Civil Society orgs join hands to form regional action network against air pollution

Lucknow, Sep 29 (UNI) The recent surge in research-based evidence released by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the latest revision of air quality guidelines by WHO, has reemphasized the need of clean air for better health, environmental experts here on Wednesday opined.

India ranks amongst the top in the list of most polluted countries in the world, shortening the average lifespan of an Indian by 6.3 years (as per the latest report released by Air Quality Life Index – AQLI). The Indo-Gangetic plains consisting of many cities across Uttar Pradesh are amongst the worst impacted. Total 16 cities in UP are identified to be covered under the National Clean Air Program and there is an urgent need to address this issue.

As the visible air pollution season is about to begin, when the air quality of most north Indian cities goes from bad to worse, the civil society organizations and other city stakeholders in Lucknow came together for a HYBRID round table discussion “Air Pollution: Facts to Act” to prioritize for a city-level action plan to tackle air pollution.
The event was organised by Lung Care Foundation in collaboration multiple regional and national-level organisations.

A first of a kind, this program was organised in a HYBRID mode, which means that while the program happened in the city of Lucknow following the covid protocol, many others from the city and outside were able to join the event through a live zoom interaction.

The program brought together subject matter experts highlighting multiple aspects of Air Quality data, source apportionment, health impacts of air pollute on and air quality life index. This was followed by a panel discussion led by various experts from medical professionals, media, civil society organizations and city & state level administrators.

The invited guests for the roundtable were people members of the civil society some of whom have been actively engaging on environmental and health related issues. During this discussion, the participants chose the priority of areas of action based on 10 action points which were ensure vehicular emission standards and shift to cleaner fuels, adopt and enforce industrial emission standards and clean technologies and transition away from fossil fuels (oil, coal) and diesel generators.

In the Agriculture and forestry, the experts suggested reduce in stubble burning and forest fire prevention.
Besides compact and diverse urban design and energy efficient housing. Reduce dust from construction sites and including health in all policies.

On ill-effects of air pollution, promote healthy lifestyle, sensitize vulnerable population and adopt suitable prevention measures, discourage the use of coal and kerosene, prevent indoor air pollution, promote renewable energy: Popularize and make available financing schemes for start-ups in clean energy and augment database generation, robust air quality monitoring across the country. Academic institutions should be given generous funds to conduct quality research.