Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The world marked the fifth annual International Day of Clean Air for blue skies on September 7, with calls for investment in clean air solutions as air pollution is increasingly causing public health, environmental, and economic problems.
“Air pollution is also choking economies and heating up our planet, adding fuel to the fire of the climate crisis,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for the day, which the UN General Assembly designated as a day to champion clean air causes in 2019.
Led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), this year’s theme focuses on amplifying global calls to invest in #CleanAirNow to ensure a healthier and more prosperous future for people and the planet.
“Investing in clean air requires actions by both Government and businesses to phase out fossil fuels, strengthen air quality monitoring, enforce air quality standards, boost renewable energy, transition to clean cooking, build sustainable transport and sustainable waste management systems, clean up supply chains, and reduce harmful emissions, including methane,” the UN Secretary-General said.
More than 99 per cent of humanity is now breathing polluted air, leading to more than eight million annual deaths, including more than 700,000 children under five. Dirty air disproportionately affects more vulnerable populations such as women, children and older people.
Air pollution has become the second leading risk factor for early death globally, overtaking tobacco for adults and second only to malnutrition for children under five. Yet despite the already high and still rising economic, environmental and existential impact of air pollution, which each year costs the world $8.1 trillion in health damages alone, less than one per cent of international development funding is dedicated to tackling it.
Ahead of Clean Air Day, the UNEP-convened Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) launched AQMx, a global air quality management platform, on September 5 in response to calls from countries for greater regional knowledge sharing and action on improving air quality that led to a resolution at this year’s UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) talks.
UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen used her Clean Air Day message to call for greater investment in air pollution solutions in all societies, and an end to the violation of every human being’s fundamental right to breathe clean air.
