Only fifteen urban areas in Spain have effective protocols against episodes of air pollution -when the concentration of atmospheric pollutants exceeds health or legal levels- and furthermore, none of them are adapted to the state framework protocol approved in 2021, as Ecologistas en Acción warns this Friday. In this case, Malaga is one of the cities that lacks these protocols.
This is the situation despite the fact that, in 2007, the state air quality and atmospheric protection law forced the adoption of this type of instruments to protect public health in all agglomerations and municipalities with a population of more than 100,000 inhabitants (sixty-four currently), according to the organization, in a press release.
These are the Asturian cities of Avilés, Gijón and Oviedo (through an autonomous protocol) and the town councils of A Coruña, Barcelona, Gijón, León, Madrid, Murcia, Seville, Valencia, Valladolid and Zaragoza, in addition to the main towns of the metropolitan areas of Barcelona and Madrid, applying regional protocols.
Cities as relevant as Alicante, Bilbao, Cartagena, Córdoba, Elche, Granada, MálagaPalma, Las Palmas, Pamplona, Santa Cruz, Vigo or Vitoria “they lack protocols against contamination episodes”despite the fact that the Government and the autonomous communities approved the short-term Framework Action Plan for air pollution episodes in July 2021.
The few protocols against episodes of poor air quality in force to date are “very disparate, both in the pollutants considered (generally particles and/or nitrogen dioxide) and in the thresholds for the application of the measures and the scope of “the same, which should incorporate immediate and extensive restrictions on the circulation of automobiles or the specific sources responsible for the episodes, in each case.”
More than 10,000 deaths a year
The organization ecologist explains that air pollution episodes are responsible in Spain for more than 10,000 premature deaths, every year, according to the Carlos III Health Institute and the Ministry of Health. “Pollution has a very relevant short-term health impact, sixfolding the mortality from traffic accidents.”
The organization recalls, in the note, that the publication this week of a Royal Decree reiterates the obligation to apply instruments against pollution in all autonomous communities and in town councils with more than 100,000 inhabitants at risk of suffering episodes of pollution. poor air quality.
This is a positive initiative, although “it does not establish a maximum approval period, except for the adaptation of the protocols in force or in preparation to the State Framework Action Plan, which the administrations responsible for them should address in this month of January. “warns Ecologists in Action.
Said Royal Decree that modifies the regulations for improving air quality, establishes minimum thresholds of activation, information and alert for the main atmospheric pollutants, among which alert thresholds appear for the first time for the most dangerous pollutants, although they are higher than those set by the World Health Organization (WHO), “so that are insufficient,” laments the environmental group.
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