Can a new Bill help stop the air pollution crisis in Northern Ireland?
Dolores Kelly, SDLP Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann is proposing a new law to protect the environment and tackle air pollution. Joseph Carter, our Head of Devolved Nations, explains her proposals and why Asthma UK Northern Ireland are supporting her.
Poor air quality has been linked to the development of several conditions. There is growing evidence highlighting that high levels of air pollution are impacting every level of society by increasing the chances of lung cancer, childhood asthma, miscarriage, premature birth/low birth weight, heart disease, dementia, mental health, obesity, and many other conditions.
Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to public health, second only to smoking. It is draining our resources, straining our health system, and cutting short over 800 lives a year in Northern Ireland.
People with asthma suffer more from high levels of air pollution
When people are exposed to high pollution levels, for example on a busy road or during a high pollution episode, they breathe in these toxic materials into their lungs. Many people initially experience immediate symptoms such as irritated airways, feeling out of breath, and coughing.
Such toxins can exacerbate symptoms, including triggering an asthma attack or a COPD flare-up. People with asthma may notice that they need to use their reliever inhaler more than normal when pollution levels are high.
This is a public health and a climate crisis
Northern Ireland is also facing a nature and climate crisis. Globally wildlife populations have plummeted by 68% since 1970 and habitats are being destroyed at an alarming rate. In Northern Ireland, we are languishing in 229th place out of 240 countries for the amount of nature that is left. 97% of wildflower meadows have disappeared, only 1 of 21 lakes are of good quality, and 11% (272) of species found in NI are at risk of extinction.
Dolores Kelly MLA, therefore, proposes to introduce a Private Members Bill - the Environment and Nature Restoration Bill - to provide a legal framework for environmental governance, and make provisions for specific improvement of the environment, including measures on nature and biodiversity.
How will the Environment and Nature Restoration Bill help improve air quality?
The Bill contains proposals to protect the environment around us including air quality. The key proposals that will benefit people with asthma are:
Ministers to establish a new independent Environmental Protection Agency to provide independent oversight of breaches in air pollution.
All Northern Ireland Departments and Public Authorities to set plans and targets to improve the natural environment (including air pollution) and have a legal cycle of target setting, monitoring, planning and reporting to ensure continuing improvement to the environment.
There will be new protections for the environment including making World Health Organisation limits on air pollution the legal limit. This will give everyone in Northern Ireland the Right to Breathe.
What are we doing?
We are meeting with MLAs and other charities to ask them to support Dolores Kelly’s proposed Bill. There is a lot of support across parties, so we hope that the Northern Ireland Assembly will be able to pass the law before the elections next May.
We want to build a coalition of charities who can make the case for radical action against air pollution and call for more investment in active travel. This has worked well in Wales through Healthy Air Cymru, so it is a model we are keen to replicate in Northern Ireland.
To learn more about the impact of air pollution on asthma, please visit Pollution as an asthma trigger | Asthma UK
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