The theme "Beat Air Pollution" for 2019 World Environment Day indicates the concerns over growing air pollution over the years.
The World Health Organization surveys indicates 90% of world population breath polluted air. 70 lakh people die of air pollution worldwide annually. Urbanization and Industrialization has scaled the heights of air pollution at alarming rates.
A 2017 survey shows 71 people/ lakh die of air related problems in India. it was 58/lakh in 1990. As of 2016, most air related deaths is recorded in China(11.4 lakh) closely followed by India(11.2 lakh deaths). Russia 1.26 lakh deaths & USA 1.05 lakh deaths. Air pollution reduces the human lifespan by 20 months globally. it get reduced up-to 2.5 years in South-East Asia(Health Effects Institute report[2019] on global atmospheric conditions).
Main Air Pollutants-
Sulphur di-Oxide
Nitrogen Oxides- (causes cancer).
Ozone
Microscopic particles
Carbon monoxide
Carbon di-oxide
Greenhouse gases.
it adversely affects all living beings including man, a threat to Ecosystem, severely unbalancing the food chain, induces Climate changes thus Global warming, Global rise of lung diseases.
Seven of the world's most polluted 10 cities are in India.
Gurugram near Delhi is the most polluted city in the world according to a survey report by Air Visual & Greenpeace in 2018.
1. Gurugram 2. Ghaziabad 3. Faisalabad(Pak) 4. Faridabad 5. Bhiwadi 6. Noida 7. Patna
8. Hothan(China) 9. Lucknow 10. Lahore(Pak). 11. Delhi.
