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The Rising Pollution

Posted on June 5, 2021 by admin1  260

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Recently, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) warned that pollution will rebound if stronger action is not sustained and scaled up.

Current Situation

  • The rate at which urban air pollution has grown across India is alarming, the toxic web of air quality fails to meet health-based standards. 
  • Particulate matters, SoX, NoX and other air toxins are responsible for this.
  • Medium and small-sized towns and cities are witnessing a phenomenal spurt in pollution as severe as or more than any megacity.
  • The key highlight is that the springtime – January to March, when pollution level begins to subside after winter, PM2.5 this year has recorded the highest seasonal levels compared to the corresponding period in preceding years including the normal year of 2019.

 

Facts from CSE

  • Status: While the number of days in severe and severe-plus categories has stabilized in 2020, the number of days in the very poor category has increased this year. 
  • Drop-in PM 2.5: There has been a substantial drop in PM2.5 levels during both the hard lockdown phases in March to May in 2020 and April-June, 2021 with nearly similar levels evoking imagery of blue sky, t
  • Year-wise variations: Longer-term PM2.5 levels have stabilized and are downward – but seasonal variation is high: Spring (January to March) acts as a transitional period between the two extremes – winter and summer. There was a 26 per cent drop between the winter of 2018 and spring of 2019. In 2020 this drop increased to 36 per cent due to pollution control measures in place and also the imposition of partial lockdowns in March 2020. But this downward trend in spring pollution did not continue this year, with a seasonal drop limited to 18 per cent. In fact, spring this year has been 31 per cent dirtier than 2020 and 8 per cent dirtier than 2019. 
  • Lockdown with a difference: Lockdowns were effective in bringing down PM2.5 levels this year as well. But given the shorter duration and lesser stringency of lockdowns this year PM2.5 levels are not as low as the summer of 2020. The monthly average level of PM2.5 in April and May 2021 – the hard lockdown phase, was higher than the corresponding levels in April-May, 2020, – also a hard lockdown phase. 
  • Varying pattern of hard lockdown phase and semi-lockdown phase of 2020 and 2021: This year restriction in form of night-curfews and weekend lockdowns started on April 6 with complete lockdown being imposed on April 19. Imposition of partial-lockdown lowered PM2.5 levels by 20 per cent, the complete lockdown brought the average down by a further 12 per cent. 
  • Behaviour of pollution hotspots during lockdowns: If we look at places that reported relatively higher PM2.5 levels during the lockdown this year, the hotspots (old and new) occupy the top of the list without exception. Further, 21 out of 43 stations that have data for both lockdowns show improvement in PM2.5 levels.
  • Rebound Effect: There would be a rebound effect with a full opening of the economy and intensification of traffic. Action may have slowed down during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. But this has to gather momentum now to prevent a rebound effect.

 

IQ Air’s Global Air Pollution Report

  • The latest report was released in 2021.
  • Published by a Swiss air quality technology company specialising in protection against airborne pollutants, and developing air quality monitoring and air cleaning products.
  • It highlighted that Delhi is the most polluted capital city in the world.
  • India is the 3rd most polluted country in the world.
  • Of the 106 monitored countries, only 24 met the WHO’s annual guidelines for PM 2.5.
  • The eight Indian cities in the top 10 list are — Bulandshahar, Bisrakh Jalalpur, Noida, Greater Noida, Kanpur, Lucknow (all in UP), Bhiwari in Rajasthan and Delhi.

 

Major Reasons for Pollution in India

  • Transportation and vehicular emissions;
  • biomass burning for cooking, 
  • electricity generation;
  • Industry and construction;
  • waste burning; and 
  • episodic agricultural burning.

 

Way Forward

  • Improve air quality monitoring to include more pollutants and more areas in cities to assess the risk of air pollution, make appropriate policies to control it.
  • The most recent attempt by CPCB to revise the ambient air quality standards will set a tighter benchmark for air quality. These standards will set new and tighter targets for air quality improvement in our cities – one uniform health-based standards for all land-use classes; tighter standards for sensitive areas; introduction of more short term standards, among others.
  • India needs strong policy interventions to enable research in the field of air pollution. 
  • Health-based criteria should become the basis of air quality regulations. Only this can help break a business and political resistance to hard mitigation measures to combat air pollution.
  • Efforts to create awareness amongst people about hard policy decisions. 

 

World Environment Day 2021

  • Since 1974, World Environment Day has been celebrated every year on 5 June, engaging governments, businesses and citizens in an effort to address pressing environmental issues.
  • The theme for 2021 is ‘Reimagine, Recreate, Restore’.
  • Host: Every World Environment Day is hosted by a different country in which official celebrations take place. This year’s host is Pakistan.
  • Above all, World Environment Day offers a global platform for inspiring positive change. It pushes –
    • for individuals to think about the way they consume; 
    • for businesses to develop greener models; 
    • for farmers and manufacturers to produce more sustainably; 
    • for governments to invest in repairing the environment; 
    • for educators to inspire students to take action; and 
    • for youth to build a greener future.  
  • Some Facts:
    • Every three seconds, the world loses enough forest to cover a football pitch and over the last century, we have destroyed half of our wetlands. 
    • As much as 50 per cent of our coral reefs have already been lost and up to 90 per cent of coral reefs could be lost by 2050, even if global warming is limited to an increase of 1.5°C.
    • Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change and stop the collapse of biodiversity.
  • Ecosystems & Degradation
    • These are defined as the interaction between living organisms – plants, animals, people – with their surroundings. This includes nature, but also human-made systems such as cities or farms. 
    • Ecosystem loss is depriving the world of carbon sinks, like forests and peatlands, at time humanity can least afford it. Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown for three consecutive years and the planet is at one pace for potentially catastrophic climate change.
    • Over 4.7 million hectares of forests – an area larger than Denmark – are lost every year. That’s one football pitch every three seconds. Over half of the world’s wetlands have disappeared in the last century. 
  • Environment and Covid: The emergence of COVID-19 has also shown just how disastrous the consequences of ecosystem loss can be. By shrinking the area of natural habitat for animals, we have created ideal conditions for pathogens – including coronaviruses – to spread.
  • Solutions: 
    • Ecosystem restoration is a global undertaking at a massive scale. It means repairing billions of hectares of land – an area greater than China or the USA – so that people have access to food, clean water and jobs. 
    • It means bringing back plants and animals from the brink of extinction, from the peaks of mountains to the depths of the sea. 
    • But it also includes the many small actions everyone can take, every day: growing trees, greening our cities, rewilding our gardens or cleaning up trash alongside rivers and coasts. 
  • Urgency to Act 
    • World Environment Day 2021 will see the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: A global rallying cry for everyone – from governments to corporations and citizens – to do their part in healing our ailing planet. 
    • The timeline also overlaps with the UN Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Ecosystems are our lifeline and underpin all 17 goals. 

 

Sources: DTE

 

 
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