Over 627,000 people die prematurely due to particulate air pollution

By Newsgram Staff Writer

Over 627,000 people die prematurely and 18 million healthy life years are lost every year due to particulate air pollution Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said at the Anil Agarwal Dialogue held in memory of CSE's founder Anil Agarwal in the national capital today. She said that despite decades of air quality management, particle pollution remains one of the top killers.

Particle pollution is the microscopic solid and liquid matter suspended in the Earth's atmosphere. It is mostly black carbon, which is a product of incomplete combustion.

"Black carbon is local air pollutant and has global impact as well. The issue to deliberate will be the emerging science on local-global pollutants and also to understand the national road maps for intervention in key areas of mitigation and to see if these are sufficient or transformational approaches are needed," Narain said.

The two-day event, that began on Wednesday, had discussions on black carbon and its impact of the climate.