PUBH6002: Environmental Risk Assessment - Air Quality in Australia

This report, prepared for PUBH6002: Global and Environmental Health Issues, analyzes air quality in Australia as a critical environmental health issue. It employs the Driving Forces-Pressures-State-Exposure-Effects-Actions (DPSEEA) framework to assess the impact of factors like population growth, vehicular emissions, and industrial activities on air quality. The report examines the pressures exerted by these factors, the current state of air quality, and the resulting exposure and health effects, including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. It identifies gaps in the DPSEEA framework, such as political will, and concludes with recommendations for government agencies to enforce existing policies and legislation. The study highlights the importance of monitoring and managing air quality to protect public health and outlines the need for actions to mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution.

Running Head: AIR QUALITY IN AUSTRALIA
Air quality in Australia
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AIR QUALITY IN AUSTRALIA 2
Air quality in Australia
Part one
Introduction
The environment plays a key role in the health and wellbeing of human beings and is also
a significant determinant of health. The environment offers our basic needs including fresh water
and clean air. Environmental health is used to describe the aspects of health which are linked to
the environment via psychological, social, chemical, biological and physical factors. A basic
feature of the environmental health indicators is that they offer information concerning a
scientifically based linkage between health and the environment. The indicators allow data
conversion to information by summarising the intricate association between health and
environment, as well as presenting them in a way that can be easily interpreted by the consumers
like the policy-makers (Gentry-Shields & Bartram, 2014). The designing of a good
environmental health indicator is a daunting task because they must meet numerous criteria to be
effective. More particular criteria state that environmental health indicators must offer a
meaningful and relevant summary of the circumstances of interest in a manner which meets the
end-user requirements. They must also be testable, transparent, sensitive to the actual or real
changes in the circumstances they measure as well as being scientifically sound. The
environmental health indicators must also use routinely gathered data and information as well as
be cost-effective to produce and apply. This descriptive study shows a key selected
environmental health issue in Australia. The study, indicators covers a host of factors of
environmental health using the Driving Forces-Pressures-State-Exposure-Effects-Actions
(DPSEEA) framework as established by the World Health Organization. The paper will critically
examine the air quality indicator using the DPSEEA framework.

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Background information
Air quality is a global issue which is also a critically significant aspect of environmental
health in Australia. In many urban regions around the world, especially in developing nations,
deteriorating air quality is a big environmental concern. It should be noted that poor air quality
affects the life of human beings as well as contributes to the degradation of the environment (PR
Newswire, 2019). Air pollution has been declared as one of the most causes of the international
burden of injury and disease. It is approximated that emissions from automobiles kill twice as
numerous individuals as care accidents. Moreover, there are increasing international awareness
on the adverse levels of outdoor and indoor air pollution coming from the use of biomass and
coal for heating as well as coking in the developing nations. in the urban areas of Australia, the
major sources of air pollutants entail wood smoke, automobile emissions, and industry. It should
be noted that bushfires are also other sources of pollution in certain parts of Australia. Exposure
to air pollutants and other particulates in the air has been linked to significant impacts of public
health and is presently tightly associated to a broad range of health outcomes entailing
respiratory diseases, fibrosis, cardiovascular diseases and emphysema.
For this paper, the following have been defined; Driving forces are described widely as
the social and economic activities which put pressure on the quality of the environment. For
instance, the Australian population has been exponentially growing while there has been an
increasing number of migrants over the past two decades. Pressures entail significant factors of
human habitation as well as the exploitation and use of the resources in the country. State of the
environment entail factors like the quality and availability of the natural resources, the degree of
the environmental pollution, in plants, water, soil and air, as well as the frequency of the
environmental hazards. Exposure occurs when individuals are exposed to natural or

AIR QUALITY IN AUSTRALIA 4
environmental hazards that consequently affect their health (Gentry-Shields & Bartram, 2014).
On the other hand, effects occur when an individual who was exposed to environmental hazards
suffer health effects, and the effects differ in their types, scale and intensity (Navi, Pisaniello,
Hansen & Nitschke, 2017). Lastly, actions entail programs, interventions and policies which are
taken to prevent, manage and control health effects of an environmental issue.
Driving force for air quality in Australia
Population growth has been considered as the major driving force in water quality.
Changes or population dynamics in Australia is driven by the mortality rate, birth rate as well as
immigration. It should be noted that an increase in the human population may be positive
environmental health results via economic growth and development and enhanced funding
programs like those which are to sustainable development and environmental issues (Chang et
al. 2018). Nevertheless, there can result in adverse negative effects on the development and
growth of the human population. Rapid human population development and growth without
accompanying provision of services and infrastructure like water supply may place heavy
demands on our environment. Increased population growth will signify an increased
consumption of energy-driven products. For instance, many Australians have purchased cars, and
more cars are being manufactured to meet the current demand of the market (PR Newswire,
2018). Population density is a vital driving force for environmental health since it can impact on
the ecosystems and the environment in both a negative and positive manner. For instance, high
population density may enhance sustainable development if planned or organised effectively.
Thus, population growth is the main driving force to the poor air quality not only in Australia but
also in other nations of the world.

AIR QUALITY IN AUSTRALIA 5
Pressures of air quality in Australia
With the increase in the population growth and development, there will be pressures on
the energy-driven technologies to meet both the primary, secondary and tertiary needs. For
instance, with high population density, the people of Australia have bought or purchased a
significant number of vehicles both for public and private transport. The increased number of
automobiles has led to an increase in the vehicular emissions in the country which have led to air
pollution. Vehicular emissions not only have pollutants also contain greenhouse gases like
carbon dioxide which are responsible for global warming which consequently results in climate
change (Mukkavilli et al. 2019). With the increased number of vehicles and increased innovation
in the technology sector, the average age of motor vehicles has reduced since people desire to
have the latest models. The disposed vehicles are poorly managed which further exacerbate the
effects of air quality. Moreover, with the increase in population density, there are demands for
household coal or wood fuel which are also the primary causes of both indoor and outdoor air
pollution.
State of air quality in Australia
The quality of that we breathe usually affects our wellbeing and health. Even tough air
quality in Australia is better as compared to numerous comparable nations; it is vital to ensure
that there are guidelines to monitor and control the quality of air (Emmerson, Hibberd, Cope &
Holper, 2015). The current air quality in terms of the World Health Organizations is below the
globally accepted level as stated by the national environment protection council. The main
reason to this scenario is due to the increased air pollution caused by an increased number of
vehicles in the country, increased use of coal and wood fuel as well as an increased number of
manufacturing industries.

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Exposure and effects of air quality
With poor air quality in the country, the number of people exposed to pollutants and
particulates has increased. These people are at risk of developing health complications which can
cause injury, illness o even death. It should be noted that long term exposure to ambient air
pollutants can result in a reduction in life expectancy. The rise in lung cancer and
cardiopulmonary deaths are the major reasons for the decrease in life expectancy in the country.
Decreased functioning of the lung in adults and children lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease as well as asthmatic bronchitis which are also adverse diseases. Life expectancy in the
country has been significantly reduced. Cognitive function in children is highly reduced when
children are exposed to various air pollutants and particulate. Exposure to lead has serious health
effects on human beings (Bridgman, 2014). Mostly, exposure to lead pollutants is usually
chronic without general signs and symptoms. Lead pollutants affect various parts of the body,
cardiovascular, as well as respiratory systems yet the main target for lead is the nervous system.
Issue not captured by the DPSEEA framework
The other political, social and economic influences for air quality not captured by the
framework is the reduced political will on the execution of the relevant policies and guidelines
on purchasing of vehicles, population growth control and use of heavy metals for industrial
purposes. Political actions are very important in the implementation of policies related to air
quality and population density yet the government has taken a gradual process in executing these
policies (Gamas, Dodder, Loughlin & Gage, 2015).

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Part two
Actions and interventions on air quality
By higher standards, the quality of air in the country is very clean, yet there is still work
to be done. The government has come up with the national clean air agreement to aid the
government to prioritise actions to solve air quality challenge (Envirosuite Limited, 2017). The
territories and the state have the basic responsibility of managing and monitoring the air quality
in the locations. The government of Australia takes a lead responsibility in national issues like
vehicle emissions, fuel quality and executing the obligation of the state. There is other legislation
which is put in place to protect the environment like product emissions standards act of 2017,
ambient air quality measure, etc. The public is supposed to observe these legislations to protect
the quality of air (Biton, 2017). Moreover, nongovernmental organizations concerned with the
provision of healthcare services are supposed to provide financial support to the state and federal
government to help in creating renewable and green energy that do not pollute the environment.
Conclusion and recommendation
After reviewing the current policies, I have recommended that serious actions should be
taken especially by the government agencies to fully execute the policies and legislation on air
quality (PR Newswire, 2019). The existing air quality legislation and policies have clear
guidelines with poor execution strategy.

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