Dublin City Council has pledged to address air quality concerns and to improve air quality by 2030.
Dublin City Council has pledged to address air quality concerns and to improve air quality by 2030, according to recent news coverage by RTÉ.
Dimitri O’Donnell of RTÉ News, recently published a report stating that Dublin local authorities have collectively pledged to improve air quality by using a campaign across the city. This will make Dublin the first city and county in the country to commit to transformative action by 2030. The four local authorities of County Dublin have reportedly backed the BreatheLife global campaign.
BreatheLife is a pledge to actively fight air pollution in our cities and in our homes that kills over seven million people every year. More than 950 people in Ireland die each year as a result of poor air quality. Across Europe, this figure rises to 400,000 deaths annually.
Tom Brabazon, Dublin’s recently-elected Lord Mayor, spoke to Dimitri O’Donnell about the city’s plans to combat this humanitarian crisis and the range of initiatives to protect the local and visiting population. He discusses how air pollution damages peoples respiratory system and just how many people suffer from asthma attacks in this country. Brabazon also mentioned the view of brown haze over the city that can be seen from the Three Rock Mountain on a warm, still summer day.
Over the next decade, in excess of 76 cities and regions around the world, including Dublin, aim to meet World Health Organisation (WHO) air quality guideline values. It has been estimated by WHO that 92 percent of people in the world breathe in air on a daily basis that falls short of meeting these basic values/guidelines. The local authorities of Dublin plan to bring together their resources to tackle climate change and better the quality of life for people. While at the launch of BreatheLife in Dublin’s Mansion House, Dr Maria Neira from the World Health Organisation spoke about protecting the health of others and inspiring people to commit to reducing air pollution. According to Neira, it is the start of improving the health of the entire population.
This is a topic we cover regularly on the Sonitus Systems website, you can read more about
Air quality health implications for mainland Europe
Also contributing to Dublin’s 2030 pledge is Cllr Eoghan O’Brien, Mayor of Fingal. He has called for everyone in the Dublin region to be aware of how they treat our planet, the Earth, to watch their own actions and to be proactive about how they can do their bit to help, particularly in the implementation of the BreatheLife campaign.
Climate activist Beth Doherty (aged 16 years) has developed an interest in the BreatheLife campaign. During the Mansion House launch she spoke about the need to change the way our city functions, for example, we need more transport options, more energy efficient homes and structural changes to target industry and agriculture issues to really get to the root of these problems.
The four Dublin authorities have expressed their understanding that in order to help combat climate change they will have to begin making small changes in the city, that may well prove difficult to adjust to. One example of these many required changes will be making roads wider for larger cycle paths, unrestricted footpaths for pedestrians and joined-up bus lanes in the hopes of getting more and more people out of their cars and onto their feet. But this is only the beginning.
This is an increasingly topical global conversation and you can read more about the significance of air quality monitoring here.
Sonitus Systems have a long relationship with Dublin City Council. In fact, they were our very first customer. Recently we have been helping the air quality team with a major new initiative that might just contribute to this campaign. Stay tuned to find out more…