Addressing air pollution at the UN
Principal investigator Kerry Ryan Chance of the Habitable Air project spoke at the 2024 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) at the United Nations in New York on the urgent issue of air pollution and how this impacts on climate change and public health.
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On 8 July, the opening day of the 2024 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) for Sustainable Development at the United Nations, Associate Professor Kerry Ryan Chance from the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen and principal investigator of the Habitable Air research project spoke in the second plenary session. This is a full transcript of her speech during the session “Science, technology and innovation: Triggering transformation and sustaining science-driven solutions”:
Thank you, Chairperson.
I represent the Education & Academia Stakeholder Group, the International Association of Universities, the University of Bergen in Norway, and The Habitable Air Project. Air pollution multiplies crises: it negatively impacts public health, heightening cancer and asthma rates among the most vulnerable, and it contributes to global warming. Our multi-country air monitoring study found: (1) a lack of publicly available information about exposure to air pollution, such as SO2, in poor communities; and (2) that regulatory guidelines do not address local or cross-border air pollution effectively. These findings underscore the urgency of SDG#1 – No Poverty, and SDG#13 – Climate Action.
There is a need for governments to work across borders, and together with grassroots communities, to provide more support for those who bear the brunt of air pollution and climate change, and for whom energy transition is a lifeline. There is also a need to measure and make public air pollution’s impacts, to advance research that starts with local knowledges, and for higher education to stand as a strong partner in catalysing this cooperation between sectors (policymakers, industry, academia, and communities).
The Habitable Air Project and its partners, in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals, aims to put the unequal distribution of air pollution globally on the agenda for climate change policy at the HLPF and beyond.
Thank you.
- You may also watch the speech in this recording from the UN web TV. Kerry Ryan Chance speaks at 3h12min.
- Register for our official HLPF 2024 side event discussing air pollution with regards to SDGs 1 and 13.
FACTS
Habitable Air
- The Habitable Air project is funded by the Research Council of Norway.
- The project is based at the University of Bergen (UiB).
- Principal investigator of the project is Kerry Ryan Chance.
- A key part of the project is to conduct air quality tests in South Africa, Germany and the United States to look at how air pollution impacts on the lives of people.
- The project, UiB and the International Association of Universities (IAU) are co-organising an official side event at HLPF 2024. More information and registration here.
- Read more on the research project homepage.
