World Environment Day: Threat of Air Pollution and India’s Role

World Environment Day is celebrated annually to raise awareness for the conservation & protection of the planet.

The theme for this year is ‘Air Pollution’.

(Photo: iStockphoto)

The United Nations celebrates World Environment Day on 5th June every year to raise awareness for the protection and conservation of the planet. Beginning in 1974, it has now become a global event with over 100 countries that take part through campaigns and initiatives.

The theme for this year is ‘Air Pollution’- in light of the global crisis that it poses for the environment and public health around the world. While India hosted the event last year on Plastic Pollution, China is the host country for 2019.

India’s Efforts

In a press release from 29 May 2019, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change elaborated on its plan for this year. Apart from the annual function that will be held at Vigyan Bhawan (where events like film making and book launches will be hosted), this year also sees the release of a theme song titled ‘Hawa aane de’, featuring popular faces like Akshay Kumar and Kapil Sharma.

The song is a call to action for all to come together to combat the environmental challenges of our time, urging each one of us to explore green technologies and measures to improve the quality of air and make the country and our cities less polluted.

C.K. Mishra, Secretary, MoEFCC

The Ministry has also recently launched the National Clean Air programme, which is a mid-term five year action plan that aims to reduce PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentration by 20-30 percent in over a 100 cities.

The Global Threat of Air Pollution

World Health Organisation estimates that air pollution kills around 8 million people around the globe every year. The ways in which it impacts the health of the world’s population are beyond count.

• An extensive report titled ‘Air Pollution and Noncommunicable Diseases’ elaborates on some of these ways and finds that exposure to toxic air affects almost every part of an individual’s body, signalling the need for active intervention.
• Air pollution causes 790,000 premature deaths every year in Europe and 8.8 million worldwide, more than doubling recent assessments.
• Seven of the world's 10 worst polluted cities are in India.
• It was the cause of 3.2 million new cases of diabetes worldwide in 2016 as per a new study published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health.
• Exposure to severe air pollution can cause birth defects and even fatalities during pregnancy.
• Air Pollution raises anxiety and depression risks in kids.
• A study has found that psychotic experiences are more likely in teenagers who live in areas of high air pollution.

The list for air-pollution related illnesses goes on. In such a scenario, more and more global, community and local efforts are required to combat this threat (which intensifies due to climate change).