Stronger policies needed to fight air pollution

 On a per-capita basis, countries with the deadliest air pollution (yearly deaths per 100,000 people) include Ukraine (first of 184 countries), Russia (fourth) and China (10th )－India is the 27th deadliest.

According to a recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development study, more than 700,000 people in Africa die from air pollution each year. Even paragons of environmental policy often fail to achieve performance targets; for example, measurements taken during summer 2016 found that PM2.5 in San Jose, California, exceeded that in Shanghai on 32 out of 61 days.

There are a variety of policy-induced practices to address air pollution: clean technologies and industrial processes, cleaner power generation, "smart" urbanization with emphasis on public transport, energy-efficient buildings and optimized waste management.

Still, current policy targets may be inadequate. One study estimates China's faithful adherence to its own current air quality policies and commitments may not reduce air pollution-related deaths by 2040, because regulatory enforcement at the local level continues to be lax.

Given that China and India still have to pursue economic growth, and given the weak enforcement mechanisms in global climate accords, air pollution will be a lingering and menacing threat without targeted action. Now it is the time for domestic constituents, environmental watchdogs, and policy experts to advocate more aggressively for good-faith policy intervention. There can be neither economic growth nor political stability without public health. Leaders in the world's rapidly developing countries may learn this in a hard way.

Asit K. Biswas is a distinguished visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, and Kris Hartley is a lecturer at the Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University.