Spanish population at “unhealthy levels” in 2022 pollution“Compared to 2020 and 2021, in a year in which air quality deteriorates due to rising temperatures and lack of precipitation, but above all due to the revival in traffic and economic activity.
According to the annual report of Ecologistas en Acción, based on measurements 780 pollution control stations spread across 132 regions of Spain and 92% of the entire Hispanic population and national territories last year suffered “unhealthy levels of contamination” following the end of the previous two years’ covid restrictions.
However, despite a significant increase in levels of suspended particles (PM10 and PM2.5) and finer nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and tropospheric ozone in 2002 compared to the previous two years, these two pollutants did not reach the concentrations recorded in the years preceding the pandemic.
Significant increase in levels of suspended particles from North Africa and nitrogen dioxide concentrated in “heavy traffic in cities” The alarming state of air quality in Spain” was highlighted by “the hottest and driest records since at least 1961” in 2022, Miguel Ceballos, the coordinator of the report, underlined in his presentation to the press.
Three summer heatwaves and lack of precipitation “ozone concentration levels skyrocketed”, Ceballos pointed out that tackling dust and nitrogen dioxide together is the third factor in a context where climate change “aggravates and inhibits the impact of pollution, although it is not the cause”.
If the maximum values recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) are taken as reference, “The polluted air affected all national citizens and 463,000 square kilometers, or 92% of the area.”
However, in terms of the thresholds that the European Union’s long-term vegetation protection goal seeks to achieve, the number of affected is reduced to “7.6 million people and 95,000 square kilometers of expansion”, which means: In 2022, four out of five Spaniards breathed air that did not comply with the new legal standards proposed by the EU for 2030.
Intake of poor quality air causes respiratory and cardiovascular diseases “It is mainly children, the elderly, people with ailments and pathologies, and pregnant women who suffer,” said Paco Segura, head of the environmental organization’s Air Quality Area.
25,000 deaths per year
In this sense, “as many as 25,000 people die prematurely from this problem, 15 times more than traffic accidentAccording to Segura, who warned that measurements at the doors of educational institutions show “a disturbing risk” when the air students assimilates exceeds “twice the legally accepted pollution parameters”.
With this in mind, Nuria Blázquez, responsible for the International of Ecoologists in Action, promoted the promotion of sustainable and alternative mobility to traditional transport.adopting energy-saving and clean production based on renewable sources, and implementing low-emission zones “in no more than 10 but 150 cities where they should already be operational”.
By region, the report shows: PM10 particles presented worst case of last decade in Canary Islands. Despite an overall 20% drop in NO2 compared to the average level between 2012 and 2019, Barcelona has once again exceeded the annual legal limit and Madrid has caught up.
Source: Informacion
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