ISLAMABAD: Air pollution in some parts of Pakistan has reached 15 times the internationally accepted safe limit, posing a serious threat to public health, according to the findings of the upcoming National State of Environment Report (NSOER) presented during a consultation session in Islamabad.
The consultation was jointly organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination to gather youth perspectives for the country’s first dedicated youth edition of the report.
The session comes nearly a decade after Pakistan’s last State of Environment Report was published in 2016, which did not include a youth-focused assessment.
Addressing the participants, Zainab Naeem, Associate Research Fellow and Head of Ecological Sustainability and Circular Economy at SDPI, said the new initiative aims to give young people a formal role in shaping national environmental policy.
Presenting the report’s preliminary findings, Neelum Pari, Research Associate at SDPI, said the study was prepared using the internationally recognized DPSIR (Drivers, Pressures, State, Impact and Response) framework to assess Pakistan’s environmental challenges and policy responses.
One of the report’s most alarming findings revealed that concentrations of PM2.5, the fine particulate matter most harmful to human health, have reached up to 15 times the safe limit in some areas, with little improvement recorded between 2023 and 2024.
The report also cited global research showing that air pollution is reducing the average life expectancy of Pakistanis by 3.4 to 3.9 years, placing South Asia among the world’s worst-affected regions.
Researchers said that full implementation of Pakistan’s National Clean Air Policy could reduce PM2.5 emissions by 36 to 38 percent by 2030 and by up to 80 percent by 2050, provided the policy is effectively enforced.
Beyond air pollution, the report covers 12 key environmental themes, including water resources, agriculture, disaster risk, environmental health, governance and accountability. It also highlights significant data gaps across provinces, noting that Punjab was more extensively represented because of better environmental data availability.
The report identifies weak legal enforcement, inadequate monitoring systems and limited financing as major barriers to environmental protection. It recommends strengthening environmental laws, improving access to international climate finance, establishing mandatory wastewater treatment plants near industrial zones, phasing out single-use plastics, and increasing investment in climate-smart agriculture and clean energy.
During the consultation, participants were divided into thematic working groups to identify youth priorities and recommendations for inclusion in the final youth edition of the National State of Environment Report.
The event concluded with the distribution of participation certificates to climate experts, environmentalists, academics, students and civil society representatives who attended the consultation.
