Adherence to WHO adds 2.2 years to life expectancy: Report

CHENNAI: The Down To Earth magazine has released its 7th e-publication on the ‘State or India’s Environment 2022: In Figures’ on Thursday, a one-of-a-kind collection of data on environment and development that’s analysed and presented by experts from CSE and the magazine.

“Data is about measurement and the better we measure, the better we will get at management. This is what we know, and why we put together this data each year. It helps us make sense of the changes we see in our world, and helps us understand what needs to be done,” said Sunita Narain, editor of Down To Earth.

Some key data in the report is on air pollution, where pollution is reduced as per WHO standards, it’d add 2.2 years to global life expectancy, finds the report. In India, life expectancy will go up by 5.9 years if the country meets the WHO levels of PM 2.5. Additionally, this year India recorded its hottest March, with an early onslaught of heatwaves. The country reported 280 heatwave days be- tween March 11 and May 18 (highest in the past 10 years).

This is almost double of what the country experienced in 2012, the second-highest heat-wave year in the past decade.

“While we celebrate the 75th year of Independence, we have a promise of a ‘New India’ with quantified development goals to meet. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm conference, UN’s first meeting on the human environment. This re- port tries to do justice to both,” said an environmentalist.

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