By – Dr. N. Munal Meitei
“A clear blue sky brings peace, hope, and a sense of endless possibility”
International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies is observed on 7 September since 2020 to improve air quality and reducing air pollution. The theme for this year is “Clean Air for Climate Action.” The theme highlights how tackling air quality and climate change together delivers overlapping health and environmental benefits.
Increased in pollution lead to a hazier and diminished the blueness of sky. After few years, the next generation may ask, what is the colour of skies? The need of the hour is to strengthen international cooperation at the global, regional and local levels to improve air quality, including the collection and utilization of data, research and development and the sharing of best practices.
Clean air is importance for air pollution, our economy, work productivity, healthcare and other natural environment. Air pollution knows no boundary – everyone has a responsibility to protect our atmosphere and ensure healthy air for all. Improving air quality can enhance climate change mitigation and mitigation efforts can also improve air quality. Clean air is important for the health and day-to-day lives of people, while air pollution is the single biggest environmental risk to human health and one of the main avoidable causes of death and disease globally.
Seeing blue sky is the example of clean air. To breathe with clean air is a human right, including the rights to life, health, water, food, housing and an adequate standard of living. Air pollution also clearly violates the right to a healthy and sustainable environment.
According to UNEP, air pollution is the world’s biggest environmental killer. WHO indicates that air pollution is responsible for around 9.1 million global premature deaths each year through diseases like lung cancer, acute respiratory infections and heart diseases. In India, its 2.3 million deaths annually in 2025. Tiny, invisible pollutants penetrate deep into our lungs, bloodstream and bodies. In addition, air pollution disproportionately affects women, children and older people especially in low-income group that are exposed to indoor air pollution from cooking and heating
Air is our first contact with the world. What we inhale 12 times a minute, keeps us alive or poisons. 99% of us breathe polluted air and we can’t avoid it anymore. Air pollution is the biggest environmental health risk of our time. It also exacerbates climate change, causes economic losses and reduces agricultural productivity. By collaborating across borders, sectors and individuals, we can reduce air pollution through collective investments of time, resources and efforts.
The main sources of air pollution and greenhouse gases are often the same. Most actions to improve air quality also therefore help to fight climate change. Many of the drivers of climate change such as inefficient and polluting forms of energy and transport systems contribute to air pollution. Thus, strategies to fight both climate change and air pollution go hand in hand. A study suggests that increase in pollution could enhance the frequency and strength of cyclones. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, also recognizes that air pollution abatement is critical to attain its goals.
Burning of fossil fuels – for power, transportation and industry share 80% of the global carbon emissions. Scientists anticipate that a warming climate will worsen air quality. If current emissions rate continue, ground ozone will intensify, especially in densely populated areas, leading to more health hazards.
In certain areas, a drier climate will lead to more dust storms; in others, pollen and other airborne allergens are likely to increase. As the globe warms, wildfires and associated air pollution are expected to increase, even under a low emissions scenario.
Plastics pollution is one of the dreaded industrial pollutions. Micro plastics are detected in the atmosphere even in remote areas and in high-altitude glaciers, the Arctic and Antarctic, suggesting potential long-distance atmospheric transport. The incineration of plastic toxic also increases air pollution and poses a threat to the environment.
In India, currently Over 99% of total population—essentially everyone -breathes air that fails to meet the WHO guidelines for fine particulate matter, PM 2.5. According to Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air show that not a single district out of India’s 749 districts meets the WHO annual guideline of 5 micrograms per cubic meter (ìg/m³).
In Manipur, currently 28.55 lakhs people in 37.56 lakhs are breathing toxic air that does not meet WHO’s clean air guidelines. The district with the worst air pollution in Manipur is Jiribam in 2025, where PM2.5 is forecasted to be 7.6 µg/m3.
Air pollution is a preventable problem. The solutions -laws, standards, policies, programs, investments and technologies -are known. The cost of inaction is staggering, with air pollution estimated to cost the global economy Rs. 684.45 trillion per year, equivalent to 6.1% of the global GDP due to increased healthcare costs. Implementing these solutions will of course entail huge investments, but the benefits of fulfilling the right to breathe clean air for all of humanity are incalculable.
Now, on coming the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies-2026, the urgency arises for public awareness to promote and facilitate actions to improve the global air quality.
(The author is Environmentalist, presently working as DFO/Chandel, email; [email protected])
