'Indoor' Air Pollution is the Biggest Killer
Indoor air pollution (IAP), resulting from chulhas burning wood, coal and animal dung as fuel, is claiming a shocking 500,000 lives in India every year, most of whom are women and children.
According to the World Health Organisation, India accounts for 80% of the 600,000 premature deaths that occur in south-east Asia annually due to exposure to IAP. Nearly 70% of rural households in India don't even have ventilation.
What's worse, WHO is finding it tough to get donors to fund programmes that seek to raise awareness of this unknown menace, besides providing smokeless chulhas or liquid cooking gas cylinders to the rural poor.
The WHO has estimated that globally, it would need $650 million to change the way most of the world cooks. However, it has managed to raise just 10% of the necessary funds.
Speaking to TOI, Alex Hildebrand, WHO's environmental health adviser for South Asia, said, "Donors don't find indoor air pollution a sexy enough cause to donate money, even though more than 1.6 million people die every year from the effects of breathing poisonous smoke.
We have estimated that 80% of the expenditure of a rural household in India can go into health services. A simple mechanism promoting smokeless chulhas and improving ventilation can reduce the incidents of IAP deaths by half, which is our goal by 2015."
He added, "That's why the ministry of environment has to relaunch the smoke chulha campaign of the 1990s. If the government is committed, local material can be used to make these chulhas with the help of local labourers, reducing costs immensely."
According to the World Health Organisation, India accounts for 80% of the 600,000 premature deaths that occur in south-east Asia annually due to exposure to IAP. Nearly 70% of rural households in India don't even have ventilation.
What's worse, WHO is finding it tough to get donors to fund programmes that seek to raise awareness of this unknown menace, besides providing smokeless chulhas or liquid cooking gas cylinders to the rural poor.
The WHO has estimated that globally, it would need $650 million to change the way most of the world cooks. However, it has managed to raise just 10% of the necessary funds.
Speaking to TOI, Alex Hildebrand, WHO's environmental health adviser for South Asia, said, "Donors don't find indoor air pollution a sexy enough cause to donate money, even though more than 1.6 million people die every year from the effects of breathing poisonous smoke.
We have estimated that 80% of the expenditure of a rural household in India can go into health services. A simple mechanism promoting smokeless chulhas and improving ventilation can reduce the incidents of IAP deaths by half, which is our goal by 2015."
He added, "That's why the ministry of environment has to relaunch the smoke chulha campaign of the 1990s. If the government is committed, local material can be used to make these chulhas with the help of local labourers, reducing costs immensely."
More than three billion people rely on the burning of solid fuels to prepare their meals. Burning solid fuels emits carbon monoxide, particulates, benzene and formaldehyde which can result in pneumonia, asthma, blindness, lung cancer, tuberculosis and low birth weight.
WHO estimates that pollution levels in rural Indian kitchens were 30 times higher than recommended levels and six times higher than air pollution levels found in New Delhi.
"We know that the amount of total suspended particles present inside a kitchen has 1,000 times greater chance to penetrate deep into your lungs than the suspended particles outside. Women are constantly exposed to chulha smoke in India due to several cultural mindsets.
The men in villages complain that the taste of food lacks their favourite burnt flavour if there was no smoke. They also don't want to create ventilation as they think it would compromise with their privacy. Some villagers think smoke would keep mosquitoes and snakes away," Hildebrand said.
"It is a tragic irony that the very act of preparing food, which is designed to aid and nurture a family, is putting that very same family at risk," said John Beale, an official at the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Uma Rajarathnam from The Energy and Resources Institute said one person dies every 20 seconds from fuel-induced illness. According to the World Health Report 2002, indoor air pollution is responsible for 2.7% of the global burden of disease.
WHO estimates that pollution levels in rural Indian kitchens were 30 times higher than recommended levels and six times higher than air pollution levels found in New Delhi.
"We know that the amount of total suspended particles present inside a kitchen has 1,000 times greater chance to penetrate deep into your lungs than the suspended particles outside. Women are constantly exposed to chulha smoke in India due to several cultural mindsets.
The men in villages complain that the taste of food lacks their favourite burnt flavour if there was no smoke. They also don't want to create ventilation as they think it would compromise with their privacy. Some villagers think smoke would keep mosquitoes and snakes away," Hildebrand said.
"It is a tragic irony that the very act of preparing food, which is designed to aid and nurture a family, is putting that very same family at risk," said John Beale, an official at the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Uma Rajarathnam from The Energy and Resources Institute said one person dies every 20 seconds from fuel-induced illness. According to the World Health Report 2002, indoor air pollution is responsible for 2.7% of the global burden of disease.
Ref: Times of India
Stabilizing Greenhouse Gases
According to the most severe situation developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), mitigating the long-term effects of greenhouse gases will require that emissions reach their peak over the next 10–15 years and decline 50 percent over 2000 levels by 2050. This would limit global temperature rise to 2–2.4 degrees Celsius. With increased use of clean technologies and better energy efficiency, the major sectors of energy, industry, transport and agriculture all have the potential for improvement. But for achieving the stabilization of Green house gases there involves cost of mitigation.
Mitigation costs of stabilizing CO2 concentrations
Factors that affect CO2 mitigation costs include
- Future emissions in the absence of policy intervention (“baselines”)
- The concentration target and route to stabilization, which determine the carbon budget available for emissions
- The behaviour of the natural carbon cycle, which influences the emissions carbon budget available for any chosen concentration target and pathway
- The cost differential between fossil fuels and carbon-free alternatives and between different fossil fuels
- Technological progress and the rate of adoption of technologies that emit less carbon per unit of energy produced
- Transitional costs associated with capital stock turnover, which increase if carried out prematurely
- The degree of international cooperation, which determines the extent to which low cost mitigation options in different parts of the world are implemented
- Assumptions about the discount rate used to compare costs at different points in time.
- Future emissions in the absence of policy intervention (“baselines”)
- The concentration target and route to stabilization, which determine the carbon budget available for emissions
- The behaviour of the natural carbon cycle, which influences the emissions carbon budget available for any chosen concentration target and pathway
- The cost differential between fossil fuels and carbon-free alternatives and between different fossil fuels
- Technological progress and the rate of adoption of technologies that emit less carbon per unit of energy produced
- Transitional costs associated with capital stock turnover, which increase if carried out prematurely
- The degree of international cooperation, which determines the extent to which low cost mitigation options in different parts of the world are implemented
- Assumptions about the discount rate used to compare costs at different points in time.
Green Buildings Around the World
Green buildings are designed with the environment in mind, using natural resources and recycled materials such as sunlight, rainwater and wind to minimize a building’s effect on the environment. Developing green office buildings is just one of the many ways in taking up more environmentally friendly ways of doing business.
The Visionaire, shown here in an artist’s rendering, is a luxury green condominium tower in New York City. Ref: http://www.thevisionaire.com/
In this affordable, prefabricated small home with roofs and windows address the challenges of the standard row house by sculpting natural light and fresh air into the centre of the home. The building has non-toxic, recyclable, and renewable materials which require less energy to build and to maintain. Ref: http://www.mkd-arc.com/
The Las Vegas Springs Preserve is a 180-acre national historic site with seven green buildings which meet Platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, the best rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Ref: http://www.springspreserve.org/
The Genzyme Centre, world headquarters for the biotechnology firm Genzyme Corporation, is one of the largest buildings to receive the platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Ref: http://www.genzymecenter.com/
Initiatives by India on Climate Change
Science & Research/ Policy Development
Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment (INCCA)
-Network of 120 research institutions and 250 scientists launched. Major conferences planned in May and November 2010.
Himalayan Glaciers Monitoring Programme
-Comprehensive programme to scientifically monitor the Himalayan glaciers – Phase I completed, Phase II launched; Discussion Paper on State of Himalayan Glaciers released
Launch of Indian Satellite to Monitor Greenhouse Gases
-ISRO to launch a micro-satellite in 2010 to study aerosols (soot particles), followed by a comprehensive satellite in 2011 to monitor GHG gases; India to join elite club of countries to do so.
India’s Forest and Tree Cover as a Carbon Sink
-Research estimates the value of India’s forests as a carbon sink – assessment shows that they neutralise 11% of India’s annual GHG emissions
-India’s GHG Emission Pathways until 2030 under different assumptions made public; shows India will remain a minor per capita emitter even in 2030
-Planning Commission-led Group set up to develop strategy for India as a low carbon economy; to feed into twelfth plan process
-National Policy on Bio-fuels approved by Cabinet to promote cultivation, production and use of Bio-fuels for transport and in other applications
Ref: MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT & FORESTS, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Environment Bharat
Dream with us
- Environment Bharat
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)