- The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which turned 46, has announced its plans for the next decade, or until 2030.
- CPCB authorities would provide technical leadership for “science-based environmental management” and would provide guiding policy decisions to the government.
- Their goals will include revamping laboratories with facilities for monitoring of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and toxic air pollutants that have a gamut of health impacts.
- CPCB plans to start an environmental research, development and computational laboratory, the use of satellite-based data for air quality monitoring, and also an in-depth study on the nature of pollution.
- The authorities also announced that their work in the next decade would be guided by science, air and watershed approach.
- It would be a regional approach of management, prioritising pollution reduction strategies while factoring in health hazards among many other parametres.
- CPCB is also responsible for the air and water quality standards in the country, including the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which was launched in January 2019.
- The programme aims to achieve a reduction in particulate matter (PM) by up to 30% over the next five years, or 2024, over annual average levels in 2017 in more than 100 cities.
