Updated on Jan 20, 2008 – SCMP
The government’s much-heralded Action Blue Sky campaign is designed to reduce air pollution. Is it working?
A simple way to measure the extent of air pollution is to look at how often the air pollution index (API) is high or very high. This level is significant because it is the range that the World Health Organisation generally considers to be hazardous for health. In 2007, the API at general stations was high or very high 44 per cent (or almost half) of the time. This was the second-highest level of pollution since EPD records began in 1999, and the highest since 2004. There is a clearly increasing trend – the four years of highest pollution are the last four years.
Pollution is getting worse, not better. Action Blue Sky should be based around concerns of managing public health; the data shows it to be instead an exercise in managing public opinion.
William Hayward, Wan Chai