by Floro Mercene
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), India has four of the 10 cities in the world with the worst air pollution. But while WHO experts acknowledge India faces a “huge challenge”, many countries are so bad that they have no monitoring system and cannot be included in its ranking.
Common causes of air pollution include too many cars, especially diesel-fuelled vehicles, the heating and cooling of big buildings, waste management, agriculture and the use of coal or diesel generators for power. The WHO data, a survey of 3,000 urban areas, shows only 2 percent of cities in poorer countries have air quality that meets WHO standards, while 44 percent of richer cities do.
Zabol, an eastern Iranian city on the border with Afghanistan, was once at the heart of a bustling ancient civilization, close to where the very first piece of animation came from in the form of an intricate pottery bowl dating back 5,000 years that displays a goat in motion. But the city is now a largely neglected area plagued by poverty and pollution. Every summer, as temperature rise to staggering levels of 40C or even higher, Zabol is struck by what is locally known as “120 days of wind”, relentless dust storms from north to south.
Zabol was located near Lake Hamoun and the region is irrigated by the Hirmand River. But the disappearance in the early 2000s of Hamoun, has exacerbated the situation to an unprecedented extent. Over many centuries, the wetland was crucial to the development of the area, serving as its natural cooler. Now it has dried up and become a major source of dust in the air. Suffocating dust storms sweeping across Zabol has repeatedly disrupted life, closing down schools and government offices. WHO named Zabol, the most polluted city in the world in 2016.
