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Dr. Priya Ranjan Trivedi presents First Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture on Environment on the occasion of World Environment Day 2019

Press Release

New Delhi, 5 June 2019

The World Renowned Environmental Scientist, Institution Builder and Thinker, Chairman, Indian Institute of Ecology and Environment, Founder Chancellor, The Global Open University Nagaland and Indira Gandhi Technological and Medical Sciences University, Arunachal Pradesh while presenting the First Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture on Environment on the occasion of the World Environment Day 2019 with the theme “Air Pollution” said that all over the world people were breathing dirty air and that they are exposed to air pollutants exceeding the WHO guidelines resulting into reduced life expectancy besides damaging economies across the world.

While presenting the keynote address Dr. Priya Ranjan Trivedi informed that this day is always remembered by his team in the light of the fact that 39 years ago, his Indian Institute of Ecology and Environment was established and inaugurated on this day i.e. on 5 June 1980.

He further diagnosed that casualties from air pollution are caused by particles that penetrate our defences every time we fill our lungs. The most alarming fact is that every year around seventy lakhs people die of air pollution problems. He further added that air pollution has been causing our societies more than Rs. 350 trillion every year.

He also advocated for reducing emissions of air pollutants for improving public health besides alleviating global warming by at least 0.5 degree celsious, he further explained.

Stressing the need for developing a green economy instead of a grey economy, he advised the Government of India for taxing pollution, ending fossil fuel subsidies and stopping to build new coal plants.

Justifying the urgent need for promoting environmental education including air pollution control strategies in all the schools, college and universities, he expected the cooperation from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Government of India for issuing a circular for teaching this important subject in all the classes irrespective of the subjects right from Class I to Bachelors’s, Master’s and Doctoral levels.

On this auspicious occasion, the 15 Volume World Encyclopaedia of Ecology and Environment running into around 9000 pages was released and dedicated to the world citizenry.