U.N. report reference to Moradabad as among world’s noisiest cities may be flawed

A perusal of the UNEP research paper suggests no reference to Moradabad but mentions noise levels in Aurangabad, Chandigarh and Kolkata.

A report in February commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) may have wrongly marked out Moradabad, in Uttar Pradesh, as the second-noisiest city in the world.

The report,  Frontiers 2022: Noise, Blazes and Mismatches has a chapter  Listening to Cities: From Noisy Environments to Positive Soundscapes delves into the harm from excessive noise levels and illustrates the decibel range of noise levels in 60 cities around the world.

Dhaka, Bangladesh, is marked out as having the highest sound levels — 119 decibels (dB). Next on the list is Moradabad, India, with a value of 114 dB and followed by Islamabad, Pakistan, with a max dB of 105.

While the report is made of a compilation of disparate research studies that have measured noise levels in these cities, the source for the information on Moradabad is a single study:  Environmental noise challenges and policies in low-and middle-income countries. South Florida Journal of Health.

A perusal of this research paper, authored by Dietrich Schwela, a researcher at the University of York, suggests no reference to Moradabad but mentions noise levels in Aurangabad (42-102), Chandigarh (51-75) and Kolkata (70-83). Schwela’s study itself is a compilation of studies by several authors from around the world and includes studies on Aurangabad, Chandigarh and Kolkata by independent authors.

Another place that finds itself in the Frontiers report is Asansol, India, again referenced to Dr. Schwela’s report and again, like Moradabad, with no mention in the report.

Vikas Mishra, in-charge of the Pollution Control Board in Moradabad, was quoted by the ANI news service as saying that “...There are no sensors installed by UNEP to measure such data here and neither have we received any info about such monitoring.”