National and global solutions

• Prioritising economic growth has been the dominant message.
• a study in Delhi in 2011 suggested that the poor bear the brunt of the city’s toxic air both because of where they live and where they work; something which is probably true of all Indian cities.
• However, after sustained pressure from both civil society and the Indian courts over the past few years, the national government launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in early 2019.
• 2020 - progress was made in increasing the number of air quality monitoring stations. However, critically, in terms of controlling pollution, progress has been slow.
• The central government had launched NCAP as a long-term, national-level strategy to tackle the air pollution problem across India in a comprehensive manner, setting targets of a 20– 30% reduction in Particulate Matter 10 (PM10) and PM2.5 concentrations by 2024, keeping 2017 as the base year for the comparison of concentration.
• come under heavy criticism for its targets not being legally binding. As with international agreements that attempt to mitigate climate change, if there are no penalties for disregarding the recommendations the outcome is often disappointing
• Some progress has been made:

  > In Bihar, the chimneys of brick-kilns have been retrofitted to reduce smoke emissions.

  > Fourteen Indian cities are currently building rapidtransit metro systems.

  > Subsidies for petrol and diesel will be scrapped – onethird of all electricity is produced by noxious generators powered by petrol and diesel fuel.

  > Restrictions will be placed on the burning of stubble in fields, a major cause of air pollution in rural areas.
• Policies devised at the global scale to tackle climate change will have benefits for human health at national and local levels by cutting CO 2 and other GHG emissions.
• European Union has been active in combating air pollution. In the recent programming period, member states allocated € 1.8 billion to support air quality measures under the European Structural and Investment Funds.
• 2019 - European Commission proposed to invest € 1 billion in 39 clean transport projects to upgrade Europe’s rail network, develop alternative fuels infrastructure and pave the way for zero emission water transport.
• The EU also has the world’s largest carbon cap-and-trade scheme and each EU state has targets for expanding renewable energy and policies to comply with the European Climate Change Programme
• Global initiatives include the annual World Cancer Day, drawing attention to the current global cancer ‘epidemic’, and pressing governments to take more action to tackle the disease.
• 2020 - WHO published a comprehensive report setting priorities, and outlining investment strategies to provide care for all. Geographical debates