Roundup: UNEP urges more global efforts to cut air pollution

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on Saturday called on developing countries to step up efforts to control air pollution to help reduce death from diseases associated with the menace.

Fanny Demassieux, UNEP's Environment and Heath Coordinator, said measures should be put in place to avert 7 million annual deaths caused by poor air quality.

"We must begin to link environment with health by ensuring that populations that do not have access to modern cooking technology acquire them to help reduce deaths caused through indoor cooking," Demassieux said in Nairobi.

She was speaking this during a meeting meant to encourage reflections on the importance of addressing poverty, air pollution and climate change ahead of second session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) which kicks off in Nairobi on Monday.

Demassieux called on developing countries to put emphasis in the management of air pollution from industries, traffic and indoor cooking where most people use fuel wood.

Climate change is already magnifying some threats to health, especially for poor and vulnerable people.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 2015 report, the number of deaths of children under five in sub-Saharan Africa is much higher than in other regions.

And the deaths are caused mainly by indoor air pollution that is responsible for 600,000 premature deaths every year in Africa.

Demassieux said elimination of lead from petrol globally is a sign that countries stand a better chance of eradicating dangerous pollutants in the world and make the health of people safer.

"Poverty, air pollution and climate change are some of the defining issues of our times, having profound impact on our health and on the lives of billions of people across the globe," she noted.

The UNEP official noted that due to the fact that the impacts of pollution and climate change are often gradual and unseen, clear strategies need to be put in place.

Alice Audouin, President and founder of Art of Change 21, said solutions to air pollution need to be integrated in all sectors where policymakers also need to begin to fund it.

She revealed that her organization that was founded in November last year is the first international platform that favors environment and sustainable development which bases itself in creativity and co-creation.

The organization is composed of artists, social entrepreneurs and engaged youths from 12 different countries namely Kenya, New Zealand, Bahrain, U.S., Egypt, Australia, Britain and France.

Audouin observed that the organization plans to help achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that aims to substantially reduce air pollution-related deaths by 2030, and improve access to clean energy in the home and air quality in cities. Enditem