Thodi hawa aane de, Tazi hawa aane de...Thodi hawa aane de, Tazi hawa aane de... The song is struck on everyone heads. This is the theme of the campaign released by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for the World Environment Day on June 5, 2019. The main focus for this year is ‘AIR POLLUTION’.
This year the province of Zhejiang,China, is hosting the main event, which was held by India last year.
As per Joyce Msuya, UN Environment Acting Executive Director and Assistant Secretary-General, “China will be a great global host of 2019 World Environment Day celebrations. The country has demonstrated tremendous leadership in tackling air pollution domestically. It can now help spur the world to greater action. Air pollution is a global emergency affecting everyone. China will now be leading the push and stimulating global action to save millions of lives.
Also Read: World Environment Day: UN says Air pollution is violation of human rights
Air pollution, a silent killer, claims 7 million lives each year. Around four million premature deaths occur in Asia-Pacific. David Boyd, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia in Canada, said that over six billion people, one-third of the children, are regularly inhaling air so polluted that it puts their life, health and well-being at risk.
Every hour, 800 people are dying, many after years of suffering from cancer, respiratory illnesses or heart disease directly caused by breathing bad air.
Household air pollution caused due to indoor burning of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass-based fuels leads to around 3.8 million premature deaths, mostly in developing countries.
The day, this year, will bring together communities, individuals, government agencies, industries to explore various sources of renewable energy and green technologies, which in turn will help in improving air quality in cities and regions across the world.