This presentation is provided by the newly appointed IAQM Honorary Fellow, Prof Jim Longhurst and Chaired by IAQM Chair, Rush.
This presentation provides a high-level assessment of the causes and impacts of air pollution and its management viewed through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It builds upon an earlier analysis performed by Longhurst et al (2018). This assessment considers the individual goal level as well as providing a synoptic overview of the 17 interconnected goals. The presentation assesses the role of air pollution as a barrier to achieving the SDGs and the opportunity provided by air quality management practices to support achievement of individual goals.
The issues of air quality, air pollution and its management are not clearly identified in any of the 17 headline goals but to varying degrees are directly or indirectly present in some of the underpinning targets or indicators within the SDG framework. Air pollution is identified in this assessment as a direct barrier for each of the individual goals whilst air quality management (AQM) is assessed as an enabler for 13 goals and provides co-benefits for the other four. In conclusion, the importance of addressing air pollution as a negative constraint on sustainable progress is of fundamental importance but the positive enabling contributions of clean air to the meeting of SDGs must also be recognised.
Further research is recommended to deepen understanding of the impact of air pollution and its management on SDGs at the target and indicator level and to provide detailed examples of the enabling conditions and co-benefits of AQM at various spatial scales.
Header image credit: © Valentinos Loucaides | Adobe Stock
