Globally, air pollution reduces life expectancy by one year and eight months, on average. This loss ranks just below smoking, but above unsafe drinking water and lung cancer (State of Global Air report, 2019).
Emissions from increasing vehicular population, and residential and commercial activities, are polluting even the air far from the source, and affecting the health of millions of people. Lack of scientific methods to assess pollution, inadequate data and analysis have further hampered policy efforts to improve air quality in Indian cities.
The Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), a leading research-based Indian think tank, has partnered with the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and the
Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment, to organise the India Clean Air Summit 2019
(ICAS19).
A flagship event of the Centre for Air Pollution Studies at CSTEP, ICAS19 aims to initiate a conversation on the elephant in the room when it comes to air pollution – how are we going to find solutions when we don’t know what exactly pollutes, and by how much?
The two-day summit – on 22-23 August at The Chancery Pavilion – will bring together both practitioners (scientists, researchers, students and experts) and policymakers. They will discuss challenges, opportunities, and the way forward to achieve India’s targeted reduction in air pollution. Ideas emerging from the conference will give inputs for policy recommendations at the state and central level.
What to expect
On 22nd August, experts from IIT-Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, TERI, JNU and IITM-SAFAR will decode the science behind air pollution. There will be panel discussions on monitoring and modelling studies, and the policy implications of mitigation strategies. Day 1 will conclude with a discussion with World Bank Global Lead Karin Shepardson, members from state pollution control boards, and scientists on capacity building requirements for policymakers.
On 23rd August, discussions will delve deeper into building the scientific evidence required for policy decisions. Participants can chose between panel discussions or hands-on training. Panel discussions will focus on the role of communication to enable behavioural and policy changes, and on technological innovations that are driving solutions to air pollution.
Dr Sulekha Chattopadhyay from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will give hands-on training to develop an emission inventory. Dr Prabhakaran from the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) will train participants on assessing the health impacts of air pollution. Day 2 will end in a conversation with global philanthropies on the future mode of funding air pollution mitigation.
For more details, email: cpe@cstep.in
[This article is based on a press release from CSTEP, and has been republished here with minimal edits]