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The design of air pollution control policies is a complex decision-making process. Public participation can enhance the legitimacy and effectiveness of environmental urban regulations but does not always occur naturally. This article presents the experience of the use of role-playing in six mid-sized cities in southern Chile to evaluate how residents affected by high concentrations of fine particulate matter perceive the problem and debate possible solutions. For this, the participants were asked to assume the role of advisors. On that premise, they had to prioritize between a series of mitigation measures and reach a consensus with other advisors. The results show the potential of role-playing games, on the one hand, to promote critical thinking and argument skills among the general public and, on the other, to help policymakers in the design of more operative and fair plans of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have shown a relationship between air pollution and increased vulnerability and mortality due to COVID-19. Most of these studies have looked at developed countries. This study examines the relationship between long-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19-related deaths in four countries of Latin America that have been highly affected by the pandemic: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. Our results suggest that an increase in long-term exposure of 1 μg/m3 of fine particles is associated with a 2.7 percent increase in the COVID-19 mortality rate. This relationship is found primarily in municipalities of metropolitan areas, where urban air pollution sources dominate, and air quality guidelines are usually exceeded. By focusing the analysis on Latin America, we provide a first glimpse on the role of air pollution as a risk factor for COVID-19 mortality within a context characterized by weak environmental institutions, limited health care capacity and high levels of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution in urban areas is one of the most severe environmental problems facing developing and transition economies. In Chile, many cities exceed the World Health Organization's norms for ambient concentration of particulate matter. In this paper, we analyze the factors explaining individuals' perceptions on fuelwood as the main cause of air pollution in urban areas and their willingness to ban this fuel to counteract its negative effects. We also explore variation across these perceptions and preferences based on individuals' degree of familiarity with air pollution and the extent to which they are affected by the regulation in place. Using data from the fourth environmental survey in Chile, we estimate an ordered bivariate probit model to account for a potential link between these perceptions and preferences. Results reveal a disconnect between perception of the problem and preferences for regulation to the extent that individuals are more likely to be affected by the regulation (i.e., fuelwood users and regulated cities). We also find that lower-income individuals are less willing to accept a fuelwood ban, and that the level of air pollution matters in shaping individuals' perceptions on the causes of poor air quality and preferences for regulations, although this depends on the measures used. Finally, we find evidence that pro-environmental behavior in other domains negatively affects the perception prohibiting fuelwood use. Thus, from a policy design perspective, it is essential to consider individuals' perceptions on environmental issues and preferences for regulations, because they might be linked with feasibility of implementation and compliance. • Poor air quality is regarded as one of the most urgent environmental and health problems. • Fuelwood for home heating is the main source of air pollution in central-southern Chile. • We analyze the motives explaining individual perceptions and regulations for poor air quality. • We find that both will depend on the extent that people are affected by the regulation. • This is important as linked with feasibility of implementation and compliance of policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goal: The relationship between air pollution and human health has been widely studied in medicine and economics. However, only a few recent articles have estimated the direct impact of air pollution on academic achievement. Methodology: We collect daily air pollution data from all monitoring stations in the city of Santiago, Chile, and combine it with academic results recorded by the National Learning Outcome Assessment System of (SIMCE in Spanish) for fourth grade students over the past decade, to create a unique pooled cross-sectional dataset. Results: Applying different econometric strategies, we find that certain air pollutants have a negative impact on the test scores of the cohort. Our estimated effects are negative and statistically significant, ranging between 0.02 and 0.06 standard deviations. Conclusions: These results seem to be small, but are equivalent to around 30% of a successful educational policy that specifically targets performance. Recommendations: Public policy must consider the positive externalities of reducing air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Settleable particulate matter (SPM) is an atmospheric pollutant harmful to human health and the environment in high concentrations. Despite this fact, no up‐to‐date information on SPM levels exists for the capital of Chile, Santiago (7 million inhabitants). To address this knowledge gap, SPM sedimentation rates, including soluble and insoluble components, were measured at three different urban sites from July to November of 2016. We compare the measurements with ambient and meteorological information, as well as urban typology settings. Our results indicate SPM deposition rates between 2.5 and 3.9 g/(m2·30 days). Only one site exceeded the national limit of 4.5 g/(m2·30 days), but we found an increasing trend in all three sites. SPM and its insoluble sedimentation rates increased during warm and dry months and presented significant correlations with meteorological parameters. The highest sedimentation rates were measured at the location with the least permeable surfaces and the lowest green spaces, while the lowest sedimentation rates were found in the sites with abundant green spaces and permeable soil. No significant differences were detected in the soluble components. Our results suggest that SPM levels in Santiago are close to the national limit and may increase with climate change and urban expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chile is one of the worst countries in Latin America in terms of urban air pollution. This situation negatively affects the health and well-being of Chileans. This paper uses a non-traditional valuation method, based on life satisfaction perception, to estimate citizens' willingness to pay (WTP) for the reduction of air pollution in Chilean cities. We consider the annual average of PM10 and PM2.5 for 70 municipalities, including the main urban areas. An objective measure of air pollution is linked to a subjective measure of life satisfaction by using the main survey of households in Chile for cross-sectional socioeconomic data. According to our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind in Latin American and, in the case of PM2.5 reductions, one of the first cases at the world level. We found that our estimation of WTP for reducing PM10 and PM2.5 emissions are significantly lower in Chilean cities than in most of the results found in the literature in other countries. However, when comparing this paper results to the ones from other Chilean studies, perspectives vary, e.g., our estimation of WTP for reducing MP10 is higher than one obtained when using the damage function approach but comparable to another obtained with the hedonic prices approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data simulated for occupancy profiles, usually based on standard occupancy schedules, must be validated against real measurements, and many studies have pointed out the gap between them. This problem is more pronounced in homes that are not heated by grid-connected energy sources, such as wood-burning stoves, because the meter cannot provide a real-time estimate. In Central-South Chile, 74% of homes are heated by wood stoves, causing an acute problem of air pollution in several urban areas. The government is trying to solve this problem, but at the moment there is no data on occupancy profiles, hence it is not possible to estimate the energy intensity for heating. This exploratory study aims to clarify to what extent occupancy profiles can be estimated from PM 2.5 pollution levels. To this end, publicly available data on PM 2.5 concentrations in 17 cities in central-south Chile was used as a proxy to build occupancy schedules for homes heated by wood stoves. The results show that there is a clear relationship between pollution levels and occupancy intensity, and that the latter does not follow the schedules outlined in international standards or building codes. The results and methodology can be replicated in cities where air pollution is driven by wood stoves, allowing public authorities to have access to accurate occupancy schedules and providing them with reliable data to address local air pollution problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the twentieth century, urban development in Chile and Latin America has produced cities segregated according to the level of income of their inhabitants, thereby deepening the conditions of inequality of the population by generating homogeneous poor areas. This inequality is not only limited to the population's income, but also to the distribution of urban opportunities and costs to which this population is subjected. One of these costs is the location of waste dumps, which are situated in the districts that have a high level of poverty, where the social housing provided by the government subsidy system and managed by the construction business sector is also located. This means that there is a relationship between garbageproducing districts and garbage-receiving districts, an issue that is growing due to the traditional garbage management system in Chile. In this context, this article aims to analyze the consequences of the unsustainable waste management system and its relationship to the system of subsidiary social housing in Chile, specifically in the Santiago Metropolitan Region. For the above, the case of Villa Estaciones Ferroviaria of Puente Alto is analyzed. Built in the early 1990s, it was provided to the public through housing subsidy programs and is located on a former landfill. This research suggests that the reactive approach to domestic waste management be reconsidered in order to make it preventative. In other words, the main task of the waste disposal system --which has space, land and disease problems-- should become the reduction, reuse, recycling and sustainable elimination of waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the design of an economic incentive based program – a subsidy – to induce adoption of more efficient technology in a pollution reduction program in southern Chile. Stated preferences methods, contingent valuation (CV), and choice experiment (CE) are used to estimate the probability of adoption and the willingness to share the cost of a new technology by a household. The cost-effectiveness property of different subsidy schemes is explored numerically for different regulatory objectives. Our results suggest that households are willing to participate in voluntary programs and to contribute by paying a share of the cost of adopting more efficient technologies. We find that attributes of the existing and the new technology, beyond the price, are relevant determinant factors of the participation decision and payment. Limited access to credit markets for low income families can be a major barrier for an effective implementation of these types of programs. Variations in the design of the subsidy and on the regulator's objective and constraints can have significant impact on the level and the cost of reduction of aggregate emissions achieved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Estimating the specific effects of a complete reform of the public transit system of a large city is a difficult task due to the confounding effects that will usually mask the impact of interest. In this study we estimate the impact of the complete reform of the public transport system in Santiago, Chile, named Transantiago, on a specific aspect of interest: particulate matter air pollution levels in the city. Using a regression model with daily panel data from air quality monitoring stations, we conclude that Transantiago reduced the daily average MP10 concentration levels in at least 3,9μg /m3. This generales health benefits estimated to be close to US$ 200 million a year in our medium scenario, 12% of which correspond to lower public sector health expenditure. If the data for the first year of operation of the system (when it was not yet in steady-state) are excluded the estimated reduction in MP10 levels is even higher. Other effects of Transantiago, positive as well as negative, would need to be estimated in order to obtain a comprehensive evaluation of the reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Urban pollution episodes pose two relevant issues: a) was the episode controlled by specific meteorology, a rise of emissions or both? b) Were mitigation measures effective in curbing down pollution? A methodology for answering those questions comes from an inverse modeling approach. In this work we have applied the methodology to the city of Santiago, Chile for which the required input data are available. We use a Kalman filter and ambient observations to constrain sources of tracers such as CO, elemental carbon and suspended street dust. The period analyzed is the week from May 20th till May 26th 2005. We find that a posteriori CO emissions were 76% of the a priori estimates. For suspended street dust a posteriori values are 36% and 21% of the prior values for coarse and fine fractions, respectively. Elemental carbon emissions are underestimated in the prior inventory – we find a correction factor of 1.53 for the whole week. Sensitivity analyses tested the robustness of a posteriori estimates, generating ensembles of simulations for different modeling options. For different initial prior estimates, the ratio of standard deviation to mean values was below 0.20 for 75% of the a posteriori, estimated emissions. For different choices of the error covariance matrices and model errors those ratios were below 0.30 for 75% of a posteriori emissions, which shows the robustness of results for different parameter choices – only a small fraction of results were not significant. The high pollution peaks on May 21st are due to specific meteorological conditions and increased traffic emissions as well. Contingency measures taken on Sunday May 22nd and better dispersion conditions on Monday May 23rd stopped the accumulation of those pollutants, showing the effectiveness of short term strategies such as traffic bans and street sweeping operations in curbing down traffic pollution at Santiago. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

High concentration of fine airborne particulates is considered one of the major environmental pollutants in Santiago, the Chilean Capital city, which in 1997 was declared a PM10 saturated zone. To date there is no control of the amounts of fine and coarse aerosols concentrations and the source and chemical characterizations of the PM2.5 particulates in the carbonaceous fractions are not well known even though this fraction could be represented almost the 50% in mass of the PM2.5. In this work, we present for the first time determinations of primary organic aerosol (POA) and secondary organic aerosol composition (SOA) fractions of the total mass of PM2.5 particulates collected in the urban atmosphere of Santiago City. Our purpose is to know the anthropogenic contributions to the formation of SOA. To accomplish this we used the elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) determinations developed by automatic monitoring stations installed in the city during the period 2002–2005, with a particular analysis of the summer time occurred in February 2004. Based on the EC tracer method, we have estimated the POA and SOA fraction and our data permit us to estimate the SOA reaching up to 20% of total organic aerosol matter, in good agreement to other measurements observed in large cities of Europe and U.S.A. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Air quality time series consists of complex linear and non-linear patterns and are difficult to forecast. Box–Jenkins Time Series (ARIMA) and multilinear regression (MLR) models have been applied to air quality forecasting in urban areas, but they have limited accuracy owing to their inability to predict extreme events. Artificial neural networks (ANN) can recognize non-linear patterns that include extremes. A novel hybrid model combining ARIMA and ANN to improve forecast accuracy for an area with limited air quality and meteorological data was applied to Temuco, Chile, where residential wood burning is a major pollution source during cold winters, using surface meteorological and PM10 measurements. Experimental results indicated that the hybrid model can be an effective tool to improve the PM10 forecasting accuracy obtained by either of the models used separately, and compared with a deterministic MLR. The hybrid model was able to capture 100% and 80% of alert and pre-emergency episodes, respectively. This approach demonstrates the potential to be applied to air quality forecasting in other cities and countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A project has been undertaken to carry out a long term study on atmospheric air pollution in Chile using biomonitors. Samples of different species of lichens were collected in clean areas (native forest), analyzed and transplanted to the Santiago Metropolitan Area. In addition, samples of Tillandsia recurvata were collected in the Metropolitan Area for comparison purposes. The preparation of the samples was done under controlled, cryogenic conditions and analyzed by neutron activation analysis and solid sampling atomic absorption spectrometry. As part of the routine QA/QC procedures, the analytical laboratories, have participated in intercomparison runs organized by the IAEA for the determination of trace and minor elements in two lichens samples. The present paper describes the activities carried out within the framework of this project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ice and snow in the Central Andes contain significant amounts of light-absorbing particles such as black carbon. The consequent accelerated melting of the cryosphere is not only a threat from a climate perspective but also for water resources and snow-dependent species and activities, worsened by the mega-drought affecting the region since the last decade. Given its proximity to the Andes, emissions from the Metropolitan Area of Santiago, Chile, are believed to be among the main contributors to deposition on glaciers. However, no evidence backs such an assertion, especially given the usually subsident and stable conditions in wintertime, when the snowpack is at its maximum extent. Based on high-resolution chemistry-transport modeling with WRF-CHIMERE, the present work shows that, for the month of July 2015, up to 40% of black carbon dry deposition on snow or ice covered areas in the Central Andes downwind from the Metropolitan area can be attributed to emissions from Santiago. Through the analysis of aerosol tracers we determine (i) that the areas of the Metropolitan Area where emissions matter most when it comes to export towards glaciers are located in Eastern Santiago near the foothills of the Andes, (ii) the crucial role of the network of Andean valleys that channels pollutants up to remote locations near glaciers, following gentle slopes. A direct corollary is that severe urban pollution, and deposition of impurities on the Andes, are anti-correlated phenomena. Finally, a two-variable meteorological index is developed that accounts for the dynamics of aerosol export towards the Andes, based on the zonal wind speed over the urban area, and the vertical diffusion coefficient in the valleys close to ice and snow covered terrain. Numerous large urban areas are found along the Andes so that the processes studied here can shed light on similar investigations for other glaciers-dependent Andean regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Particulate matter (PM) pollution is a serious environmental problem. Santiago of Chile is one of the most polluted cities in the world in terms of PM2.5 and PM10. Monitoring of environmental risk is useful for detecting and preventing adverse effects on human health in highly polluted cities. In this paper, we propose a methodology for monitoring PM pollution in Santiago based on bivariate quality control charts and an asymmetric distribution. A simulation study is carried out to evaluate performance of the proposed methodology. A case study with PM pollution real‐world data from Santiago is provided, which shows that the methodology is suitable to alert early episodes of extreme air pollution. The results are in agreement with the critical episodes reported with the current model used by the Chilean health authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]