Air pollution

The earths environment can be divided into land, water, and air that cater to the ecology.
The different aspects of earths environment are affected by different problems that affect much
of the earths inhabitants. Air pollution is one of such problem that affects a vast majority of the
populace because it virtually has no boundaries that separates it from every other place on earth.
Air pollution refers to any alteration of the physical, chemical and biological properties of the
atmospheric air or any discharge thereto of any liquid, gaseous or solid substance that will or is
likely to create or to render the air resources of the country harmful, detrimental, or injurious to
public health, safety or welfare or which will adversely affect their utilization for domestic,
commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational or other legitimate purpose (Ordinance No, SP
1958, S-2009). The problem of air pollution is not new to the world; the problem existed back
when the cities started using coals largely. Air pollution not only affects the human and animal
population but also the forest ecosystems that have faced increase in usage in the face of the ever
increasing population. The damage of air pollution affects the plants at the cellular and
ecosystem levels, a much more visible effect of air pollution to plans would be the damage of it
to the leaves that could be seen as dead tissues and even to the death of plants (Kozlowski,
1980). The term Smog used to describe the combination of smoke and fog was coined by a
British doctor of the 20th century, in Europe, air pollution maybe going down but still a
substantial health problem that leads to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people every year,
the deaths can be attributed to exposure to fine particles and there have been medical studies on
the exposure to air pollution. In places like Hong Kong and Dublin where there were policy
changes for the reduction of exposure to air pollution provides examples of evidence that it is a
real and present problem (Hales & Howden-Chapman, 2007). In Los Angeles, USA, the problem

of air pollution was met with the changes in policy for the control of the pollution in the area, the
transfer was from the city and county to state and federal, the regional control for the problem
would be of vast importance and with the progress on there were legislations passed for its
reduction, it was in the year 1970 when the country passed the clean air act amendments that lead
to the nations air quality standards (Haagen-Smit, 1970). With the advancement of technology
and the clear connection of the air pollution to hazards against human lives, there have been
movements for the reduction and regulation of the common pollutants that releases the chemicals
into the air. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agencys Air, Climate and Energy
Research are the front for combating air pollution and protecting public health and environment.
With the established connection between the problem of air pollution and its adverse effects to
the environment and the inhabitants, many countries have change and adopted models for the
regulation and reduction of the pollution and improvement of the ecology of the environment.
In the estimates made by Asian Development Bank, 20 percent of the entire vehicles in
the world, which is about 140 million, are in the Asia-Pacific Region. The increase in production
and the continual growth in motorization combine to cause increase in air pollution that is now a
severe ecological problem in most of the urban cities in Asia. There are three cities in Asia that is
large in vehicle emission pollution and is trying to balance the drive for clean air and the need for
adequate transport for the population (Delfin, 2004).
Delhi
The area is about 1,500 square kilometres and is in the middle of India, home of nearly
18 million people as of 2014, it is one of the megacities. With the large number of motorized
vehicles, it is seen as the biggest fuel consumer among Indian cities, most of which was the high

sulphur diesel, with carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter emissions being
released also from the vehicles. There is improvement in the air quality in Delhi since the mid
1990s. The federal government structure of India is seen to contribute to the environmental
governance in Delhi, and in other Indian cities. They established the Air Prevention and Control
of Pollution Act of 1981 that is for the implementation of central and state control boards and the
Environmental Protection Act of 1986 that provided guidance for the pollution boards for
establishing national standards. The vehicle emission reduction efforts in Delhi appear to have
evolved from a number of diverse independent programs from different government agencies.
The administrative programs can be classified as technical and non-technical with key
components of emission standards trading, fuel quality regulation, inspection and maintenance
program, promotion of compressed natural gas fuel in public transportation, phase-out of old
vehicles and public awareness campaign (Delfin, 2004).
Taipei
The city is surrounded by mountains on all sides on the northern end of the country; the
population as of 2010 is 2.65 million, the area of the city is about 272 square kilometres.
Majority of the air pollutants are coming from the vehicular emission and the road transportation
pollution. The city has shown improvement in air quality with the researches that shows that the
citys pollutant emission is below the critical level. Taiwan passed its Air Pollution Control Act
in 1972 and amended in 1992, and in 1998 there is the National Environment Protection Plan
that is aimed at achieving air quality standards comparable to advanced countries (Delfin, 2004).
Manila

Metro Manila, the Capital of the Philippines, has a population of nearly 12 million over
the land area of 626 square kilometres. The vehicles used for public transport were not only a
cheap mode of transport but is also a source of income for many of the population. The country
has passed Republic Act No. 8749 known as the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999; it is aimed at
controlling air pollution. This makes use of the different agencies of the country and local
governments (Delfin, 2004).

References
Delfin, F. (2004). Regulating vehicular emissions in three asian cities. Philippine
Journal of Public Administration, 370-396.
Haagen-Smit, A. J. (1970). A Lesson from the Smog Capital of the World.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America, 887-897.
Hales, S., & Howden-Chapman, P. (2007). Effects of air pollution on health. BMJ:
British Medical Journal, 335, 314-315.
Kozlowski, T. T. (1980, February). Impacts of Air Pollution on Forest Ecosystem.
Bioscience Vol 30, pp. 88-93.
Ordinance No, SP 1958 S-2009 (2009). An Ordinance Creating And Adopting
Guidelines and Procedures on Anti-Smoke Belching for Motor Vehicles in Quezon
City.