Smog Smothers Japan, Experts Point to China
Date: 27-Aug-07
Country: JAPAN
Author: Chisa Fujioka
While the government is cautious about placing blame, experts
say much of the rise in pollution is coming from China, where air
quality is a focus ahead of the Beijing Olympics next year.
The type of smog -- called "photochemical smog" because it is
created when sunlight reacts with exhaust from cars and factories
-- is made up of photochemical oxidant particles such as ozone.
These particles can cause breathing difficulties and headaches.
"In terms of average levels of photochemical oxidants
measured annually across Japan, there has been quite a rise since
the 1990s," said Toshimasa Ohara, head of the National Institute
of Environmental Studies' regional atmospheric modeling section.
"We believe a substantial part of that rise has come from
increasing emissions in China. We're looking into what percentage
this factor has accounted for."
Smog adds to a string of environmental concerns that experts
say originate in China, including acid rain and sandstorms that
gain toxicity as they pass over its industrial regions.
But academics say Japan may find it hard to put pressure on
China to cut emissions, with studies yet to show a precise figure
on how much of Japan's smog is caused by cross-border pollution.
"If we are going to take action against other countries, we
can't be vague," said Atsuko Mori, senior researcher at the
Institute for Environmental Research and Public Health in
Nagasaki, southern Japan. "There needs to be a thorough,
scientific study into the causes."
RESEARCH COMPLICATED
Mori and other experts say research is complicated because
domestic factors are also to blame for the recent rise in smog
across Japan, which has taken pride in its efforts to cut
emissions since its days of rapid economic growth in the 1970s.
For example, while emissions from cars have been restricted,
those from paint and gasoline vapours, which also contribute to
smog, have been harder to control. Smog can also be exacerbated
by strong sunlight.
The Environment Ministry asked a group of academics and local
health officials last month to carry out a study on pollution
trends, but detailed research into the causes could take years.
"Research to base environmental policies on requires a lot of
time and money," said Hajime Akimoto, programme director at the
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, noting that
the United States spent a decade on research before it took steps
against cross-border pollution.
"Research like that in Japan could take another five years."
As a first step, government officials say Japan is working
together with China to measure its pollution, although the
country still lacks high-tech equipment to analyse some
pollutants such as ozone.
Ohara at the National Institute of Environmental Studies said
the region could in future look to the example of the Convention
on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, an agreement to cut
pollution under the UN Economic Commission for Europe signed by
countries such as the United States and Canada.
"If it becomes clear that the effects of cross-border
pollution are big, then it will be imperative to create
international regulatory rules within East Asia, similar to
Europe," he said.
