People in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo struggled to deal with the city’s air pollution on Wednesday, a day after an environmental monitor showed it had some of the most polluted air in the world.
“I choked so much that I felt sick,” commented local resident Kenan Hidic. Another, who identified herself as Sefika, said she could also barely breathe.
Sarajevo’s air quality was classified as “dangerous” on Tuesday (21), according to IQAir, which monitors pollution levels.
The city has almost no polluting industries, as they were destroyed during the Bosnian war in the 1990s, but it is in a valley surrounded by mountains and hills.
Due to its location, it has long suffered from a phenomenon known as thermal inversion, which pushes colder air and pollutants from vehicles and fossil fuels closer to the ground.
Mixed with fog, polluted air can remain stagnant for days, meaning the city often suffers from smog in winter.
Pollution in the Western Balkan countries remains quite high due to home heating, outdated coal plants, old cars and a lack of money to solve the problem.
Despite their relatively small size, Sarajevo and Serbia’s capital Belgrade often top daily global pollution charts, according to websites that monitor air quality around the world.
This not only has major health impacts, but could also harm these countries’ prospects of joining the European Union, which has stricter emissions standards.
This content was originally published in Bosnia fights against air pollution classified as “dangerous” on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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