A number of Caribbean nations are being acknowledged among the many world’s cleanest in a significant new global air quality report — a stark distinction to worsening air pollution ranges in a lot of the world.
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In response to the 2024 IQAir World Air High quality Report, simply 17% of cities worldwide met the World Well being Group’s (WHO) guideline for annual PM2.5 ranges, a measure of dangerous fantastic particulate matter within the air. The report analyzed information from over 40,000 monitoring stations throughout 138 nations.
Among the many solely seven nations that met the WHO benchmark of 5 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) or much less had been the Bahamas, Barbados, and Grenada, inserting the Caribbean area in uncommon firm alongside Australia, Estonia, Iceland, and New Zealand.
The report additionally named Mayaguez, Puerto Rico because the least polluted metropolitan space within the examine, with an annual PM2.5 focus of simply 1.1 µg/m³ — greater than 4 instances cleaner than the WHO commonplace.
This comes as 91% of nations globally exceeded protected air high quality ranges, with air pollution hotspots in Africa, South Asia, and elements of Latin America. Nations like Chad, India, and Bangladesh recorded PM2.5 concentrations greater than 10 to 25 instances greater than the WHO’s really useful restrict.
Whereas a lot of the world struggles with air air pollution linked to wildfires, industrial exercise, and car emissions, the Caribbean’s comparatively clear air is being credited to low ranges of industrialization, constant commerce winds, and strict car emission insurance policies in some nations.
Nonetheless, consultants warn that the area’s air high quality might be threatened by climate-related occasions corresponding to Saharan mud storms and growing wildfire exercise, underscoring the necessity for continued monitoring and environmental safety.
Regardless of vital gaps in information assortment throughout the Caribbean — and Latin America extra broadly — the inclusion of nations like Barbados, Grenada, and the Bahamas alerts sturdy efficiency the place air high quality is being measured.
