New Northern Ireland air pollution dashboard launched

The ADR Northern Ireland partner, ADRC NI, has launched an online air pollution dashboard that allows the public to input a postcode for anywhere in Northern Ireland to see levels of air pollution in their area.

The dashboard also lets the public view how levels of air pollution have changed over time and whether they exceed the new WHO guideline threshold levels, above which pollution leads to ill health.

Every year worldwide, exposure to air pollution is estimated to cause seven million premature deaths and result in the loss of millions more healthy years of life. In children, this could include reduced lung growth and function, respiratory infections and aggravated asthma. In adults, heart disease and stroke are the most common causes of premature death attributable to outdoor air pollution, and evidence is also emerging of other effects such as diabetes and diseases of the brain and nervous system like Alzheimer’s.

Although outdoor air pollution has been falling in Northern Ireland for most of the last 17 years, many of the population are still exposed to pollution levels well above the WHO recommended thresholds.

The research team, led by Professor Duncan McVicar from Queen’s Management School, found that in the most recent year for which data was available (2016), 87% of the Northern Ireland population lived in areas where PM2.5 (fine-grained particulate matter) pollution exceeded the threshold, and 37% lived in areas where NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) pollution exceeded the threshold.

Dr Neil Rowland, Research Fellow at Queen’s University and Regional Clean Air Champion for Northern Ireland, said: “Air pollution has become much more widely recognised as a public health issue in recent years. The dashboard makes visible something that seems very abstract – the degree to which our air is polluted – and connects it to impacts on health and wellbeing through the broader research programme."

“Having access to reliable information on air pollution empowers the public and gives decision makers the best possible evidence to design interventions to benefit society.”

Professor Gerry Leavey of Ulster University said: “In a time when climate change and air pollution are major concerns, this tool has great potential to assist the public in assessing exposure to local levels of air pollution, and for policymakers to use as evidence in designing policy and service interventions to support public health.”