Air Quality Guidelines Global Update 2005 - World Health ...

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AIR QUALITY GUIDELINES
by higher pollution exposures and/or population subgroups of lower SEP.
Generally, the emerging data on environmental equity suggest that: (a)
owing to the impact of local sources, urban subpopulations exist that have
consistently higher exposure to ambient pollution than others; (b) areas of
high exposure sometimes coincide with lower SEP; and (c) groups of lower
SEP may be more responsive to air pollution and have lower baseline levels
of health.
Introduction to concepts of environmental equity and justice
Air quality improvement requires decisions and approaches to be made that are
responsive to the needs of each country and locality and that involve many sectors.
This chapter provides context for national and local decision-makers wishing
to address concerns about inequitable burdens and benefits related to distributions
of air pollution concentrations, exposure levels and associated health
outcomes. Land-use patterns and policies not specifically linked to environmental
management are important determinants of air pollution levels and distributions.
This is especially true in developing countries, where settlements occur in
industrial zones and transport patterns and the siting of commercial centres may
affect population health.
Environmental equity refers to principles of social justice that promote the
equitable distribution of the burdens and benefits of society (1), with specific emphasis
on exposure to environmental toxicants and associated health impacts.
These principles introduce an ethical component into air quality management,
and are consistent with a recent EU sustainable development report that includes
social equity and cohesion among its main objectives (2).
We first clarify a few terms often used when discussing these ethical questions.
Equality implies a focus on equal distribution of health (or exposure to air pollution),
whereas equity is a normative term that explicitly addresses differences
between social groups in terms of health, access to health-promoting services
and goods (3). The term environmental justice encompasses questions of both
the distribution of environmental exposures and procedural justice (4) and recent
policies and regulatory actions have been inspired by environmental justice
principles. The state of California (5) has called for “the fair treatment of people
of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation,
and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies”
and New York State now incorporates environmental justice concerns into the
state environmental permit review process (6). The US Environmental Protection
Agency has provided guidance for the National Environmental Policy Act,
which covers distributional and procedural justice (7). In South Africa, the 1996
Constitution describes everyone’s right “to an environment that is not harmful to