UN body backs down on NZ pollution
DELWYN DICKEY
Relevant offers
Politics
LATEST: A United Nations agency has today suddenly withdrawn data which yesterday was showing Auckland with New Zealand's worst air pollution at levels nearly double that of Sydney.
New data that is to go on the World Health Organisation (WHO) air pollution survey will show Auckland only slightly worse than Sydney, and Dunedin, which yesterday had the country's cleanest air, now has the worst.
Yesterday's figures showed New Zealand's cities had higher than acceptable levels of air pollution caused an uproar and saw Environment Minister Nick Smith contacting WHO for clarification as the results were out of line with government data.
"The figures released by the World Health Organisation differ from the data collected through monitoring of air quality by New Zealand's regional councils compiled by the Ministry for the Environment.
"Environment Ministry officials have contacted WHO to clarify how it calculated its figures and are awaiting a response," Smith said.
This morning the results for New Zealand had been changed on the WHO website.
WHO's original figures were based on 2009 data but new 2010 official New Zealand data paints a different story - although with no explanation over why they are so different.
WHO published air quality data for 1100 cities across 91 countries, focussing on an air pollution measurement known as PM10, a level of airborne particles smaller than 10 micrometres.
WHO air quality guidelines for PM10 is 20 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) as an annual average.
New Ministry of Environment data is being entered on the WHO site.
Dunedin scored worst in the latest figures with 25 µg/m3.
Yesterday it was just 19 µg/m3.
Auckland is now at 15 µg/m3 against yesterday's 23 µg/m3.
Wellington is now 13 µg/m3 against yesterday's 21 µg/m3.
Christchurch now has New Zealand's cleanest air on 11 µg/m3.
Yesterday it was scoring 20 µg/m3.
Hamilton today scores 13 µg/m3, an improvement on yesterday's 22 µg/m3.
New Zealand's annual mean score is now 14 µg/m3 when yesterday WHO was saying it was 22 µg/m3.
It is not obvious on the WHO spread sheets where other nations have challenged the data.
Based on WHO's data yesterday Australia overall scored 13 µg/m3 with Brisbane top on 18, Port Phillip (Melbourne) 13, Sydney 12 and Canberra 10.
The cleanest urban air in the world was in Yukon's provincial capital Whitehorse, Canada, on 3, followed by Kitimat on 4.
The most polluted city in the world was Ahwaz, Iran, on 372, followed by Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia on 279 and Delhi, India, 198.
WHO says outdoor air pollution causes an estimated 1.34 million premature deaths a year.
Investments to lower pollution levels quickly pay off owing to lower disease rates and, therefore, lower healthcare costs, it said.
In its study, WHO says persistently elevated levels of fine particle pollution are common across many urban areas.
Fine particle pollution often originates from combustion sources such as power plants and motor vehicles.
"Air pollution is a major environmental health issue and it is vital that we increase efforts to reduce the health burden it creates," said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health and Environment.
"If we monitor and manage the environment properly we can significantly reduce the number of people suffering from respiratory and heart disease, and lung cancer.
Across the world, city air is often thick with exhaust fumes, factory smoke or soot from coal burning power plants.
In many countries there are no air quality regulations and, where they do exist, national standards and their enforcement vary markedly.
- © Fairfax NZ News
Sponsored links
Newest First
Oldest First
World Health Organization Air Pollution survey has some pitfalls such as they are not showing accurate air pollution data of various cities due to air pollution panic. But any how we need to stop them as it is very dangerous for our future. PALS is a new way to prevent Air Pollution in India. It is also working globally. Join PALS (Pure Air Lovers Society) group and give your suggestion for preventing Air Pollution. You can also use our PUC Check Reminder service. Enter your PUC certificate details of any vehicle and we will make sure you get a timely reminder for its renewal. vist: pals.in
This just looks like a genuine mistake by WHO - indicated by the rapidity with which they corrected the figures. The data comes straight from the Ministry for the Environment which collects the data from Regional Councils. It is the Councils who have the legal responsibility for air quality monitoring in NZ. Neither WHO nor the UN do their own monitoring. NIWA also has no involvement in collecting this data. The data has not been massaged, adjusted or corrected in any way for international comparison.
As an air quality scientist I can confirm that the revised figures are correct. It's amazing to see how a mistake brings all the conspiracy theorists out of the woodwork!
Tin foil Hats for sale, line up here, get your Tin foil hat now..be quick..the world is ending, its true..the United Nations experts have predicted it.. Get your Tin Foil Hats here, DO IT NOW !...before the sell out...!!!!
Only $50 plus GST, ETS, AGW and Carbon taxes...
@LizR #32, i take it you believe humans were somehow to blame for the melting of the earth following the last ice age, and the multiple ice ages before that, before any sort of living orgamism even existed on earth. I wonder how, when nothing existed on out planet, it still managed to freeze over completely and subsequently melt multiple times. Must have been man-made global warming huh! or perhaps it's just the natural cycle of earth. Guess we will never know as these processes happen over millions of years, oh no wait we need to do something for our kids and grandchildren in a few years dont we. Aint going to happen sorry.
Here we go again, the UN telling us a load of cobblers and try to get our gutless government to implement more useless taxes. So much for my yearly holiday in good ole Dunedin, might die of air pollution. As soon as India, China and others attempt to clean their own environment the UN should keep out of our backyard. Can't afford to pay anymore taxes now that the ETS is having absolutely no effect and complete waste of money.
"The beach is still the same as it was 65 years ago when I went there first. The sky is still blue. Birds still fly. Rain still falls."
And the amount of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere has increased by 22% over that period.
Still, if you don't care about your children or theirs, carry on pretending there isn't a problem. It'll mean a few people make a few bucks more than they would otherwise have done, perhaps you're one of them.
There are plenty of ruins around the world that bear testament to similar short-sighted thinking, the difference being that in those days you could always move a few hundred miles and start again.
sounds like a similar scenario to that NIWA climate data scandal. makes you think how legitimate all the data is and are the ones collecting it coming from a bias point of view?
According to my statistics WHO is totally wrong and the number should be 10% higher. Auckland's air is the worse in NZ, in the world in fact. You can tell by all those walking around with masks on.
What a load of rubbish, where did they get their stats from, I know mine are made up, and I would suggest their stats may also be made up. I only hope we don't have a bunch of clowns believing the WHO figures or we will end up spending $100's of millions trying to clean up a non existent problem
On the morning news Auck's pollution was stated as worse than Tokyo. Ever been to Tokyo? You can spoon the air into a cup. Worse than Sydney? Get a reality check. Sydney has as many people as all of NZ. The UN is hardly credible anymore and issuing codswallop like this hardly helps it.
Murder sentence 'not excessive'
Death threat emails 'clearly a hoax'
Climber dies in Fiordland fall
School bus crash accused in court
Heavy rains, wind pound country
Man jailed for crossbow, machete incident
Engineer denies conflict of interest'
Carterton tragedy: Safety chief would refuse balloon ride
Foreign Affairs Ministry confirms 305 jobs to go
Carterton tragedy: Safety chief would refuse balloon ride
Major courts overhaul proposed
Foreign Affairs Ministry confirms 305 jobs to go
Mob cancels star's performance
Kiwis not up with online security
Helena Bonham Carter 'honoured'
New hope for kiwifruit growers
Gender non-conformity linked to abuse
Nelsen cleared to lead NZ against Jamaica
Robinson starts for Chiefs against old team
Man's childhood comic collection fetches $4.2m
Carterton tragedy: Safety chief would refuse balloon ride
Mob cancels star's performance
Girl's three-hour punishment run fatal
Model ignores Victoria's Secret snub
Reviewer: Henry star of new show
Study looks at Kiwis' height, weight
PSA disappointed Key won't discuss cuts
Protester hijacks Auckland Council meeting
Murder sentence 'not excessive'
Surfer hopes more sponsors will help give her a break
Sex-accused admits lying to police
Port strike to last three weeks
Rate the Government's restructuring of the public service:
Here we go again kiwis like Brian in denial! Christchurch, Blenheim, Nelson & Auckland regularly have pollution well outside UN guidelines. Facts speak for themselves