AHMEDABAD, India, July 5 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A
plan to combat extreme heat in India’s Ahmedabad city has been
so effective in raising awareness and bringing down fatalities
that city officials are rolling out a similar programme to fight
another environmental risk: air pollution.
Ahmedabad, in the western state of Gujarat, has among the
worst air pollution in the country. But it is the first to
install an air monitoring and warning system.
The Air Information and Response (AIR) plan, launched in
May, involves the creation of an air quality index that measures
daily pollution levels in eight locations. Giant LED screens
display five colour-coded alerts of the levels, and their
related effects.
An early warning system also alerts people to days when
pollution is likely to reach the “very poor” or “severe” level.
“Air pollution is a major risk, and unless we have data we
cannot devise ways to control it and minimise its effect,” said
Chirag Shah, a deputy health officer at the Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation.
“But what good is collecting data if we just keep it in the
office and don’t use it?”
India and China account for more than half of global deaths
due to air pollution. The increase in people dying in India from
such pollution is forecast to outpace the rate of such deaths in
China.
India is home to four of the 10 cities in the world with the
worst air pollution, measured by the amount of particulate
matter under 2.5 micrograms found in every cubic meter of air,
according to the World Health Organization.
Tiny particulate matter can cause lung cancer, strokes and
heart disease over the long term, as well as triggering symptoms
such as heart attacks that kill more rapidly.
TOO MANY CARS
The main causes of air pollution in Ahmedabad include
diesel-fueled vehicles, construction, cooking fires and the
burning of trash. Air quality is particularly bad in the cooler
months of November to January.
Other Indian cities – Delhi, Mumbai and Pune – also have an
air pollution index, but only Ahmedabad has a warning system.
“We must invest in measurement and response, or we can’t
fight it,” said Dileep Mavalankar, head of the Indian Institute
of Public Health, which was involved in the AIR plan as well as
the Heat Action Plan.
“It has to be a collaborative effort with the government,
non-profits and experts,” he said.
In neighbouring Maharashtra state, officials last month
launched a star-rating programme that uses smokestack emission
data to rate industries based on the density of fine particulate
pollution.
The WHO says more than 7 million premature deaths occur
every year due to air pollution, 3 million of them due to
outdoor air quality.
In Ahmedabad, the response to severe pollution days could
include curtailing certain activities, Shah said.
“This is about protecting health and saving lives. With data
and warnings, we are better able to address it,” Shah said.
(Reporting by Rina Chandran @rinachandran, Editing by Laurie
Goering. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the
charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian
news, climate change, resilience, women’s rights, trafficking
and property rights. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)
