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Jakarta's air quality five times worse than WHO limit, says expert

Source
Tempo - October 8, 2021

Moh Khory Alfarizi, Jakarta – Sustainable Nature Foundation (ASRI) volunteer and health consultant Alvi Muldani on Thursday said Jakarta's air quality was considered poor as the city's average 2.5 particulate matter concentration reached 26.9 ug/m3, which is five times worse than the latest limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO) on September 22.

In a virtual discussion on the lawsuit on air quality in Central Jakarta's district court, Alvi said the PM 2.5 ambient air quality standard was currently limited to 15 micrograms per cubic meter (daily) and 5.0 annually.

The new standard is far stricter compared to the previous limit as the older regulation is considered unable to prevent seven million of the world's population from early deaths caused by air pollution.

"Meanwhile in Jakarta, it is nearly six times higher than the WHO standard. This limits the average age to 55 years," she said on Thursday.

In 2013, the WHO classified PM 2.5 as a cancer-causing substance that caused the most health problems compared to other types of pollutants.

The health consultant suggested the public routinely monitor air quality through the Air Quality Index (AQI) website, which provides real time data. She said information about air quality should be disseminated similar to weather forecasts in mainstream television.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1515115/jakartas-air-quality-five-times-worse-than-who-limit-says-exper

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