A Tale of Two Asias: Air Pollution and Its Management in Asia - A Comparative Case Study Analysis

Author : Arin Baswana
​Scottish High International School, Gurugram

---

Abstract

​Asia, in its prioritisation on economic development over the environment, has some of the most polluted countries in the world. At the same time, there are other Asian countries, particularly Japan, that have made the effort to address the effects of economic development on the environment. The aim of this research study was to conduct a comparative case study analysis of the phenomenon of air pollution in Asia by analysing the air quality data of 24 different countries across three different years, as measured by the Air Quality Index (AQI). These Asian countries were divided into good air quality and poor air quality countries to capture the extent of the disparity of their experience of air pollution. A two-way ANOVA without replication was used to analyse the data to compare the main effects of AQI between the two categories of countries (good and bad air quality). Finally, there was no interactive effect between air quality and the year.  The potential reasons were discussed in detail for the level average AQI of these countries throughout the 3 years. These findings gave us clear statistics of the Air Quality in the different regions of the continent. A qualitative analysis of how a sampling of Asian countries had been addressing three specific areas of air pollution—power generation, waste management, and public transport—offers insights as to the underlying discrepancies between the AQI of the good and poor air quality countries. The measures implemented by good air quality countries can provide insights as to how poor air quality Asian countries could be improving their management of these areas. 

---

Research Paper :

A Tale of Two Asias: Air Pollution and Its Management in Asia
File Size:	246 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---