Air Quality Still Healthy: Environment Ministry

Phnom Penh on Jan 23 is blanketed with smog. Photo by Sao Phal Niseiy

PHNOM PENH – The Environment Ministry has rejected concern over air pollution despite recent measurements that show high levels. 

“The air quality in Cambodia remained healthy,” spokesperson Khvay Atitya said, without explicitly responding to the latest readings.  

He said the concentration of air pollution particles known as PM2.5 varies between 7 and 36.16 µg/m³, depending on each capital and province.

“We have noted an increase in the PM 2.5, which ranges between 20 and 30 µg/m³. However, this doesn’t exceed the red line and 50 µg/m³ is the level we need to inform our citizens,” Atitya said.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the annual average air quality guideline is a PM2.5 level of 10 μg/m3. 

As of press time on January 23, the 2023 Air Quality Index reports that the PM2.5 level in Phnom Penh is 21 times higher than the WHO annual guideline.

Measuring air pollution is controversial.  Atitya explained in September that Cambodia has standards for measuring air pollution as a developing country.

“This standard is based on scientific data to balance health, environmental and socio-economic impact,” he said.

Nearly everyone in East and Southeast Asia breathes polluted air, and in 2023, nine countries were ranked among the world’s 40 most polluted nationsOne was Cambodia, which was ranked 37th out of 40. Its air quality exceeded the safe level, which is 4.6 times the WHO annual air quality guideline.  

According to the Indoor Hygiene Institute, when the level of PM2.5 exceeds 35 μg/m3 for 24 hours, the air is considered unhealthy and can cause problems for people with breathing issues such as asthma. 

In an interview in September, Or Chanmoly, a researcher and director of the Research and Innovation Center at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia, said the country has seen a surge in air pollution due to the return of business-as-usual in the post-COVID-19 pandemic, with increasing activities in transport, waste production and agriculture. 

And the country has limited measures to deal with pollution compared to the number of sources of pollution.

He suggested that the country’s success in addressing air pollution may depend on its ability to use scientific methods to identify pollution sources, as these will ultimately guide the proper and effective measures.

“Pollution sources in Cambodia can be determined based on where we live,” Chanmoly said. “In cities like Phnom Penh, it usually comes from waste and transport, while pollution comes from agricultural activities and burning in rural areas.”

Cambodianess

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