As the traffic light turns red, he seizes the chance to offer drinks and snacks to drivers, or jumps on a bus to sell them to passengers.

Like thousands of other Lima residents, he works on the street, in the middle of the traffic.

Street vendors amble between exhaust pipes, oblivious to the danger surrounding them.

“I don’t know if the pollution is affecting my health. I don’t really know... but in any case I have no other choice if I want to work,” Mario tells Equal Times.

There is, in fact, already ample proof of the impact of the fine particles in the air in Lima. Over 5,000 people died as a result of this pollution between 2007 and 2011, according to a study by the Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social – CIES (Economic and Social Research Consortium).

The Peruvian capital is one of the most polluted towns in Latin America, according to a study published in 2014 by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

According to the WHO study, the average concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 was between 38 and 63 micrograms per m³, far in excess of the maximum levels recommended by the organisation (10 and 20 micrograms per m³).

The chief cause of these deaths has been clearly identified. The CIES report highlights that 80 per cent are caused by Lima’s public transport.

There is only one metro line and a second one under construction in this city of over nine million inhabitants. “Green” buses run along a lane reserved for them in the middle of the express way used by thousands of polluting vehicles every day.

There are a few modern buses but the most common means of transport are the “combis”. At all hours of the day, the streets are filled with these minivans carrying around ten people.

They may form part of the city’s charm for tourists, but they are, above all, the symbol of transport that is not being renewed.

As Susan Villaran, former mayor of Lima, highlighted during a hearing before Congress “52 per cent of Lima’s buses and combis (12,050 vehicles) are over 20 years old”.

One of the measures taken to tackle the problem was to reserve certain routes for new municipal buses. Almost a year later, the experiment has been far from fruitful, and older vehicles, exploiting the lax controls, have made their way back.

Urgent situation

Doris La Chira, a lung specialist at Solidaridad Salud del Municipio de Lima (Health Solidarity of the Municipality of Lima) raises the alarm during our meeting with her in the Santa Anita district in east Lima.

“This really is an urgent situation. The amount of toxic substances in the air in Lima is extremely high. Industries, public transport, cars, open dumps, tyre burning... the sources of pollution are countless. And it has a serious impact on the respiratory and cardiovascular system, the eyes, the skin,” she tells Equal Times.

The pollution affects different segments of the population unevenly. “The most affected are those who spend a large part of their day in the streets: hawkers, police officers, bus and taxi drivers...”

In some areas, such as Abancay Avenue or the historic centre of Lima, where the traffic is always congested, just moving around there can be harmful for vulnerable people,” explains Marco Alegre, director of Grupo Gea, a Peruvian NGO that works on the concept of sustainable cities.

Poorer neighbourhoods the hardest hit

The situation is very different at one end of Lima and the other. Most of Lima’s more affluent areas are located by the coast.

The poorer neighbourhoods are in the eastern part of the city, at the gateway to the desert. They are doubly disadvantaged. Poverty brings increased pollution, with older cars, open dumps and weaker public policies.

San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima’s most populous district (1 million inhabitants) has only 0.3 m² of green space per person – nowhere near the 12 m² recommended by the WHO.

Making matters worse is the climate. “There is the temperature inversion phenomenon in Lima. The ocean currents push the pollution back inland but it is then blocked by the small mountains bordering the city, where these neighbourhoods are,” Marco Alegre explains to Equal Times.

Doris La Chira, who also regularly works in these neighbourhoods, adds that “The number of patients with allergies or respiratory problems is constantly rising. It is essential that the people of Lima become aware of the need to look after their environment.”

Although the lack of environmental culture in Peru is an issue often raised, very slow progress is being made in tackling the situation.

Air pollution has been among Limeans’ main concerns for a number of years now.

Thirty five per cent of the inhabitants questioned by the citizen observatory “Lima Cómo Vamos” said the issue worried them.

“Over the last few years, people have started to take an interest in the environment. They don’t realise how pollution affects the environment or their health, but they do realise that the air pollution caused by the traffic or industry is a real problem,” underlines Mariana Alegre, the general coordinator of the project.

“It is the new generation that is the best informed,” she adds.

Their only greater concerns are crime and... public transport.