How Bad is Delhi’s Air?...Clean Air Asia actively engages youth for technological solution and...

How Bad is Delhi’s Air?

Results from a Clean Air Asia Public Perception Survey on Air Pollution in Delhi

©2017 Clean Air Asia. All rights reserved.

Clean Air Asia 2017. “How Bad is Delhi’s Air? Results from a Clean Air Asia Public Perception Survey on Air Pollution in Delhi”.

This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgment of the source is made. Clean Air Asia would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this Clean Air Asia publication as a source. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever, without prior permission in writing from Clean Air Asia.

Disclaimer The views expressed in this publication are those of Clean Air Asia staff, consultants and management, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Trustees of Clean Air Asia. Clean Air Asia does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication and does not accept responsibility for the consequences of its use.

Acknowledgement ..................................................................................................... vii

Preface ......................................................................................................................... ix

About Clean Air Asia ................................................................................................ xi

YCan ............................................................................................................................ 01

1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 02

2. Public Perception Survey ............................................................................... 04

3. Methodology and Sample .............................................................................. 06

4. Results ............................................................................................................. 13

• 4.1 Understanding the issue of Air Pollution

• 4.2 Effects of Air Pollution on Quality of Life

• 4.3 Causes of Air Pollution

• 4.4 Initiatives to Tackle Air Pollution

• 4.5 Government Initiatives

• 4.6 Access to Air Quality

• 4.7 Trends in Air Quality

• 4.8 Proposed Large Scale Initiatives

• 4.9 Proposed Individual Level Initiatives

Way Forward ...................................................................................................... 25

Appendices

i. Schedule .................................................................................................................. 28

ii. Perception Survey Questionnaire ...................................................................... 29

iii. Bibliography ......................................................................................................... 33

iv. List of Figures ....................................................................................................... 34

v. List of Embassy Volunteers .................................................................................. 35

vi. List of Ycan Volunteers ....................................................................................... 36

Contents

Credits Overall Supervision and Editing: Prarthana Borah

Data Analysis and Report Writing: Vasundhara Bhojvaid

Comments and Inputs: Bjarne Pederson

Data Collection: YCan members, CAA team and volunteers from Embassy of the United States of America, Embassy of Spain, Canadian High Commission and Embassy of Sweden

Data Entry and Assessment: Navjit Babrah

Design and Layout: Jharna Gurung and Bani Bains

Support: Geeta Chaudhary and Aarushi Tanwar

Clean Air Asia (CAA) would like to thank the Embassy of the United States of America in India for joining hands to partner in conducting this perception survey as part of the Earth Day Celebrations in New Delhi.

We thank YCan, our enthusiastic youth group for planning and spending two days in the streets of Delhi interviewing all the participants of this perception survey. We would also like to say thank you to the volunteers from the Embassy of the United States of America, Canadian High Commission, Embassy of Sweden and Embassy of Spain, who took time off to be a part of the programme,

A special thanks to Dr. Craig L. Dicker (Counselor for Cultural Affairs), Richard Pinkham (Director of Programmes, North India Office) and Ayesha Gideon (Cultural Affairs Specialist) from Embassy of the United States of America, New Delhi for their support to this survey.

Acknowledgements

While air quality today is a topic frequently discussed and reported by media as well as a theme for much discussion in various forums in Delhi, we at Clean Air Asia were curious to find out how much of this discussion percolates beyond the air quality community to the public. It is with this objective that we conducted a perception survey with 1500 people through a process of random sampling in 4 different zones in Delhi.

Our perception survey explores people’s understanding of common terminologies for air pollution like ‘particulate matter’ as well as attempts to understand people’s awareness of the relation between air and health. The questionnaire is adapted from the Clean Air Asia Perception Survey questionnaire for Asian Cities.

While the report in itself is an exercise to gauge awareness levels, we are happy to say that the process of conducting the perception survey has in itself been an exercise for promoting awareness. This was possible because of the support of Embassy of the United States in India who aligned the data collection process with their Earth Day celebrations with the theme of Better Air Better Earth. It was also very encouraging to have so many volunteers from the Embassy of Spain, Canadian High Commission, Embassy of Sweden and Australian High Commission to join us in this endeavour of collecting data and talking about air quality to random people in the streets of Delhi. Of course, Clean Air Asia’s strength was much enhanced because over 60 volunteers from YCAN- Youth for Clean Air Network joined us in conceptualising the survey, planning the two days for data collection and generating so much data in such a short span of time

The results are interesting. There is definitely air pollution awareness, but it emerges that this is linked to vehicular emissions. In fact, it was interesting that people connected pollution to traffic immediately but very few talked about waste and transboundary issues. Also, pollution and its impacts were more familiar to people who had a direct impact from it like roadside tea stall owners, auto rickshaw drivers and women who used traditional cookstoves. With regard to health impacts more people could make a connection especially because itchy eyes and cough are becoming more and more common for them in Delhi. Unfortunately, people although eager to take action, did not seem to be much aware on what needs to be done, and could not think beyond planting a tree. The odd and even scheme of the government that regulated the use of cars based on the number plate was however hailed as a pro-active measure of the government to address air pollution.

This report presents a more detailed analysis of the data collected. We hope that it will give us a better idea of the awareness levels for air pollution in Delhi and be a useful document for all those who are involved in the clean air movement in Delhi.

Prarthana Borah India Director

Preface

Clean Air Asia was established in 2001 by the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and USAID. Today, we are registered as an international non-governmental organization that leads the regional mission for better air quality and healthier, more livable cities in Asia. We aim to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in 1000+ cities in Asia through policies and programs that cover air quality, transports, industrial emissions and energy use. We work with ministries (energy, environment, health and transport), cities in Asia, private sector and development agencies to provide leadership and technical knowledge for Air Quality Management. Clean Air Asia is headquartered in Manila and has offices in Beijing and New Delhi.

Clean Air Asia (CAA)’s work in India involves engaging with Indian cities for better air quality management (AQM). This aligns with the overall CAA work program on broad air quality (AQ) interventions. CAA’s work in India involves providing scientific inputs to city governments for better air quality, sustainable transport/ mobility programmes and education/ communication for cleaner air. The focus of CAA’s work in India is on cities with high impact potential as well as potential for leveraging wider change.

CAA is working in thirty cities in India to assess air quality management capacity leading to preparation of air action plans. Towards this, CAA is also supporting capacity building activities for air quality management. Clean Air Asia India has also facilitated the Clean Air Knowledge Network (CAKN), (www.allaboutair.in), a forum that connects air quality experts and practitioners from across India and city officials with an objective to promote knowledge sharing across cities on AQ issues and share best practices.

A major component of CAA’s India programme is Education for better air quality. The Train for Clean Air: Clean Air for Kids is a bilingual (English and Hindi) programme for school children between the age of 12-14 years that engages with children to teach air quality issues. The programme involves interactive classroom and citizen science activities. CAA also works with primary school children to promote the message of clean air.

Clean Air Asia actively engages youth for technological solution and innovative ideas to improve Air Quality. CAA’s Youth Clean Air Network (YCan) is a volunteer program where youth can passionately work together for better air quality.

Clean Air Asia has been actively working in India since 2008. In the past, the India team has worked on green freight and sustainable mobility projects, conducting Walkability Studies in Indian cities, Walkability App, the National Bus Fuel Efficiency Framework, the Green Trucks Toolkit for India, and an online freight brokerage platform etc.

About Clean Air Asia

In order to engage the youth and spread awareness on air quality, Clean Air Asia launched the Youth Clean Air Network (YCan), in December 2016, as a voluntary platform to engage young people in finding solutions for better air quality in Indian cities. YCan is involved primarily in evidence based advocacy and finding local innovative solutions to meet the challenge of air pollution. The activities of YCan and volunteer opportunity can be found on the website http://youthforcleanair.com/.

This report is the result of a survey project launched and conceptualized by YCan and Clean Air Asia (CAA). The youth members that compose the YCan in Delhi, worked with CAA India to learn about air pollution issues, devise the survey tool, brainstorm on the methodology and implement the survey, followed by assisting in the analyses of data. Fifty YCan members implemented the survey tool on Earth Day (22nd April, 2017) across 15 locations in Delhi in a sample of 1,500 respondents. These regions were chosen by YCan members and volunteers as neighbourhoods in which they lived and as areas with major air pollution sources keeping in mind a certain distinguishing criterion with regards to sources of air pollution. YCan members and volunteers met with Clean Air Asia on weekends over 4 months to learn and discuss about air pollution data, pollutants, causes and issues in the city and ways to identify solution based actions. The survey, its design, implementation and analysis of data accrued was developed through a consultative process with YCan members. This report summarizes the results of the survey.

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Increasing urbanization and the rapid pace of industrial growth, has led to an acceleration in the percentage of pollutants and particulate matter in the atmosphere. Common pollutants include – sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5). Urban centres are the sites of the highest concentrations of pollutants as they are the locations of rapid development and increasing population density. The share of the world’s population living in cities has grown from 35% in 1970 to 50% in 2001, and is estimated to cross 70% in 2030 (UN-Habitat 2001). Thus, a majority of the world’s population will soon be living in the most polluted areas of the world.

Within India, Delhi is a booming metropolis with deteriorating air quality situations. A major cause of these alarming levels of pollution has been a sharp rise in the number of cars; dust from road and construction activities, burning of municipal solid waste and industrial emissions. But most, importantly, expert studies have shown that Delhi’s location in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, and the transboundary air pollution from adjoining states, causes it to become a funnel for pollutants to accumulate (Kumar et al. 2015; Narain and Krupnick 2007; Ghosh et.al 2014). Although, scientific research on air pollution in Delhi is developing steadily there is a crucial need to involve citizens and especially the youth to not only understand the repercussions of air pollution but to spearhead individual and collective efforts and spread awareness on the issue of air pollution to lead to effective solutions.

1. Introduction

Air pollution has become one of the chief environmental concerns across the world today. It has implications for human health, urban development, and sustainable growth. WHO (2016) estimates that air pollution is the cause of one in nine deaths across the world of which, nearly 3 million deaths are attributable to ambient or outdoor air pollution, affecting people across regions, socio-economic categories and age groups.

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Paul Edwards (2010) a historian of information, has argued that it has become increasingly difficult to talk of global ecology without making reference to expert-driven models. This is the result of knowledge production and policy on environmental issues being an exclusively expert driven domain which places any involvement of the non-specialized lay person as being inferior or unworthy. The YCan led public perception survey was an effort to combat this trend, to make conversations around pollution and air quality more accessible to the larger public. This is crucial as a collaborative change in air quality is possible only with the active involvement of Delhi’s citizens in changing their lifestyle and demanding effective policy measures and laws.

In ‘Public Understanding of Air Pollution: the ‘localisation’ of environmental risk’ (2001), Bickerstaff and Walker demonstrate the need to study public perception with special regard to air pollution by arguing that ‘air pollution represents a thoroughly social problem’ (Bickerstaff and Walker 2001; 133). That is, if a sustained improvement in air quality is to be achieved a change in personal behaviour is necessary, such as decisions that mark a move towards more sustainable ways of living. It is only when people are engaged and perceptive

to the effects and scenario of air pollution that such changes will take place. Thus, an intrinsic knowledge in people’s perceptions of air pollution is seminal (Bickerstaff and Walker 2001). It is within this setting that this study was undertaken. Further, while there has been exponential growth in techno-scientific research on air pollution in the recent past, in terms of emission sources, technologies to combat air pollution, health effects and air pollution, yet there is a paucity of research on the behavioural response to air pollution. In 2013, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) undertook a perception survey for residents of Delhi on the link between air pollution and health. According to the survey, a majority of respondents felt that there was a link between health and air pollution. In 2014, CSE also undertook a rapid perception survey for residents of Gurugram, which brought out that a majority of the citizens feel that respiratory health is being affected as a result of air pollution. The survey undertaken by CAA in 2017 is an addition to prior perception changes as a means to document changing trends, but most importantly it differs from previous attempts in that it was conceptualized and implemented by a network of young individuals who conscientiously want to address the issue of air pollution in their city.

1 http://www.cseindia.org/content/perception-survey-outdoor-air-pollution-and-its-impact-our-health-02 http://www.cseindia.org/content/concern-over-poor-air-quality-and-traffic-congestion-gurgaon-action-must-gather-

momentum-pro

2. About the Public Perception Survey

A public perception survey is an opinion poll that is a scientific and unbiased method to gather and analyse the opinions held by a population about a given issue.

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I spoke to a rickshawpuller, he said that air pollution really doesn’t make a difference to him as he is poor and it’s the job of government to look after such matters; his only aim is to earn and meet his and his family’s needs.

- Shreya YCan Volunteer

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In order to conduct this survey, the city of Delhi was divided into five zones - North, South, East, West and Central. In each zone three regions were chosen to conduct the survey. These regions were chosen by YCan members and volunteers as neighbourhoods in which they lived and as areas with major air pollution sources. From each zone 300 respondents were chosen across gender, occupation, and age and randomly surveyed through face to face questioning. The survey had a sample of 1500 respondents in all. The choice of the region in each zone was a selection made by the youth volunteers keeping in mind a certain distinguishing criteria with regard to sources of air pollution. For instance, in Central Delhi, Pragati Maidan was chosen as a potential site of inquiry because of a nearby construction site. Rohini, Punjabi Bagh and ITO were chosen as they are commercial areas with heavy traffic. A break up of the sample with the main identified pollution source is given in the below table.

Figure 1: Sample break-up according to zone, region and main source of pollution.

Zone Region Main Source of Pollution Surveys North Haiderpur Badli Waste burning and construction 100

Hudson Lane/GTB Nagar Residential and commercial area with heavy traffic 100

Rohini Commercial area with heavy construction 100

South Satya Niketan Student area with construction activity 100

Okhla Landfill Area Heavy construction and traffic 100

South Ex Flyover Landfill and slum area 100

East Laxmi Nagar Busy market and commercial area 100

Nirman Vihar Construction area 100

Mayur Vihar Construction and residential area 100

West Punjabi Bagh Busy market and residential area 100

Peeragarhi Chownk Construction and heavy traffic area 100

Kirti Nagar Residential, industrial, garbage and landfill area 100

Central Mandi House Residential area 100

Pragati Maidan Construction site 100

ITO Heavy traffic area 100

Total Surveys 1500

3. Methodology and Sample

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Gender Distribution

The respondents were chosen randomly in each region across the five zones. The gender break up across each zone is given in the figure below:

0

50

100

150

200

250

East South Central West North

Males

Females

Figure 2: Gender distribution across five zones in Delhi.

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In the Haiderpur area most respondents live in slums. They identified waste burning as a huge issue that causes air pollution. But, when authorities came to the area to oppose the practice, residents of the area resisted as there were no other waste disposal options.

- Anirudh YCan Volunteer

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Figure 3: Resident/Migrant distribution across five zones in Delhi.

Resident/Migrant

In each zone, the female population interviewed was more than 50 while the male population fell between the ranges of 200 – 250. That is about 24.15% of the sample size was composed of women and the rest were men.

Similarly, the distribution of residents to migrants was fairly equitable with the exception of the East zone which had a larger number of residents than migrants. Respondents were asked to identify themselves as being either a migrant or resident of the city according to their own perception. The intent was to see if a migrant perceived air pollution in Delhi differently on account of having come to the city from another town/city/village with varying pollution conditions versus an individual that had spent the larger part of their life in Delhi and was able to identify a change over time in the same city. This became an important factor as a YCan Volunteer from the east zone shared that while conducting the survey, a respondent who identified himself as a migrant consistently remarked that Delhi was much more polluted than their hometown on account of the high vehicle density in the city.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

East South Central West East

Resident

Migrant

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Figure 4: Age distribution across five zones in Delhi

The age distribution of the sample is given below. The range of respondent’s age was from 16 years to 90 years, with the bulk of the respondents falling in the category of 18 – 45 years of age.

0

50

100

150

200

250

East South Central West East

0-18

18-45

45-90

Age Groups

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One woman invited me to her house to have a more detailed discussion on air pollution. She thought I was from the government and we were trying to come up with solutions. She was severely affected by air pollution related ailments due to road side dust and construction activities right next to her house. When I approached her for the survey she was pouring water on the road outside her house to dissipate the movement of dust.

- Paragi YCan Volunteer

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4.1. Understanding the issue of Air PollutionRespondents were asked what sorts of pollution they identified as perceptibly harming the city. Interestingly, air pollution (55.63%) emerged as the most important cause of concern, over water (17.88%), waste (26.49%) and other types of pollution (0.0%). Every respondent in the sample indicated that one of the sources of pollution – water, air, waste – were important issues and no respondent chose the ‘others’ or ‘pollution is not an issue’ option. This is indicative of a slow but steady realization amongst the citizenry of the city on the manner in which air pollution is becoming an issue in the city. The importance attached to air pollution was spread differently across both genders, about 84% of male respondents identified air pollution as the most important type of air pollution plaguing the city, while 68.45% of female respondents attached primary importance to air pollution.

4. Results

Figure 5: Types of pollution that are most detrimental to the city of Delhi

0%

Water

Waste

Air

Other

Types of Pollution

This survey changed my thinking and it also helped me raise my confidence. I think that there is a lack of awareness due to which air pollution is increasing.

- Mukul YCan Volunteer

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Photo credit: Jyoti Singh

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Among the aspects of people’s lives severely affected by air pollution, health stood out across all five zones followed closely by environment, difficulty in commuting and effect on livestock. In each zone, more than 50% of respondent’s adjudged that air pollution led to detrimental health effects which were related to issues of breathlessness, an increase in respiratory disorders and desire to move out of the city due to general discomfort. Whereas 72% of female respondents identified the detrimental effects of air pollution on health, 74.88% of male respondents had similar perception with regard to the link between air pollution and health. One female respondent in the East zone, highlighted that she was especially perceptive of the negative effects of air pollution on health as she suffered from asthma. Thus, the realization that air pollution is becoming an important issue in the city is manifested for people in the negative health effects they experience and this is potentially an indication of an increased identification of the link between air pollution and health.

Figure 6: Zonal Distribution of effects of Air Pollution

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

East West North South Central

Health

Environment

Commute

Livestock

Quality of Life

Effects of Air Pollution

4.2. Effect of Air Pollution on Quality of Life

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Forty-five percent of respondents identified vehicular pollution as the most potent cause of air pollution in the city. Fugitive dust emerged as the second most important cause, followed by burning of municipal solid waste and industrial emissions. Thus, the realization that air pollution is a complex issue and a result of diverse sources is still nascent. This could be linked to two reasons; firstly, the lack of source apportionment studies and emissions inventories on air pollution in Indian cities and secondly, the inability to communicate the learnings from these kinds of research to the general citizenry through outreach and education. In order to bridge this gap Clean Air Asia, has been implementing air pollution outreach programs and is working with various stakeholders on the issue.

Figure 7: Main Sources of Air Pollution in Delhi

Vehicles

Industry

Fuel

Waste Burning

Dust

Main Sources of Air Pollution

4.3. Causes of Air Pollution

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The perception survey was a good learning experience for me. While talking to different people I learnt that unless they are directly affected by air pollution they are not perceptive to it. One respondent told me that he had asthma and had immense difficulty in breathing. He was willing to do anything to improve the quality of air.

- Mughil YCan Volunteer

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Each zone identified different initiatives taken to abate air pollution. Banning burning of waste accounted for the most important initiative (33%) undertaken for respondents in the South zone; while restriction on vehicular movement emerged as the most important initiative in the Central zone (29%). For respondents from the East zone the usage of masks emerged as the most important initiative (27%) while for the North and West zone the two most important initiatives were restriction on vehicular movement and banning waste burning. Such responses indicate that people are aware of the efforts that are being undertaken by the state (restricting of polluting vehicles), judiciary (ban on burning of waste) and individual efforts (such as wearing protective masks) to curb the detrimental effects of air pollution.

Figure 8: Zonal Distribution of initiatives taken to mitigate air pollution

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

East South Central West North

Ban on waste burning

Restriction on movement

Closing of power plants

Usage of Masks

Air Puri�ers

Intiatives Taken to Mitigate Air Pollution

Photo credit: Jyoti Singh

4.4. Initiatives Taken to Tackle Air Pollution

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4.5. Government Initiatives When asked about government initiatives to reduce air pollution, the majority of respondents (68%) identified the Odd-Even rule and the Swach Bharat Abhiyaan as interventions to reduce air pollution. That said, most respondents felt that these initiatives did not achieve their intended goals. Respondents in the East zone told YCan volunteer that they were aware of the PUC, that is the pollution check for vehicles in Delhi and thought it needed to be implemented better. Figure 9: Government Initiatives

Government Sponsored Intiatives

Yes

No

I remember talking to a middle-aged man who was the security guard in a company. What started as a simple conversation with a few questions from the survey, took a turn when the conversation got intense and we discussed education, human health, pollution and government activities. The kind of awareness this man had about all the happenings in his locality and air pollution astonished me. It made me realize that one’s willingness to bring change is really what is needed to lead to effective change.

- Aashima YCan Volunteer

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A large proportion of the sample was not aware that they had access to air quality data. Those who did, relied mainly on mobile phone apps and the internet as resources for accessing such data. Among the 1500 respondents only 26.19% agreed to having access to air quality data. Of this the majority was composed of male respondents (88%) and 12% of respondents who has access to air quality data were women.

Figure 10: Accessibility to Air Quality Data

Access to Air Quality Data

Yes

No

4.6. Access to Air Quality Data

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Most respondents identified a decline in the air quality of Delhi. As much as 40% of the sample thought that the air quality was much worse than the year before while the remaining respondents felt that either the air quality was the same or a little worse when compared to the year before.

Figure 11: Perception of Overall Air Quality in Comparison to the Previous Year.

Overall Air Quality 4.00% 2.20%

Much better

Little Better

Same

Little Worse

Much Worse

Don't Know

4.7. Trend in Air Quality

Figure 12: Zonal Perception of Overall Air Quality in Comparison to the Previous Year.

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Muchbetter

littlebetter

Same LittleWorse

MuchWorse

Don'tKnow

East

South

Central

West

North

Overall Air Quality : Zonal

I was pleasantly surprised how people took out time to speak to us about air pollution. I learned new things in the process, such as how people are affected by air pollution.

- Pallavi YCan Volunteer

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Respondents identified large scale initiatives that they thought would improve the quality of air of which banning polluting vehicles was foremost followed by clean fleet management, better government initiatives and a strong legal framework for implementation of existing policies.

Figure 13: Proposed Large Scale Initiatives in Delhi to Decrease Air Pollution

Proposed Intiatives to Mitigate Air Pollution

3.00% 0.50%

Ban polluting vehicles

Strong Legal framework

Shi� Industries

Air Quality Plans

Eco Friendly technologies

Improve fuel quality

Use CNG Vehicles

Involve RWA

Other

4.8. Proposed Large Scale Initiatives

People were only willing to participate in those activities which seemed possible and effective in their view. If we want more participation from people to decrease air pollution, we need to make them understand that it isn’t an impossible issue to deal with and there are initiatives that can lead to change.

- Kamna YCan Volunteer

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On an individual level as an effort to reduce air pollution, respondents highlighted that they would be willing to use public transport, carpool and plant more trees. Spreading awareness about air pollution and practicing better waste management practices were also identified as important solutions. Of the individual initiatives identified, 48% of female respondents felt that planting of more trees followed by better waste management practices were the key solutions to the issues to take up. Of the male respondents 51% felt that choosing public transport over private transport, followed by better waste management practices were the two main initiatives to take up.

Figure 14: Individual Initiatives to Abate Air Pollution in Delhi

Proposed Individual Initiatives to Mitigate Air Pollution

0.50%

Public Transport

Donate money

Better waste managementpractices

Plant more trees

Spread awareness

other

4.9. Proposed Individual Level Initiatives

Figure 14: Individual Initiatives to Abate Air Pollution in Delhi

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The perception survey is part of CAA’s efforts to increase the general knowledge base and intensify outreach for action on air pollution in cities of India. Increasingly, there is an acceptance of the fact that collaborative efforts between the government, civil society, industry and general citizenry will be needed to make cities cleaner and liveable in the future. In order to move in this direction, CAA has launched the Clean Air Knowledge Network to serve as a platform for collaborative efforts, repository for knowledge and sharing of best practices across civil society, the government and specialists across cities in India.

Simultaneously, CAA continues to engage with YCan in Delhi and increase the networks of volunteer for which a website has been launched: youthforcleanair.com. YCan has also been launched in Gandhinagar and we are in the process of starting the YCan in Guwahati. In the foreseeable future, we aim to take the YCan to other Indian cities to carry on the campaign for clean air with the youth, while strengthening the Clean Air Knowledge Network to encourage city level symbiotic efforts at the inter and intra city level to conceive and implement solutions on air quality management.

Way Forward

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Appendices

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Appendix i

ScheduleDate: 22nd and 23rd April, 2017

Zone 1: NorthHaidarpur BadliHudson Lane/GTB NagarRohini

Zone 2: SouthSatya NiketanOkhla Landfill AreaSouth Ex Flyover

Zone 3: EastLaxmi NagarNirman ViharMayur Vihar

Zone 4: WestPunjabi BaghPeeragarhi ChowkKirti Nagar

Zone 5: CentralMandi HousePragati MaidanITO

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Appendix ii

Perception Survey Questionnaire

Name: ...............................................................................................

Gender: .............................................................................................

Age: ...................................................................................................

Occupation: ....................................................................................

Neighbourhood: ..............................................................................

Resident/Migrant: ...........................................................................

Respondent Details

1. What are the types of pollution in your city? (Tick more than one)

Water Waste/Garbage Air (If yes, go to Q.3, If no, go to Q.2 and finish survey)

Other (Please Specify)

2. Why do you think the air in your city is not polluted?

Not experienced any difficulty I have never thought about it

Water and waste are bigger concerns


3. What aspects of your life is air pollution affecting? (Tick more than one)

Health Environment/Climate Change/Weather

Commuting in the city Livestock


Perception Survey Questionnaire

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4. In which of the following ways do you think you are affected? (Tick more than one)

Breathlessness/Difficulty in Breathing/Asthma Respiratory issues during diwali and seasonal changes

Doing less outdoor activities Doing more to stay healthy

Want to move to other less polluted areas Feeling depressed/cold/dizziness

Irritation to eyes/nose/throat/Poor Visibility Worrying about the living environment of children


5. What do you think are the sources of Air Pollution in your area? (Tick more than one)

Vehicles Power Generation Plants/Industry Roadside Dust

Unit Burning of Fuel/Biomass Waste Disposal/Waste Burning


6. What are some initiatives in your area to tackle air pollution? (Tick more than one)

Ban on waste burning Restriction on vehicular movement

Closing of power plants Masks Air Purifiers


7. Do you have access to air quality data?

YES (Go to Q.8) NO (Go to Q.10)

8. How do you access air quality data for your city/locality? (Tick more than one)

Newspaper CPCB/DPCC website Television

Internet Display Boards Mobile App

Through friends and family


9. Have you heard of any of these pollutants? (Tick more than one)

PM 2.5 PM 10 O3

NOX CO2/CO SO2


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10. How do you compare overall air quality in your area in compare to last year?

Much better Little better About the same

Little worse Much worse Don’t know

11. Do you know of any government sponsored initiative to tackle air pollution in the city?

No

Yes (please specify)

12. What initiative must be taken to reduce air pollution in your area? (Tick more than one)

Monitor and ban vehicles that fail emission tests and prohibit old vehicles from entering city

Stronger and mandatory legal framework implemented by the government which prohibits industries, vehicles owners and others to emit pollutants into the air

Shift the industries outside the city

Government should establish air quality plans, short and long term plans that look at controlling emissions from all sectors

Industry and power sector should adopt innovative and eco-friendly technologies for controlling and monitoring the release of emissions into the air

Improve the quality of fuel and establish independent fuel quality testing mechanism

Use of Electric or CNG vehicles instead of fuel running vehicles

RWA to get involved in air pollution control


13. What measures are you ready to take to reduce air pollution in your area? (Tick more than one)

Use public transport/Carpooling more frequently

Donate some money/time to organisations that works for improving Air Quality

Better Waste Management Practices

Planting more trees in your area and caring for them

Spread awareness among friends and family

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• Bickerstaff, Karen and Walker, Gordon. 2001. ‘Public understandings of air pollution: the ‘localisation’ of environmental risk’. In Global Environmental Change. Vol. 11, pp – 133-145.

• Edwards, Paul. 2010. A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data and the Politics of Global Warming. Cambridge: MIT Press.

• World Health Organization. 2016. Ambient Air Quality: A Global Assessment of Exposure and Burden of Disease. Geneva: WHO.

• United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-Habitat). 2001. The State of the World’s Cities, 2001. Nairobi: UN –Habitat.

• Kumar, Prashant et al. 2015. ‘New Directions: Air Pollution Challenges for Developing Megacities like Delhi’ in Atmospheric Environment. Vol. 22.

• Narain, Urvashi and Krupnick, Alan. 2007. The Impact of Delhi’s CNG Program on Air Quality. (Discussion Paper) Resources from the Future. Available at: http://www.rff.org/research/publications/impact-delhis-cng-program-air-quality (accessed on June 10, 2017)

• Ghosh, Saikat et al. 2014. ‘An Investigation of Potential Regional and LOCAL Source Regions Affecting Fine Particulate Matter Concentrations in Delhi, India’ in The Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association. Vol. 65 (2).

Appendix iii

Bibliography

34


Figure 1: Sample break-up according to zone, region and main source of pollution. ................... 06

Figure 2: Gender distribution across five zones in Delhi. .................................................................. 08

Figure 3: Resident/Migrant distribution across .................................................................................. 10

Figure 4: Age distribution across five zones in Delhi ......................................................................... 11

Figure 5: Types of pollution that are most detrimental to the city of Delhi .................................... 13

Figure 6: Zonal Distribution of effects of Air Pollution ..................................................................... 15

Figure 7: Main Sources of Air Pollution in Delhi ............................................................................... 16

Figure 8: Zonal Distribution of initiatives taken to mitigate air pollution ...................................... 18

Figure 9: Government Initiatives .......................................................................................................... 19

Figure 10: Accessibility to Air Quality Data ........................................................................................ 20

Figure 11: Perception of Overall Air Quality in Comparison to the Previous Year. ...................... 21

Figure 12: Zonal Perception of Overall Air Quality in Comparison to the Previous Year. ........... 21

Figure 13: Proposed Large Scale Initiatives in Delhi to Decrease Air Pollution ............................ 22

Figure 14: Individual Initiatives to Abate Air Pollution in Delhi ..................................................... 23

Appendix iv

List of figures

35

2017-2018

Clean Air Asia would like to put on record the efforts of the many officials from different missions based in Delhi, who joined us in our endeavour to gauge people’s perception of air quality in Delhi. While this may not be a comprehensive list, we would like to acknowledge the work of the following volunteers whose names are in our records.

Embassy of the United States of AmericaChetna KheraAndrea Robles-OlsonBrian SmyserRichard PinkhamAyesha GideonJonathan Kessler

Embassy of SpainVaroon P. AnandDr. Teresa Barres Benlloch

Embassy of SwedenSofia NyströmSanir Singh RanaMarcus HolknektLena Malmqvist

High Commission of CanadaRajeshwari D RaoAditya RaoArpithDipanshuMatt FriesenShriya RamachandranJohnny JosephBernard FrancisRonny D’souzaJasvinder KaurSreemoyi SanyalPearl Wierenga

Appendix v

Volunteers (Embassies and High Commissions)

36


Appendix vi

Ycan Volunteers

Aadyaa Singhania

Aahan Malhotra

Aakash Arora

Aashima Bhutani

Aastha Jain

Abhimanshu Singh

Abhishek Dasgupta`

Abhishek Saroha

Aditi

Aditi

Agip Dhar

Akanksha Singhal

Akanksha Subhash Khakse

Akash Rathi

Akashlina Basu

Akshata Verma

Aleena

Aleena Malik

Aman Agrawal

Aman Bajaj

Aman Shaikh

Anchal Kamboj

Animesh Deepak

Anirudh Goel

Anjali Thagela

Anju Kushwaha

Anshu

Anurag

Anurag Agarwal

Arundhati Tewari

Aryan Singh

Ayushi Singh

Ayyanna Gurikar

Banas

Bani Bains

Bhawna Upadhyay

Chirag Luthra

Deepanshu

Deepika

Devansh Gupta

Devika Sen

Diksha Rai

Divya Mishra

Gautam Aggarwal

Gautam Aggarwal

Haika Bhat

Himanshu

Jaideep Nath Sharma

Jaideepnath

Jaideepnath

Jyoti Singh

Jyotsana Pandey

Kadambini Arora

Kamna Nanda

Kanika

Kashif Mahfooz

Kavita Meena

Kirtika Tolia

Kriti Sapra

Kshitij Gupta

Kunti Kumari

Manasi

2017-2018

Mansi

Mansi Bansal

Manya Aggarwal

Megha

Meghna Tugnait

Mohit

Mona

Mughil

Mukul Kundra

Neha Saini

Nidhi

Niharika Gupta

Nishant Ajnoti

Nishant Yadav

Nitin Shokeen

Onia Khrasi

Palak Gupta

Paragi Neema

Pavani Chopra

Piyush Raj

Pooja Choudhary

Pooja Dubey

Pooja Misra

Pradhuman Yadav

Preeti Gupta

Rajat Garg

Rajat S.Kakde

Rajitha Tammineni

Ravi Kumar Jaiswal

Rhythm

Rishabh Indoria

Ritvik Gupta

Rohit Kumar

Rukhsaar

Sahil Popli

Shalu

Sherin Kaul

Shivani Basoya

Shrayoshi Choudhary

Shreya Aggarwal

Shreya Jain

Shubhangi Aggarwal

Smriti Gupta

Sohana Debbarma

Sonal

Sourav Lohia

Srishti Sharma

Sumedha

Sumit Aggarwal

Surbhi Pal

Swarnima Singh

Tania

Tanuja

Taranpreet Kaur

Tarun Kaushik

Tushar

Ujjwal Kumar

Urmila Yadav

Vani Jain

Yusra

Yusra Rafiq

38


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