health, and reduce their adult lung capacity by a staggering 10%. And yet we want these children to be able to grow up to be anything they want to be, even the Olympic medal winners of the future. We’re falling at the first hurdle. 

Our dirty air can cause children to develop asthma, as well as worsen and trigger asthma attacks in those children who are already sufferers.

Asthma is a horrible, terrifying illness for a child, as when an attack strikes it can feel like you are unable to take a breath. No child should suffer in this way, especially not when politicians can prevent this.

Mumsnet CEO Justine Roberts said: “It’s notable that so many Mumsnet users are deeply worried about air quality – but perhaps it’s not surprising. Mothers tend to be the ones organising healthcare appointments, coping with the asthma diagnoses for family members, and trying to manage their routines to minimise the damage. Lots of them say they plan school and nursery choices using on air quality data, and plenty of others say they’ve moved to rural areas specifically to get away from polluted air.”

Much of our air pollution comes from diesel vehicles on our roads. Many diesel cars are giving our much more pollution than they are meant to because car companies continue to cheat emissions testing.

In order to clean our air, we need to get diesel vehicles off our roads, and that means the diesel cars many of us drive (for which there are ready alternatives available), as well as trucks and buses. Diesel vehicles produce 90% of the air pollution coming from our roads, and diesel cars by themselves account for 40% of it.   

In London, Mayor Sadiq Kahn is trying to tackle diesel pollution by introducing a much larger ultra-low emission zone as well as introducing strict laws on new buses being introduced to London’s roads. His plans will gradually reduce diesel cars on London’s roads and encourage drivers to switch to cleaner alternatives.

Across the rest of the country, many towns and cities are planning to introduce their own Clean Air Zones, replicating some of the work of London’s Mayor.

But the extent to which each town and city is successful in reducing diesel pollution depends on the framework the government puts in place.

And so far, the government has failed to provide strong leadership for tackling pollution from diesel vehicles.

In fact, the government has been repeatedly ordered by the High Court to put in place a stronger framework to bring down illegal levels of air pollution in the UK.  

It finally produced a draft plan in May, but it is widely seen as unfit to tackle the scale of the problem and the government is being taken back to court again as a result.

In order to tackle illegal and unsafe air pollution that’s harming our children, we need the government and car companies to act.

The government must provide a solid national framework to encouraging towns and cities to tackle diesel pollution, as well as supporting the transformation of our roads away from diesel and to clean hybrid and electric vehicles.  

And the car industry must also take responsibility for diesel pollution that’s plaguing our streets and our nation’s health. Instead of continuing to invest in new diesel technology which will never be clean, it should instead refocus all its energy into producing clean and affordable hybrid and electric vehicles.

We’ve all heard the stats by now: Air pollution is terrible for our health and is linked to strokes, heart disease and diabetes in adults. Children are particularly at risk of lung diseases like asthma and more than 1,000 nurseries across the UK are close to roads with illegal levels of air pollution. Diesel cars emit 10 times more harmful fumes than trucks or buses.

It can seem overwhelming to tackle this enormous problem. Diesel cars that emit up to 18 times the official NOx limit in real-world conditions are still being sold by the likes of Nissan and Renault. And public opinion seems to generally agree that the government is failing to adequately address the problem.

But it’s not all doom and gloom! There are plenty of things that we can do to tackle air pollution, across the UK and in our local communities. Read on to find out what you can do…

1. Write to or phone a car company

It’s right to look to our government to take air pollution seriously, but let’s not forget about the role car companies had in producing the problem. The car industry lobbied hard for years against standards designed to reduce pollution. What’s more, many of them cheated or manipulated industry tests to make out that their cars emit far fewer toxic diesel fumes than is permitted. They lied and misled consumers — and now we’re all paying the price.

But car companies can now do the right thing and ditch diesel once and for all — and switch to 100% electric instead. We already have the technology to make reliable and cleaner electric cars: if car companies commit to investing in electric now, it will further bring down costs and increase electric infrastructure for us all to use.

If you own a car, or even if you don’t, car companies need to hear from us. Send them an email today telling them to be ahead of the curve and make the switch now. If you have a few extra spare moments, why not give them a call, too? And if you haven’t already, make sure you sign the petition and share it with your friends.

2. If you can, walk and cycle more often, or use public transport

Ultimately, if we truly want to tackle both air pollution and climate change, we need to use our cars less. So, while this isn’t possible for everyone of course, try to walk or cycle somewhere instead of driving there, or take public transport. It’s better for our air and environment, and you get bonus fitness points!

3. Consider switching to electric

Electric cars are better for our air and for the environment. Most major car companies are already producing electric models, and many of them are now getting great mileage. Charging networks are growing and with a continued push towards renewable energy in our power system, in the long run electric cars will be powered by clean, green sources.

But to bring the costs down, we need the car industry to really commit to this change so they can make more affordable models for all of us.

If you are in a position to buy an electric car, here are 5 reasons why you should definitely do so:

4. Take part in local activities tackling air pollution

Local communities are getting involved in efforts to fight air pollution in their areas all around the country. Check out these groups in Leeds, London and Sheffield — and there are lots more across the UK.

If you’re keen to get involved, talk to your friends and neighbours about it — they might already know about groups doing things around air pollution or you could form one with them! Search Twitter or google “clean air” initiatives in your area — most major cities (where pollution is at its worst) now have local or even council initiatives.

Or join a local Greenpeace group to get involved! There are 60 groups across the UK and most hold monthly meetings. Just visit this page to find out where your local group is and who to contact. Local groups always welcome new members and there is no long term commitment needed — just show up and get involved in the issues that interest you!

5. Join the VW class action suit

If you own or lease a VW, Audi, Skoda or Seat that was affected by the emissions scandal, you might want to join the class action suit that law firm Harcus Sinclair UK Limited is leading.

The claim is on behalf of a group of affected car owners, and is a response to the defeat device and the impact that it has had on Volkswagen owners. Before you buy a car it must pass various tests designed to ensure it is fit for use, including things like crash-testing and road handling but also, crucially, emissions testing. The testing process relies heavily on the honesty of manufacturers: often the tests are carried out ‘in-house’ and only observed by independent inspectors. The Euro 5 standard (introduced in 2009) included a significantly lower limit for the production of NOx by diesel vehicles than previous iterations of the rules, and it is these rules that Volkswagen breached.

To find out more and to join the claim, visit: http://www.vwemissionsaction.com/

6. Push politicians to take action on air pollution

We need government action too. Theresa May’s cabinet so far has produced a very mediocre plan outlining how it will tackle the problem. It’s not enough.

Politicians need to hear more from their constituents about this issue, how it’s affecting our lives and what we’re worried about to propel them into action. You can email your MP, speak to your local councillors, and have your say in the government’s national consultation, too.

Air pollution affects us all — but if we all do even one small thing to tackle it we can get ahead of the problem.

source:greenpeace

The UK government is “flouting” its duty to protect the lives and health of its citizens from illegal and dangerous levels of air pollution, according to the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights related to toxic waste.

Baskut Tuncak issued his warning after a fact-finding mission to the UK in January at the invitation of the government in a report that has been shared exclusively with the Guardian before it is presented to the UN human rights council this week.

“Air pollution continues to plague the UK,” he said. “I am alarmed that despite repeated judicial instruction, the UK government continues to flout its duty to ensure adequate air quality and protect the rights to life and health of its citizens. It has violated its obligations.”

Such harsh international criticism will be embarrassing for the government, whose air pollution plans have already been ruled illegally poor twice. The latest plan forced by the courts was released in July but condemned as “woefully inadequate” by city leaders and “inexcusable” by doctors.

Air pollution causes an estimated 40,000 early deaths every year in Britain and was declared a “public health emergency” by MPs in 2016. Air pollution is worst overall in London, but many other places have illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide emitted by diesel vehicles, such as Leeds, Birmingham, Bournemouth and Northampton. Ipswich has higher levels of particulate matter than London.

London breached its nominal annual air pollution limits five days into 2017 at Brixton Road in south London. Other known pollution hotspots in the capital include Putney High Street in west London, Oxford Street, Kings Road in Chelsea and the Strand.

In his report for the UN, Tuncak assessed how well the UK protects human rights that are infringed by pollution, such as the rights to life, health and safe housing.

Vulnerable groups were worst affected by air pollution, he said: “Children, older persons and people with pre-existing health conditions are at grave risk of mortality, morbidity and disability, with magnified risks among the poor and minorities.”

A government spokeswoman said Brexit represented an opportunity to improve the UK’s air quality standards. “EU policies, from the common agricultural policy to vehicle emissions tests, have damaged the environment. Our £3bn air quality plan will address the dirty air caused by the EU’s failed testing regime, and in ending the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040, the UK is more ambitious than most EU member states including Germany.

“We now have an opportunity to deliver a green Brexit, ensuring the UK is a global leader in environmental protection,” she said.

Anna Heslop, at ClientEarth, the lawyers who have twice defeated the government on air quality standards, said: “This damning report with regard to air pollution is unsurprising but no less shocking for that. The UK has illegal levels of air pollution and successive governments have fought us in the courts rather than tackling it effectively.

“We are glad the report says the government must listen to the experts, including its own, and develop a national network of clean air zones to keep the worst polluting vehicles out of the most polluted areas of our towns and cities. This should happen as soon as possible.”

A new, wide-ranging ClientEarth report argues the government’s claim that all EU environmental laws will be retained after Brexit is misleading. It also criticises the government over other aspects of environmental policy “loopholes” in fracking regulation; the loss of environmental staff due to austerity which has resulted in “serious governance gaps”; and the risks to environmental safety posed by Brexit.

Tuncak also warned of the risk that fracking, soon to start in Lancashire, poses to safe water. “UK regulations on fracking are complex, split between several regulators and do not appear to be sufficiently stringent,” he said. “Fragmented policymaking allows for loopholes.”

All the UK’s environmental regulators have suffered due to budget cuts, he found: “The decreasing financial, technical and human resources due to austerity have created serious governance gaps.” The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has lost a third of its staff compared with 2007.

Another consequence of austerity was Defra’s ending in March of capital grants to local councils for cleaning up contaminated land sites, which the UN report said posed “potentially serious health risks”.

Tuncak warned that unless the UK’s future green standards equalled those of the European Union, “the UK could risk becoming a haven for ‘dirty’ industries and a dumping ground for products failing to meet EU regulations”.

Labour MP Mary Creagh, who chairs the environmental audit committee, said: “It is vital the government passes a new environmental protection act as soon as possible to protect the lives and livelihoods of millions of people.” Tuncak backs that call in his report.

The committee warned in January that Brexit could result in key environmental protections being left as ineffective “zombie legislation”. Creagh said the UN report highlighted the “government’s lack of clarity about the future of environmental issues after Brexit and how they will stop the UK from becoming a dumping ground for dirty industries and a haven for bad practice”.

Tuncak’s report also asks the UK government to “reconsider national plans to increase reliance on nuclear energy, considering that long-term storage of nuclear waste is uncertain and poses significant risks to the population”. He criticised the UK’s cuts to legal aid and protection from legal costs which make it “extremely challenging” for victims of environmental harm to seek redress in the courts.
source:the guardian