18. Climate Change and Air Pollution in Mumbai

Climate change and global warming are potential threats to the existence of living beings, and it is increasingly noticed in recent years. Consistent increase in population growth and activities undertaken for furthering socio-economic development, with the application of technologies, not only exhaust resources but also pollute environment, thereby resulting in environmental degradation. Climate change affects all sections of population and more to the vulnerable sections like elderly and children. Amongst various adverse climatic conditions, air pollution is a major one, as it affects health and wellbeing of the population. Epidemiological studies in cities like Mumbai have revealed that with raised pollution levels, there was an increased occurrence of dyspnoea, chronic and intermittent cough, frequent colds, chronic bronchitis, cardiac disorders, high blood pressure and deaths due to non-tuberculosis respiratory and ischaemic heart diseases. The city of Mumbai, which is considered as a case study for the paper, is the capital city of Maharashtra state. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) is implementing various environmental legislations in the state along with various other organisations which are promoting good practices of afforestation, solid waste management and traffic diversions of road ways to curtail the pollutants in the environment. To mention a few, with the projects like Eastern Freeway, Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road and Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road, it is expected that the connectivity of various areas of the Mumbai city is well networked and these measures are greatly contributing to combat air pollution in the region. To tackle further the issues related to environmental degradation, it is important to act at individual level as well as collectively. Hence, the city dwellers have a major role to play, in protecting the ecosystem of the city, and to actively participate in anti-pollution measures. The paper focuses on various aspects related to climate change scenario and its impacts, with a specific reference to Mumbai by critically analysing various reports and secondary data on climate change and air pollution issues.