The world’s apex intergovernmental council by the name United Nations General Assembly has recently passed a resolution extending the scope of universal human rights to include an easy and affordable access to clean, green, healthy as well as sustainable environment.
This has been deemed an important step in curbing triple problems: planetary struggle against climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.
As per the UNGA Spokesperson, this resolution is bound to “reduce environmental injustices, close protection gaps and empower people, especially those in vulnerable situations, including environmental human rights defenders, children, youth, women and indigenous peoples”.
Meanwhile in one of the world’s top most polluted capital city Delhi, its Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena called a meeting in order to discuss Delhi’s acute air pollution problems only to grow severe in upcoming winter months.
He, especially, gave due directions to the stakeholder agencies and institutions so that they can work effectively, in synchrony and without delay before the city succumbs to these hazardous conditions.
Stressing on the need to wake up for a united prompt action required to limit air pollution, he called to curb industrial emissions like burning of electronic chips, discarding solid municipal waste, vehicular emissions and discussed a further aggravated approach using mist sprinklers for settling the particles floating in the air.
What makes the air pollution so demanding and scary?
Surpassing the covid numbers, outdoor air pollution has turned out to become the fifth largest killer in the country based on the findings of Global Burden of Disease report. This comes after high blood pressure and indoor air pollution as the first and second reason respectively for untimely deaths in India.
However, the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report is an outcome of a world-wide initiative taken in consonance with the World Health Organization (WHO). In global respect, GBD ranks air pollution within the top 10 killers and as sixth largest killer across South Asia.
As per the Centre For Science and Environment (CSE), Respiratory and cardiovascular diseases are the prominent culprits for air pollution-induced premature deaths including “stroke (25.48%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (17.32%), ischemic heart disease (48.6%), lower respiratory infections (6.4%), and trachea, bronchus and lung cancer (2.02%)”.
The most disturbing trend has been noticed in the developing Asia wherein nearly two-thirds of the death burden can be derived from this sort of pollution.
As the region walks the path of economic development, increased migration and motorization, 712,000 deaths alone due to outdoor pollution occur in South Asia. This is utterly worrisome as this death toll is much higher than the total number of 400,000 deaths in European Union, Eastern Europe and Russia.
Out of 180 cities being consistently monitored for SOx, NOx and PM10, only two cities in Kerala i.e., Malapuram and Pathanamthitta out of the whole Indian mainland could pass the criteria of low pollution for all air pollutants (still counts for pollution).
If we are to believe a new study undertaken at Massachusetts by the Barr Foundation, air pollution has far-reaching public health consequences of air pollution varying on town-by-town basis.
The study could find plethora of relevant diseases though also associating death as well as significant IQ loss and low-birthweight babies, irrespective of its inherent demography or income level though the highest rates were prevalent in most economically stressed and socially underserved cities and towns.
The author explains: “This report gives the people in every city and town the opportunity to see for themselves the quality of the air they and their families are breathing and the dangerous health implications for both adults and children as a consequence of air pollution.”
“Air pollution is something we can fix. We know the steps that need to be taken to reduce fatalities and the impact on our children and grandchildren.”
What’s more?
Another research group that analyzed approximately 70 studies to understand the impact of emissions’ exposure on human brain over time, has highlighted how air pollution can make way for dementia.
Authors explain: “The epidemiological evidence reviewed fairly consistently reports associations between chronic exposure to air pollution and reduced global cognition and impairment in visuospatial abilities as well as cognitive decline and increased risk of dementia.”
In India, the prevalence of dementia has been suspected around 10.6 percent. Based on another estimate in 2020, the dementia-stricken elderly of India is around 5.3 million. This population will only become one-fifth of the total residents of the country by 2050.
Despite the threats involved, the country continuously fails to comply with the World Health Organization (WHO) standards and hosts the top most polluted countries of the world.
Though Indian law highlights the right to live under article 21 of its Constitution, it was also quick to bring in the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act in 1981, the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA) in 1986 and National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in 2019 for a time-bound focus on air quality appreciation.
Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has also been created in and around the national capital to remove bottlenecks between relevant central ministries or state governments and their consequent relay to the local bodies for tackling air pollution.
Nevertheless, this degradation of immediate surroundings continues to be practiced by humankind, making legislation to be only a part of the strategy against air pollution.
Financing, effort integration, energy transition can further build this cause.
For instance, for the year 2020-21, an additional ₹ 4,400 crores or US $600 million were diverted to the urban local bodies (ULBs) for management and subsequent improvement of air quality by 15 percent year-on-year. This moment came on the recommendations of 15th Finance Commission.
But the country has no dearth of policies, just ambiguities surround its mere implementation. The regulatory affinity of the authorities in action remains weak.
Fossil fuel combustion and consequent release of PM2.5 is not only the reason behind air-pollution related deaths in India but also adds up to disturbed weather patterns and an increased crop failure. A simple, smooth shift away from these dark fuels can help create a better ecosystem.
Undoubtedly, this change cannot happen overnight but it is certainly high time to come out of slumber.