PORTAL RASMI
JABATAN PERDANA MENTERI
AGENSI PENGURUSAN BENCANA NEGARA
JABATAN PERDANA MENTERI
AGENSI PENGURUSAN BENCANA NEGARA
KARACHI, Jan 22 — With pollution in Pakistan hitting record highs in recent years, citizens clutching air monitors and legal papers are taking the fight for clean air into their own hands.
More than a decade ago, engineer Abid Omar had a “sneaking suspicion” that what the government described as seasonal fog was actually a new phenomenon.
“It wasn’t there in my childhood” in Lahore, said the 45-year-old who now lives in coastal Karachi, where the sea breeze no longer saves residents from smog.
With no official data available at the time, Omar asked himself: “If the government is not fulfilling its mandate to monitor air pollution, why don’t I do that for myself?”
His association, the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI), installed its first monitor in 2016 and now has around 150 nationwide.
The data feeds into the monitoring organisation IQAir, which in 2024 classified Pakistan as the third most-polluted country in the world.
Levels of cancer-causing PM2.5 microparticles were on average 14 times the World Health Organisation’s recommended daily maximum.
PAQI data has already played a key role in the adoption of pollution policies, serving as evidence during a 2017 case at Lahore’s high court to have smog recognised as air pollution that is a danger to public health.
Using one of their air monitors, PAQI demonstrated that “the air quality was hazardous inside the courtroom”, Omar said.
The court then ordered the regional government of Punjab to deploy its own monitoring stations — now 44 across the province — and make the data public.
But the government also says private monitors are unreliable and cause panic.
Researchers say, however, that these devices are essential to supplement official data that they view as fragmented and insufficiently independent.
“They got alarmed and shut down some stations when the air pollution went up,” Omar said.
3D-printed monitors
Officials have overhauled the management of brick kilns, a major source of black carbon emissions, and taken other measures such as fining drivers of high-emission vehicles and incentivising farmers to stop agricultural burning.
Worried about their community in Islamabad, academics Umair Shahid and Taha Ali established the Curious Friends of Clean Air organisation.
In three years, they have deployed a dozen plug-sized devices, made with a 3D printer at a cost of around US$50 (RM200) each, which clock air quality every three minutes.
Although they do not contribute to IQAir’s open-source map or have government certification, their readings have highlighted alarming trends and raised awareness among their neighbours.
An outdoor yoga exercise group began scheduling their practice “at times where the air quality is slightly better in the day”, said Shahid.
He has changed the times of family outings to minimise the exposure of his children, who are particularly vulnerable, to the morning and evening pollution peaks.
Their data has also been used to convince neighbours to buy air purifiers — which are prohibitively expensive for most Pakistanis — or to use masks that are rarely worn in the country.
‘Right to breathe’
The records show air quality remains poor throughout the year, even when the pollution haze is not visible to the naked eye.
“The government is trying to control the symptoms, but not the origin,” said Ali.
Pollution exposure in Pakistan caused 230,000 premature deaths and illnesses in 2019, with health costs equivalent to nine percent of GDP, according to the World Bank.
Frustrated with what they see as government inaction, some citizens have taken the legal route.
Climate campaigner Hania Imran, 22, sued the state in December 2024 for the “right to breathe clean air”.
She is pushing the authorities to switch to cleaner fuel supplies, but no date has been set for a verdict and the outcome remains unclear.
“We need accessible public transport... we need to go towards sustainable development,” said Imran, who moved from Lahore to Islamabad in search of better air quality.
Pollution has multiple causes, she said, and “it’s actually our fault. We have to take accountability for it.” — AFP
JAKARTA, 21 Jan: Kerajaan Indonesia secara rasmi menarik balik lesen operasi 28 syarikat yang didapati melanggar peraturan pemanfaatan hutan, dipercayai mengakibatkan kerosakan alam sekitar serta menjadi antara punca bencana banjir di wilayah Sumatera.
Syarikat-syarikat terbabit beroperasi di tiga wilayah yang terjejas teruk akibat bencana berkenaan, iaitu Aceh, Sumatera Utara dan Sumatera Barat.
Menteri Setiausaha Negara, Prasetyo Hadi, berkata keputusan itu dibuat menerusi mesyuarat terhad yang dipengerusikan Presiden Prabowo Subianto selepas Pasukan Petugas Penertiban Kawasan Hutan (Satgas PKH) membentangkan hasil siasatan terhadap syarikat-syarikat yang didapati melanggar syarat perlesenan serta peraturan alam sekitar.
“Berdasarkan laporan tersebut, Presiden telah membuat keputusan untuk menarik balik lesen operasi 28 syarikat yang terbukti melakukan pelanggaran,” katanya.
Daripada jumlah itu, 22 syarikat merupakan pemegang Lesen Usaha Pemanfaatan Hutan (PBPH) bagi hutan semula jadi dan hutan tanaman, melibatkan kawasan seluas lebih 1.01 juta hektar, manakala enam lagi syarikat membabitkan sektor perlombongan, perladangan serta pemanfaatan hasil hutan kayu (PBPHHK).
Secara terperinci, lesen 22 pemegang PBPH yang ditarik balik melibatkan tiga syarikat di Aceh, enam di Sumatera Barat dan 13 di Sumatera Utara. Manakala enam syarikat PBPHHK masing-masing melibatkan dua syarikat di setiap wilayah berkenaan.
Prasetyo menegaskan kerajaan akan terus memperketatkan pengawasan terhadap semua aktiviti berasaskan sumber alam bagi memastikan pematuhan terhadap undang-undang, demi melindungi alam sekitar serta mengelakkan berulangnya bencana seperti banjir besar di Sumatera. -TVS
TORONTO, Jan 22 — The world is facing irreversible water “bankruptcy”, with billions of people struggling to cope with the consequences of decades of overuse as well as shrinking supplies from lakes, rivers, glaciers and wetlands, UN researchers said yesterday.
Nearly three-quarters of the global population live in countries classified as “water insecure” or “critically water insecure”, and four billion people face severe water scarcity at least one month per year, the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health warned in a report.
“Many regions are living beyond their hydrological means, and many critical water systems are already bankrupt,” said Kaveh Madani, lead author and director of the institute.
“By acknowledging the reality of water bankruptcy, we can finally make the hard choices that will protect people, economies and ecosystems,” he said.
The report said water supplies are “already in a post-crisis state of failure” after decades of unsustainable extraction rates that have drawn down water “savings” contained in aquifers, glaciers, soils, wetlands and river ecosystems, with supplies also degraded by pollution.
More than 170 million hectares of irrigated cropland — an area larger than Iran — are under “high” or “very high” water stress, and economic damage from land degradation, groundwater depletion and climate change amounts to more than US$300 billion (RM1.2 trillion) a year worldwide, the report said.
Three billion people and more than half of global food production are concentrated in areas already facing unstable or declining water storage levels, while salinisation has also degraded more than 100 million hectares of cropland, it said.
The researchers wrote that the current approach to solving water problems was no longer fit for purpose, and the priority was not “returning to normal” but a new “global water agenda” designed to minimise damage.
However, Jonathan Paul, geoscience professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, said the report did not address one major factor behind the crisis.
“The elephant in the room, which is mentioned explicitly only once, is the role of massive and uneven population growth in driving so many of the manifestations of water bankruptcy,” he said. — Reuters
Dunia alami muflis air
- Admin UKK
- Berita
PARIS – Dunia memasuki era ‘kebankrapan air global’ dengan sungai, tasik, dan punca air lain menyusut lebih cepat daripada kemampuan alam semula jadi mengisinya semula, kata sebuah institut penyelidikan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu(PBB) semalam.
Institut Universiti PBB untuk Air, Alam Sekitar dan Kesihatan (UNU-INWEH) berkata, penggunaan air berlebihan, pencemaran, kemusnahan alam sekitar dan perubahan iklim mengakibatkan banyak sistem air melepasi batas pemulihan dan memerlukan klasifikasi baharu.
“Tekanan air dan krisis air tidak lagi mencukupi untuk menggambarkan realiti air dunia,” demikian menurut laporan UNU-INWEH.
Laporan itu mencadangkan istilah alternatif ‘kebankrapan air’ iaitu keadaan di mana penggunaan air jangka panjang melebihi bekalan semula jadi dan tidak dapat dipulihkan secara realistik.
Situasi tersebut dilihat menerusi pengecutan tasik-tasik besar dunia, kata laporan sama, manakal semakin banyak sungai utama gagal mengalir ke laut pada sesuatu masa dalam setahun.
Dunia juga hilang sebahagian besar tanah lembap, dengan kira-kira 410 juta hektar atau menyamai saiz Kesatuan Eropah hilang sepanjang lima dekad yang lalu.
Penyusutan air bawah tanah adalah satu lagi tanda kebankrapan tersebut. – AFP
WASHINGTON: Aktiviti solar luar biasa yang dilepaskan oleh matahari menuju ke bumi berpotensi mencetus gangguan besar grid bekalan elektrik, sistem komunikasi berasaskan satelit serta ketepatan Sistem Penentu Kedudukan Global (GPS).
Menurut Pusat Ramalan Cuaca Angkasa (SWPC), satu ribut geomagnetik yang diklasifikasikan pada tahap empat dari segi bahayanya sampai ke bumi pada pukul 2.20 petang (waktu tempatan) semalam dan kini sedang dipantau di bawah Perkhidmatan Cuaca Kebangsaan AS.
“Ribut radiasi solar teruk S4 kini sedang berlaku. Ini merupakan ribut radiasi suria terbesar dalam tempoh lebih 20 tahun. Kali terakhir tahap S4 direkodkan adalah pada Oktober 2003.
“Kesan utama dijangka terhad kepada operasi pelancaran angkasa, penerbangan dan satelit,” menurut kenyataan SWPC di platform X.
Apabila ribut radiasi solar sampai ke bumi, ia boleh meningkatkan risiko pendedahan radiasi kepada angkasawan di orbit rendah bumi, termasuk mereka yang berada di Stesen Angkasa Antarabangsa (ISS), selain penumpang pesawat yang melalui laluan kutub.
SWPC memaklumkan syarikat penerbangan, Pentadbiran Aeronautik dan Angkasa Kebangsaan (NASA), Pentadbiran Penerbangan Persekutuan (FAA), Agensi Pengurusan Kecemasan Persekutuan (FEMA), Perbadanan Kebolehpercayaan Elektrik Amerika Utara (NERC) serta pengendali lain agar bersiap sedia menghadapi kemungkinan gangguan.
Peningkatan aktiviti suria turut menghasilkan fenomena aurora di sekitar kawasan kutub, dikenali sebagai aurora borealis dan aurora australis.
SWPC memaklumkan, aurora dapat dilihat di sebahagian besar kawasan utara AS, malah berpotensi sejauh Alabama dan California utara.
Ahli Fizik Makmal Fizik Atmosfera dan Angkasa Universiti Colorado Boulder, Ryan French memberi amaran lebih banyak letupan suria berkemungkinan berlaku dari kawasan tompok matahari yang berpotensi menghasilkan lebih banyak lontaran menghala ke bumi.-AGENSI