Air Pollution has been the center of attention for various groups, sectors and general public over the last couple of years. However, the debate gained prominence last year last year in Delhi during the winter season. This winter in some context was a bit different from the earlier ones when we debated and discussed on the steps to curb air pollution levels in not only Delhi but also certain other cities with pollution levels comparable to Delhi. I am glad to say that the awareness level towards solving this health emergency is increasing which will enable in paving the way forward to formulating solutions to pollution.
It is important to note here that it is not just Delhi facing the brunt of high air pollution levels, but also many other cities such as Varansi, Lucknow, Patna, Ahemdabad etc. This has been explicitly stated by Greenpeace India in our report on National Air Quality Index (NAQI) and also has been reiterated by the Central Pollution Control Board’s report in February.
Many researchers, groups and organizations have initiated the debate to tackle air pollution problems in some of these cities and they are asking for strict measures to be implemented. However, my question is that can the city specific actions solve the over-arching national air pollution problem? Do we not requires a larger coordinated action plan?
Beijing (China) tried to approach the problem in the same city specific ways for many years. However, concluding from their analysis that the city specific actions did not have much reduction of pollution levels. Realizing it as a regional issue impacting larger geographies of the country, the Chinese government decided on adopting a systematic, coordinated and time-bound action plan which ultimately resulted in massive decrease in pollution levels in the country.
Figure 1: Satellite-based pollution exposure for average citizen of India, China, United States and EU
The Aerosol optical depth analysis of the data available from NASA in our latest report “Clean Air Action Plan: The Way Forward” suggest that in air pollution is a national health emergency in the entire Indo Gangetic Plain (IGP). Greenpeace India through this analysis and data specific evidence advocates for coordinated, systematic and time bound actions coupled with strict city specific actions.
Figure 2: (a) Situation in 2005, showing how China already has a very serious pollution problem, and India’s pollution, while serious, is a lot lower than eastern China’s; (b) Until 2011, the situation kept getting worse with growing fossil fuel use in both China and in India; (c) From 2011 to 2015, China has made big strides while in India, pollution levels have kept rising.
Greenpeace India acknowledges that the government is taking actions at both the state and central level during past few months. It therefore acknowledges the national health emergency and is showing willingness to move forward in order to tackle the problem of air pollution effectively. These steps by the governments is receiving support from the public, who have been exposed to the health problems and other air pollution related issues. Nonetheless, this is not enough. We need to move a step ahead and demand effective and concrete action plans at the city, regional as well as national level.
#SolutionNotPollution
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Set up continuous air pollution monitoring in all major urban centers, at least those with five lakh people or more; especially in the extremely highly polluted IGP region.
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Set a deadline for meeting the national air quality standards. For ex.: five-year interim targets for reducing pollution levels in each state and city that currently does not comply.
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Create a regional action plan covering the extremely highly polluted areas from Punjab to West Bengal, addressing all major air pollution emitting sectors.
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Set targets for reducing interstate pollution, including compliance plan for meeting the thermal power plant emission standards as soon as possible.
- Make it mandatory for the industries and thermal power plants to display real time air emission data available on public platforms.
Sunil Dahiya is energy campaigner at Greenpeace India