WHO urges India to lead air pollution dialogue at COP28

Seeking its support the World Health Organisation WHO has urged India to lead the dialogue on air pollution visavis the impact on health Speaking at the India Clean Air Summit ICAS 2023 Dr Maria Neira Director Department of Environment Climate Change and Health WHO said India now has the presidency of the G20 one of which interventions is decarbonization of the healthcare sector but we need your support and collaboration in providing ideas for strengthening the health communitys argument on health on December 3 in COP28The United Nations UN Climate Change Conference commonly referred to as COP28 will be held from November 12 to December 12 in Dubai Health has been included as a theme in the COP28 for the first time Due to this WHO is considering a goal of bringing numerous health professionals from various nations to COP28 as air pollution and climate change have huge overlapsDr Neira urged Indiarsquos participation to lead in tackling this by being committed towards the issue Stressing on the same she said ldquoWe want India leading providing committed and outspoken to include air pollution challenges in the conversation amidst the recent spotlight We need to accelerate the transition towards cleaner sources of energy and we believe that India could give very good results in thisAccording to Dr Neira three transitions are required to achieve the goals namely reduced dependence on fossil fuels by transitioning to cleaner fuels transition towards better urban planning and transition towards sustainable ecosystemsldquoThere is a lot to gain with the right steps but also a lot to lose as well if we donrsquot do so Countries need to change the matrix of success where success needs to be measured by the number of diseases they reduce and number of pollutionrelated deaths preventedrdquo she warnedDr Neira added ldquoBreathing clean air is fundamental for our health Tackling air pollution will not only positively impact our wellbeingndash it will also contribute to achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs including gender energy or climate The 5th edition of the India Clean Air Summit showed that India is fully committed to take air pollution seriously and holistically We need Indiarsquos leadership to fight air pollution as they landed on the moon We cannot work alone on fighting this Itrsquos time to save lives support healthy communities and help address the climate crisis we are all faced with todayrdquoClean air for sustainable development and Mission LiFE also happen to be ICAS 2023rsquos theme Dr Pratima Singh Senior Research Scientist Air Quality CSTEP said ldquoSuch continuous dialogue with various stakeholders will ensure effective measures are taken to increase life expectancy ratio as India continues tobe on the bottom side of the global average on life expectancyrdquo As per Sample Registration System SRS data made public recently Indiarsquos average life expectancy was 697 years between 201519 Whereas the global average is 726 years It took India almost 10 years to add two years to the life expectancyIndia has the potential to extend its average life expectancy by an additional two years in well under ten years if masslevel actions are taken starting with comprehending and assessing the air quality data for a better action planAmit Bhatt India Managing Director of The International Council on Clean Transportation ICCT shed light on the profound implications of Indiarsquos rapidly growing transportation sector by stating ldquoWith estimates projecting Delhi to surpass Tokyo and is set to become the worldrsquos largest urban agglomeration by 2030 there is an urgent need to address the sectorrsquos environmental impactrdquoTransport currently contributes 1437 of Indias CO2 emissions with road transport being the predominant source accounting for 9037 of energy consumption within the sector The gravity of the situation was further underscored by him by the fact that India imports 9037 of its crude oil intensifying both energy security concerns and the need for sustainable alternativesBhatt underscores that motor vehicle exhaust constitutes the largest source of air pollution in cities emphasising that a reduction in tailpipe emissions could catalyse significant improvements in urban air quality ultimately benefiting public health He highlighted the stark reality that transport emissions lead to around 75000 deaths annually in IndialdquoIn a quest to address these challenges the imperative of decarbonising Indias energy system for transportation and residential buildings ndash striving for zero tailpipe emissions To achieve this we must champion RealWorld Emissions Measurementrdquo concluded BhattSharing data at ICAS 2023 Dr Sarath Guttikunda FounderDirector UrbanEmissionsInfo mentioned that India has 883 manual air monitoringstations and another 438 continuous air monitoring stations however 4094 air monitoring stations are required adding ldquoWe have a lot of issues with the quality of the information from continuous stations these challenges need to be addressed Calibration maintenance and integration are the areas where both on the science and policy side we need to work on All of this will improve if we focus more on the training aspectrdquoAt ICAS 2023 Dr Jai Asundi Executive Director CSTEP said ldquoThe idea behind the summit is to ensure engagement between academia and industry policymaking and other stakeholders in civil society to figure out that air pollution is a common problem for all to solve Given the importance of air quality and whatwe are seeing in the ecosystem we need to work on four pillars ndash measuring the air quality modelling to understand the changes happening around us policy engagement to understand the impact of air quality and the latest thing is capacity building on how do we build capacity in our institutions in our societyrdquoFor this yearrsquos India Clean Air Summit ICAS event the Center for Study of Science Technology and Policy CSTEP partnered with the Indian Aerosol Science and Technology Organisation ICAS2023 put the spotlight on pollution and its linkages to climate change and various sustainable development goals SDGs to help practitioners in the field explore opportunities for aligning clean air goals with climate policies Prioritising clean air in the SDGs and in Indiarsquos policies for climate action is paramount having acknowledged air pollutionrsquos contribution to climate change and witnessing the aggravating impacts of climate changeldquoWe are confident that ICAS has triggered an inclusive dialogue that transcends boundaries ensuring that clean air becomes an intrinsic part of our nations development trajectory and climate policyrdquo added Dr Asundi