Bhubaneswar: Smart City Bhubaneswar on Thursday officially joined the BreatheLife Network of World Health Organization (WHO), which aims to engage cities and governments to set air quality targets, inform citizens of actions they can take to reduce their contribution to air pollution and protect them and support the health and environment sectors.
Under the BreatheLife Campaign, Clean Air Asia India and WHO India in partnership with Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) organized a training programme which focused on health impacts of air pollution, air quality monitoring and standards, and introduction of Breathe life campaigns.
Following the training programme, BMC officially committed to join BreatheLife Network in the presence of distinguished dignitaries including Municipal Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary
, WHO representative, Clean Air Asia team, officials from Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), BMC and Bhubaneswar Smart City Ltd and other relevant stakeholders.
The BMC Commissioner stressed that public engagement should be major aspect of the BreatheLife campaign. He also highlighted the need for an immediate action plan to reduce air pollution in the next 3-4 years.
National Professional Officer (Environment and Public Health) of WHO India, Manjeet Singh Saluja, congratulated the leadership of Bhubaneswar city for committing to BreatheLife, truly a visionary step for ensuring clean air for city.
Clean Air Asia’s India Director Prarthana Borah said that CAA India is excited to have Bhubaneswar commit to Breathe Life. Bhubaneswar has been very proactive towards addressing environmental concerns and committing to Breathe Life adds another feather to the cap since the focus on health impact of air pollution will increase public engagement.
Breathe Life is a campaign launched by the World Health Organization, UN Environment and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to raise awareness on the threat air pollution poses to our health and climate. Clean Air Asia India (CAA) is supporting WHO India on strengthening the BreatheLife Network in Indian cities.
The campaign targets the major sources of air pollution that also contribute to SLCPs and, directly or indirectly, to multiple health risks including from transport, energy, waste and agricultural sectors.