Air
pollution in Delhi today can be just as
bad as the London smog in December 1952
which led to 12,000 excess deaths. Photo:
DMU
By Steen Voigt
National Environmental
Research Institute (NERI), Aarhus University
is well underway with plans for a collaborative
Danish-Indian environment and climate research
centre in cooperation with the University
of Delhi . In February three NERI researchers
travelled to the Indian capital to take
the plans further still.
Air pollution in India
’s capital, New Delhi is periodically as
high as during the London smog of December
1952 which resulted in 12,000 excess deaths.
Reducing the massive
levels of air pollution in Delhi and other
Indian cities forms an important part of
the background to the Danish-Indian research
collaboration between NERI and the University
of Delhi . The University of Copenhagen
is also involved in the collaboration, one
that will lead to the establishment of an
international environment and climate research
centre. The centre will be interdisciplinary
and, to start with, will provide the setting
for a dozen or so PhD and postdoctoral students
from the university. Furthermore, an annual,
high profile course in atmospheric research
and climate will be run especially for Indian
students, but also students from other countries
in the region.
Family photo from the
collaborative NERI-University of Delhi workshop
on atmospheric research and climate change
which attracted 200 participants. NERI staff,
Ole Hertel, Henrik Skov and Michael E. Goodsite
together with a selection of Indian colleagues
and students.
The Delhi centre
Researchers from NERI’s Department of Atmospheric
Environment have just returned from a visit
to the university in New Delhi to go through
the project with their Indian colleagues.
’The university is making
available all the necessary facilities for
the centre and we are in the process of
finding money to finance the teaching itself
and our share of the research’, says Professor
Michael Evan Goodsite. He and senior researchers,
Ole Hertel and Henrik Skov are NERI’s representatives
in the collaboration.
Supervision and teaching
will be carried out in collaboration between
the Danish and Indian researchers as well
as partners in other countries. A ‘public-private
partnership’ (PPP) is planned, which means
a company which receives sponsorship from
the university. This company, as a spin-off
activity from the centre, will develop sustainable
solutions.
Michael Evan Goodsite,
who also has an MBA in global management,
is spearheading the initiative, to which
international partners have already pledged
their participation. The University of Delhi
’s Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Professor
Deepak Pental as well as Pro-Vice Chancellor,
Professor Tandon Sampat Kumar give their
full support to establishment of the centre.
Professor Kumar, a recognised palaeoclimatologist,
is taking up the post as head of the centre.
Senior researchers, Ole
Hertel and Henrik Skov tell of the highly
positive nature of their visit to the University
of Delhi :
’We see this initiative
as a very important opportunity to disseminate
our knowledge to a society with over a billion
inhabitants. With India ’s growth in population
as well as in consumption of energy and
other resources it is of crucial importance
that the country also takes on its share
of the global environmental responsibility.’
Goodsite adds:
’In terms of improving
global climate, moving India, a country
in development, 1 meter is like moving Denmark,
an industrialised country, 1 kilometer.
The initiative demonstrates that India is
interested in making a contribution.’
Facts about the university
The University of Delhi is India ’s leading
university. It has 14 faculties and 220,000
students. India ’s Vice President is the
Chancellor of the university.
Facts about air pollution
On top of the damaging health effects of
urban air pollution, India contributes substantially
to the global emission of greenhouse gases.
After China , India is the country in the
world that burns the most coal, and this
combustion takes place with no or very little
flue gas cleaning. Coal combustion takes
place in connection with power generation,
but coal is also used to a large degree
in private households. The result is, among
other things, a large emission of sulphur
and soot, especially in the towns themselves.
Based on the current state of population
growth and economic development in the country,
these emissions are expected to continue
to increase in the years to come.
