A new study conducted with WHO has suggested that regardless of global endeavors to improve air quality, vast swathes of the world’s populace are experiencing an increased level of air pollution.
The study conducted by the University of Exeter analyzed patterns in global air quality between in the range of 2010 and 2016, against a backdrop of global efforts to diminish air pollution, both through short and long term policies.
The group utilized ground monitoring information along with information from satellite retrievals of aerosol optical depth, chemical transport models, and different sources to give yearly air quality profiles to individual nations, regions, and all-inclusive.
This methodology constitutes a major advance in the ability to track progress towards the air quality-related indicators of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and to expand the evidence base of the impacts of air pollution on health.
The study, in other words, suggests that air pollution constitutes a major, and in many areas increasing, a threat to public health.
Professor Gavin Shaddick at the University of Exeter said, “Although precise quantification of the outcomes of specific policies is difficult, coupling the evidence for effective interventions with global, regional and local trends in air pollution can provide essential information for the evidence base that is key in informing and monitoring future policies.”
Journal Reference:
- G. Shaddick et al. Half the world’s population are exposed to increasing air pollution. DOI: 10.1038/s41612-020-0124-2
