Enhancing India's Air Quality Management: A Call for Science-Based Strategies

Context:

The urgent need for an indigenous, science-based air quality resource framework in India to address the complex challenges posed by air pollution and its impact on climate change, health, and overall environmental well-being.

1. Diverse Climatic Conditions and Micro-Environments:

Need for Understanding: India's diverse micro-environments and varying climatic conditions necessitate a comprehensive understanding of natural and scientific processes influencing air quality.
Three-Level Approach: Air quality management must address rural, urban, and industrial agglomeration levels, emphasizing the importance of developing strategies tailored to each context.
Geographical Diversity: India's geographically diverse cities, each with different climatic zones, air-sheds, and dominant emission sources, pose a unique challenge in developing an effective pollution prediction system.

2. Complexity in Pollution Prediction System:

Baseline Levels and Adaptation: Consideration of baseline pollution levels, the ambient air naturally present, is crucial, along with recognizing the adaptability and immunity of the local population to these levels.
Lack of Systematic Inventories: India faces a major shortfall in its air quality management framework due to the absence of periodic updates in systematic emission inventories.
Technological Advancements: Utilizing ground-based data, satellite-driven data, artificial intelligence, drones, and emerging technologies like CubeSats is imperative for accurate forecasting and monitoring.

3. Proposed Indigenous Science-Based Framework:

Consortium Leadership: Advocates for a consortium led by domain experts, health scientists, policy specialists, communicators, and an outreach group to guide air quality science and management.
Integrated Mechanism: Calls for an integrated mechanism translating data into actionable information, framing communication strategies, issuing health advisories, alerts, and planning mitigation strategies.
Standardization and Centralization: Emphasizes the need for standardized reporting protocols, a central emissions dataset as per international norms, and robust application of data from Indian satellites.

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