In recent years, practically the entire Spanish and European population is breathingi will be dirtyUpdated in 2021, not meeting the standards recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). This situation has been emphasized by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and by the air quality reports in our country. The Spanish State has been publishing Ecologists in Action every year for ten and a half years.
The latest global estimates of the health impact of air pollution from the EEA and WHO are very worrying. In 2019, early deaths due to poor air quality in European countries accounted for approximately 400,000, 373,000 due to exposure to particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM 2.5), 48,000 and 19,000 due to exposure to carbon dioxide nitrogen (NO 2 ). is happening. Exposure to tropospheric ozone. The victims of pollution in Spain that year were up to 30,000, 23,300 due to PM 2.5 particles, 6,250 due to NO 2 and 1,820 due to ozone.That’s double the 16,000-year premature death estimated just two decades ago.
The economic cost of premature death and lost working days due to air pollution and pollution in the home was calculated by the World Bank as 38,000 million euros in 2013, equivalent to 3.5 percent of Spain’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that year, to products, natural ecosystems or any without taking into account damage to other products of one nature.
In this content, The COVID-19 crisis that broke out in March 2020 changed mobility patterns, Due to the quarantine and social distancing measures taken by the authorities to limit the spread of the virus, especially during the two states of alarm declared between 2020 and 2021. These measures have led to a significant reduction in air pollutant emissions in Spain since world level, the structural or merely contingent nature of which is still unclear.
Quality improvement in 2021
Actually, Air quality in Spain in 2021 continued the significant improvement already observed in 2020Since there has been a notable decrease in nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and tropospheric ozone levels, and measurements in 1990 at their lowest levels in the last decade and certainly also more nuanced levels of suspended particles (PM10 and PM2.5).
“As the dramatic pandemic we live in shows, The source of this problem in our cities lies mainly in emissions from motor traffic. To these are added, to a much smaller extent, those resulting from heating as well as sea and air traffic in cities with a nearby port and/or airport. As a result, the reason for poor air quality and other serious environmental problems such as global climate change is the heavy use of fossil fuels in transportation and industry.
May be in some areas It is also relevant to problems arising from certain industries, power plants (coal-fired and combined cycle), refineries, cement plants and waste incineration plants.; Almost no action is taken against and against the main global sources of primary pollutants and ozone precursors, not forgetting the contribution made by international sea and air transport as well as some natural resources of particular importance.
for the preparation of this report. Official data is compiled from 793 measuring stations distributed across the State, Ownership of Autonomous Communities and Cities, Municipal Assemblies with their own metering network, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Control (MITECO), some State port authorities and main airports managed by AENA.
Ecologists in Action recognizes the efforts of all these administrations and managers of air quality surveillance networks in organizations to provide the requested information and hopes that this report will contribute another year to stimulating the necessary discussion about the current energy model. and the quality of the air we breathe.
The full report is at this link.
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Environment department contact address:crisclimatica@prensaiberica.es
Source: Informacion
