Air pollution and its threat to public health in Asia

Section 2 begins with Lee Liu in “Air pollution and its threat to public health in Asia.” Dr. Liu writes that air pollution presents a severe threat to environmental, social, and economic sustainability in Asia, and contributes to climate change, resulting in both desertification and rising sea levels in Asia. Access to clean air is essential to human life, but threatens sustainability in many parts of the world, especially Asia. In this chapter, Dr. Liu examines air pollution in Asian countries and then takes China as a case study on variations within a country. Liu explores how air pollution threatens sustainability in Asia in terms of its impact on human health and then uses Asia as an example to challenge the notion that developing countries cannot combat pollution at earlier stages.