The world Day of the environment will take place in China on June 5th according to the chief of the Chinese delegation in the United Nations and the executive director by interim of UNO–Environment.
The topic of this year is “air pollution”. Indeed, each year, 7 million people in the world dies prematurely of the causes of the atmospheric pollution including 4 million in the Asia–Pacific. It invites us to think of the way in which we can change our daily newspaper in order to reduce atmospheric pollution that we produce and breathe and to thwart its contribution to the warming of planet and its effects on our health.
The United Nations Organization created the World Day of the Environment in 1972, at the time of the opening of the Conference of the United Nations on the environment of Stockholm. Each year, it is celebrated on June 5th in a different city and proposes a different important specific challenge concerning the environment.
With this occasion, an international exhibition is organized during the corresponding week. To work for the wellness of the Earth is in the middle of this initiative local, national or international, individual or collective, which highlights the environmental challenges to which the country host must cope and cure.
During the 5 last years, the countries selected hosts had topics and slogans very various but all based on pollution, the biodiversity or planet: 2019 – the topic of the year with Hangzhou, in China is sensitizing with air pollution. The country was for the 3rd time the host of the event after the editions of 1993 in Beijing with the topic “poverty and the environment – To break the vicious circle” and of 2002 in Shenzhen with the topic “Let us give a chance to the planet « .2018 –” Let us fight plastic pollution! “in India. it was also the case in 2011 with New Delhi with the topic “Forests: nature with your service « .2017 – “To bring closer people to Nature” in Canada.2016 – “Tolerance zero with regard to the illicit trade of wild species in Angola.2015 – “Seven billion dreamed. Only one planet, let us consume with moderation” in Italy. In 2001, the country shared the event in Turin with Havana in Cuba on the topic “Log in with the cyber–fabric of the life”.
Other countries were 2 times host, Brazil with Rio de Janeiro in 1992 with the topic “Only one is in hiding; to look after and share « and in 2012 with the topic “green Economy: In you belong?”. The other country host in the same case was Mexico in Mexico City in 1990 with the topic “the children and the environment” and in 2009 with the topic “Your planet needs you. Unisons us against the climate change”.
China is the 1st greenhouse gas country transmitting, in front of the United States. These two countries accounted for 43% of the total of the CO2 emissions related to energy in 2016. To date, at the dawn of the world Day of the environment, from the celebrations will take place in the South–east of China with Hangzhou (Zhejiang) following the publication of a summary report carried out on the atmospheric pollution control carried out for the 20 last years in Beijing.
An action plan whose results were very encouraging, was elaborate in 2013 in order to reduce by 30% the emissions of industries highly polluting by 2017. However, in spite of the strict measures taken like the factory shutdown, the fight against pollution particularly involves an increase in the ozone concentration in the air around the big cities according to the abundant data by a network of 1,000 stations of control of the air. So it results from this from the respiratory disorders at the human ones and the disordered states of the environment.
A reduction of the concentrations of fine particles (PM 2.5, is of a diameter lower than 2.5 micrometers) of almost 40% shows the good performance of the application of the plan. Nevertheless, in spite of their negative effect on health, they act like “sponges”, able to absorb the radicals hydroperoxyle, compounds playing a key function in the production of ozone.
Air pollution is related to 5 causes:
– Agriculture (produced cattle of methane and ammonia; approximately 24% of all greenhouse gases emitted in the world come from agriculture, of the deforestation and other land uses).
them domestic activities (use of the plant health products, paintings, of the domestic products, while cooking because the domestic main source of atmospheric pollution is combustion inside fossile fuels, of wood and other fuels containing biomass to cook, heat and light the houses, which causes approximately 3.8 million premature deaths each mostly year in the developing countries)
them industrial facilities (power plants with diesel coal, generators, use of solvents in the industries chemical and mining; today 82 countries out of 193 encourage the investments in the production of renewable energy, the cleaner production, energy efficiency and pollution control);
them transport (the proportion of the carbon dioxide emissions related to transport is higher than 25%, which generates nearly 400,000 premature deaths of which the half is due to the air pollution and the emissions of diesel, while the people living near the main arteries of circulation have 12% more risks to suffer from insanity. Air quality in the urban areas will be able to improve by reducing up to at least 90% the emissions of the cars while pursuing the policies and the standards which require the use of cleaner fuels.
them waste (40% is burned with open sky in 166 countries out of 193. The use of the economy interdependent and circular thanks to recycling and the waste disposal solid reduced the quantity of waste flarings or hidden, just like the transformation of organic waste into compost or bioenergy which improves the fertility of the ground and constitutes an alternative energy source. The reduction of approximately a third of all lost or wasted food will allow the improvement of air quality).
them volcanic eruptions, the sandstorms and dust are of it also part.
China made a success of its challenge concerning the reduction of fine particulate emission since it achieved in 4 years to carry out what the United States spent 30 years to carry out. A reduction of the emissions of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides (results of the combustion of fossil energies) are from now on necessary to fight against this ozone overproduction, with the risk to see its concentrations reaching particularly dangerous thresholds.
Atmospheric pollution is an urgent world concern; indeed, in the world 9 people out of 10 are exposed to levels of atmospheric pollutants higher than the security levels of WHO, this is why vis–a–vis this crisis which requires fast and radical actions, China decided to help the world to act more effectively while directing the campaign related to the protection of the climate. The country has half of the electric vehicles from planet and 99% of the wire data buses. It shows also the example in the sector, always in rise in the country, of green energies.
For the World Day of the Environment, the secretary of UNO, Antonio Guterres, declared: “It is thus time to pass to the action. My message with the governments is clear: tax pollution, cease subsidizing fossile fuels and stop building new coal stations. It is necessary for us to pass to a green economy”.
More Stories
Happy birthday CitéStars!
Anti-Fur Demonstration by the SIPE Collective
CitéStars celebrated Halloween with David Donadéi