National action plan on air pollutants

Abstract

Few environmental issues so directly affect human health, and the health of the planet, as air pollution. Until recently, scientic and political conversations around climate change and air pollution had taken place separately. Nowadays, however, it is increasingly recognized that both issues are closely linked. Several air pollutants and greenhouse gases have common sources. Therefore designing mitigation strategies with both in mind certainly has the potential to deliver multiple benets - by helping to achieve rapid near-term climate goals, as well as to achieve real world benets for the ecosystem and human health. In order to develop an integrated analysis on air pollution and climate change for this Action Plan, an air pollutant emissions inventory was compiled, which generated mitigation scenarios and estimated benets of action. It is a signicant step towards identifying science based policy decisions with regards to managing air quality. Although clean air is a basic human right, it has also become a luxury; with nine out of ten people worldwide breathing air declared unsafe by World Health Organization standards. Maldives, a relatively small contributor to global emissions, is not immune to the effects of air pollution. In 2013, almost 90% of air pollution during the dry period in Male' was recorded from transboundary sources. Certainly, air pollution can no longer be considered a local problem. It is very much a global phenomenon which requires international political leverage. The government of Maldives is committed to take concrete and strategic action to address the issues of air pollution to protect the environment, and safeguard human health.