Pollution

There has been much firefighting in Delhi in the name of clean air, but very little effort in understanding the causes of air pollution. So while we know that urban air pollution poses serious health risks to people living in Indian cities, we do not have a consensus on the details regarding the sources of the pollutants. This is mainly because central and local governments have not invested in setting up and funding an adequate number of research groups in academic institutions to conduct detailed studies around the country. Such neglect leads to knee-jerk reactions like the odd-even scheme.

India's population is exposed to dangerously high levels of air pollution. Using a combination of ground-level in situ measurements and satellite-based remote sensing data, this paper estimates that 660 million people, over half of India's population, live in areas that exceed the Indian National Ambient Air Quality Standard for fine particulate pollution. Reducing pollution in these areas to achieve the standard would, we estimate, increase life expectancy for these Indians by 3.2 years on average for a total of 2.1 billion life years. We outline directions for environmental policy to start achieving these gains. 

The second biennial conference of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics on the theme of 'Water Resources, Sustainable Livelihoods and Ecosystem Services' brought together researchers and practitioners and gave them an opportunity to present their findings and dialogue on topics that ranged from technical to interdisciplinary.