Preface on air quality in China

摘要

Recent Global Burden of Disease studies have provided quantitative evidence of the significant risk of ambient pollution to human health globally, but particularly in Asia. In the mega cities of emerging Asian economies, the rapidly growing fleet of vehicles - not necessarily low emitters - contribute to overall air pollution. On a continental scale, power generation, with billions of tonnes of coal burned annually, household emissions, trans-boundary pollution, and resuspended desert and exposed soil dust, all are the constituents of the ambient air pollution which is particularly acute in cities. By 2050, the world population is expected to grow to 9.3 billion, with 6.3 billion living in urban areas. China is at the forefront of this trend with 89 cities in 2010 exceeding one million of habitants, out of 442 such cities worldwide.