Pollution crisis

DATA is a great explainer, reasons green think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), because what we can measure, we can fix. Quantifying the problems and indicating where they are, the CSE’s report on India’s environmental performance throws up statistics that are unnerving. Though waste treatment and monitoring have improved in India, only 32 per cent of the over 1,60,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste generated daily in 2020-21 was accounted for. The rest usually ends up choking drains or is burnt illegally. Air pollution in 2020 is likely to have shortened average life expectancy by four years and 11 months. Last year, the country experienced extreme weather events on 314 days. Globally, the climate crisis was responsible for 54% of the total internal displacement of people in 2022. For India, the figure was nearly 100%.

Observed annually since 1973, the World Environment Day has grown to be one of the largest global platforms for environmental outreach. The call on June 5 this year was to scale up action to resolve the plastic pollution crisis. According to the United Nations, every year, over 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced worldwide, one-third of which is used just once. The CSE report gives a glimpse of the casual approach on single-use plastics. After the ban last year, the Central Pollution Control Board rolled out a mobile application that allows citizens to complain about its illegal sale and use. A dismal redress rate has meant a declining number of complaints.

A report by the UN Environment Programme shows that plastic pollution can be reduced by 80 per cent by 2040 if the global community acts now to reuse, recycle, reorient and diversify. Consumer pressure plays a vital role, but the real action must come from producers, investors, policymakers and governments. Only collective efforts will work.