Air pollution is dirty secret in UAE, says rights group

Human Rights Watch says country’s air pollution is dangerously high but there is little public criticism

The United Arab Emirates’ vast fossil fuel production is contributing to dangerously high air pollution levels, creating health risks for its people and migrant workers in addition to heating the planet, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.

HRW analysis of data from 30 government ground monitoring stations in September 2023 found that average levels of PM2.5 (very small toxic particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and easily enter the bloodstream) were almost three times the daily recommended levels under the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines.

An estimated 1,872 people a year die from outdoor air pollution in the UAE, where migrants account for 88% of the population and virtually all outdoor workers, who face the highest risks. The sky has been hazy with pollution on most days since thousands of delegates descended on Dubai for Cop28, with daily air quality readings up to five times above the WHO’s air quality recommendations.

The UAE, like many other countries including the US, Norway and the UK, is expanding its oil and gas operations despite scientific consensus that fossil fuels must be phased out if the world is to avoid the most catastrophic climate impacts. State-run oil and gas fields have been flaring gas virtually daily despite having committed 20 years ago to a policy of zero routine flaring, the Guardian revealed last month.

“Fossil fuels pollute the air people breathe in the UAE,” said Richard Pearshouse, HRW’s environment director. “But the obliteration of civil society by UAE’s government means that no one can publicly express concerns, let alone criticise the government’s failure to prevent this harm.”

The UAE government says the country has poor air quality but mainly ascribes this to dust from sandstorms.

HRW reviewed and analysed government air pollution data from 2018 to 2023, satellite-derived data and government reports, as well as interviewing migrants who work outdoors, exiled Emiratis, academics and environmental groups. The average 2022 concentration of PM10 (particles with a diameter of between 2.5 and 10 microns) taken from 50 sites was more than eight times the yearly WHO recommendation.

Migrant workers reported breathing air that burned their lungs, breathlessness and itchy skin, but had little information about the risks and no one to ask for help.

Over the past decade, UAE authorities have targeted human rights activists including environmentalists, using laws and the courts to silence critics. People in the UAE wanting to report on or speak out about the risks of fossil fuel expansion and its links to air pollution face the risk of unlawful surveillance, arrest, detention and ill-treatment, according to the HRW report.

There have been virtually no Emirati climate or environmental activists at Cop28.

“Air pollution is a dirty secret in the UAE,” Pearshouse said. “If the government doesn’t allow civil society to scrutinise and speak freely about the connection between air pollution and its fossil fuel industry, people will keep experiencing health conditions that are entirely preventable.”

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