SCMP – Updated on Oct 08, 2008
It is two years since the World Health Organisation toughened its air-quality guidelines for a minimum level of health protection against pollution. The government responded by launching a review of our current air-quality objectives and strategies. Details have emerged of ideas the review panel has been discussing to clear the air. Some will be controversial – for example, measures to discourage the use of cars. Such measures are needed. But people must be persuaded they are necessary for the sake of their health.
The review required a sense of urgency, especially with regard to the guidelines. Not only are the present pollution benchmarks low compared with the new WHO standards, but we often fail to meet them. The WHO suggests governments set interim targets on the way to its more stringent standards. This has not yet been done in Hong Kong. As a result, the panel has been discussing ways to combat pollution without any clear targets to aim for. As we report today, this has aroused concerns among some experts that officials will lean towards more politically acceptable options, rather than ones which aim to meet scientifically based air-quality targets.
Hopefully, the panel’s report will lay these fears to rest, either by adopting the WHO’s guidelines or setting a timetable for phasing them in. We should not prejudge the work of the review panel as it still has three months before it submits its report. Worryingly, though, without a timetable for tougher air-quality objectives, the panel has put short-, medium- or long-term time frames on suggested measures – from before 2015 to later than 2020. That does not convey a sense of urgency. In health and lifestyle terms there is no question that a developed society like Hong Kong should adopt the WHO guidelines and strive to meet them. But the government may well feel that it is politically unwise to adopt standards it considers to be unattainable in the foreseeable future.
But the setting of new, more stringent standards, based on health concerns is necessary. It is good that the review panel is looking at various options. But it must not shy away from recommending the bold steps required to win the battle against air pollution.