Impact of Air Pollution on Human Health



GS3: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

What is the issue?

  • The United Nations has warned that 9 out of 10 people on the planet are now breathing polluted air and nobody is safe from air pollution, in a report on the eve of the World Environment Day.

BACKGROUND

  • The five main sources of air pollution are –
  • indoor burning of fossil fuels, woods and other biomass to cook, heat and light homes
  • industry, including power generation such as coal-fired plants and diesel generators
  • transport, especially vehicles with diesel engines
  • agriculture, including livestock, which produces methane and ammonia, rice paddies, which produce methane, and the burning of agricultural waste
  • open waste burning and organic waste in landfills
  • Burning fossil fuels for power, transport and industry is a major contributor to air pollution.
  • Some of the same pollutants contribute to both climate change and local air pollution, including black carbon or soot and methane.
  • Mining operations in large scale

Major air pollutants

  • Particle pollutants
  • Ground-level ozone
  • Black carbon & Carbon monoxide
  • Sulfur dioxide
  • Nitrogen oxides
  • Lead
Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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