Does the environmental inequality matter? A literature review

An investigation of inequalities in exposure to PM2.5 air pollution across small areas in Ireland

The link between exposure to air pollution and adverse effects on human health is well documented. Yet, in a European context, research on the spatial distribution of air pollution and the characteristics of areas is relatively scarce, and there is a need for research using different spatial scales, a wider variety of socioeconomic indicators (such as ethnicity) and new methodologies to assess these relationships. This study uses comprehensive data on a wide range of demographic and socioeconomic indicators, matched to data on PM2.5 concentrations for small areas in Ireland, to assess the relationship between social vulnerability and PM2.5 air pollution. Examining a wide range of socioeconomic indicators revealed some differentials in PM2.5 concentration levels by measure and by rural and urban classification. However, statistical modelling using concentration curves and concentration indices did not present substantial evidence of inequalities in PM2.5 concentrations across small areas. In common with other western European countries, an overall decline in the levels of PM2.5 between 2011 and 2016 was observed in Ireland, though the data indicates that almost all small areas in Ireland were found to have exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO)'s PM2.5 annual guideline (of 5 µg/m3), calling for greater policy efforts to reduce air pollution in Ireland. The recent Clean Air Strategy contains a commitment to achieve the WHO guideline limits for PM2.5 by 2040, with interim targets at various points over the next two decades. Achieving these targets will require policy measures to decarbonise home heating, promote active travel and the transition to electric vehicles, and further regulations on burning fossil fuels and enforcing environmental regulations more tightly. From a research and information-gathering perspective, installing more monitoring stations at key points could improve the quality and spatial dimension of the data collected and facilitate the assessment of the implementation of the measures in the Clean Air Strategy.

Mitigating China's Ozone Pollution with More Balanced Health Benefits

China is confronting the challenge of opposite health benefits (OHBs) during ambient ozone (O₃) mitigation because the same reduction scheme might yield opposite impacts on O₃ levels and associated public health across different regions. Here, we used a combination of chemical transport modeling, health benefit assessments, and machine learning to capture such OHBs and optimize O₃ mitigation pathways based on 121 control scenarios. We revealed that, for the China mainland, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surroundings ("2 + 26" cities), Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta, there could be at most 2897, 920, 1247, and 896 additional O₃-related deaths in urban areas, respectively, accompanying 21,512, 3442, 5614, and 642 avoided O₃-related deaths in rural areas, respectively, at the same control stage. Additionally, potential disbenefits during O₃ mitigation were "pro-wealthy", that is, residents in developed regions are more likely to afford additional health risks. In order to avoid OHBs during O₃ abatement, we proposed a two-phase control strategy, whereby the reduction ratio of NO_X (nitrogen oxide) to VOCs (volatile organic compounds) was adjusted according to health benefit distribution patterns. Our study provided novel insights into China's O₃ attainment and references for other countries facing the dual challenges of environmental pollution and associated inequality issues.

Measuring Environmental Justice in Real Time: A Pilot Study Using Digital Participatory Method in the Global South, Nepal

Individuals' perceived fairness or justice beliefs are related to health in numerous ways. However, environment justice research to date has given little attention to perceived fairness of environmental exposures as experienced by individuals. This study explored the feasibility of a bottom-up digital participatory (via mobile phones) approach using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to capture individuals' subjective experience of environmental exposures and the subjective evaluation of fairness by those affected in the context of Nepal. In total, 22 individuals participated in the study for 28 days. The results show high rates of study retention and adherence. Individuals' justice perception was found to vary within and between individuals, but also substantially depending on the types of environmental exposures. Nevertheless, the study indicates that uncertainties are inevitable as study design and timing may conflict participants' daily lives and priorities. The method allows us to consider multiple geographic contexts of individuals' everyday lives beyond residential environment. This pilot study proved the possibility to assess perceptions of environmental justice issues and demonstrated the necessary steps to using digital participatory method for assessing subjective perception of fairness of individuals.

Improving rural women's health in China: cooking with clean energy

It is well known that women bear the greatest burden of health, work time, and labor supply due to gender disparity in many developing countries. In this study, we analyze the health inequality in rural China caused by indoor air pollution from traditional energy use. Specifically, we study the effect of clean energy access on woman health outcome by exploiting a nationwide rollout of clean cooking fuel program in 2014. Based on interviews with rural women in 2014 and 2016, this study analyzes the impact of clean energy use on women's health by using the propensity score matching method with the difference-in-differences model (PSM-DID). We also analyze the heterogeneous health effects of clean energy uptake on rural women with different characteristics. The results show that clean energy applications can significantly improve the health of rural women. The positive health effects are substantial for middle-aged and older women, illiterate women, and those women lived in northeastern China. The results highlight the role of clean energy in reducing gender disparities in health inequality.

Ecosystems Services and Green Infrastructure for Respiratory Health Protection: A Data Science Approach for Paraná, Brazil

Urban ecosystem services have become a main issue in contemporary urban sustainable development, whose efforts are challenged by the phenomena of world urbanization and climate change. This article presents a study about the ecosystem services of green infrastructure towards better respiratory health in a socioeconomic scenario typical of the Global South countries. The study involved a data science approach comprising basic and multivariate statistical analysis, as well as data mining, for the municipalities of the state of Paraná, in Brazil’s South region. It is a cross-sectional study in which multiple data sets are combined and analyzed to uncover relationships or patterns. Data were extracted from national public domain databases. We found that, on average, the municipalities with more area of biodiversity per inhabitant have lower rates of hospitalizations resulting from respiratory diseases (CID-10 X). The biodiversity index correlates inversely with the rates of hospitalizations. The data analysis also demonstrated the importance of socioeconomic issues in the environmental-respiratory health phenomena. The data mining analysis revealed interesting associative rules consistent with the learning from the basic statistics and multivariate analysis. Our findings suggest that green infrastructure provides ecosystem services towards better respiratory health, but these are entwined with socioeconomics issues. These results can support public policies towards environmental and health sustainable management.