The European Space Agency has published the first maps of satellite data from the Copernicus network, showing dramatic decrease of nitrogen dioxide pollution (NO2) in the great European cities, particularly in Paris, Rome, and Madrid. Airparif has just published an historical record which indicates an improvement of around 30% in the air quality following the fall in road traffic in the Ile-de-France region, with a reduction of more than 60% in nitrogen oxides. Satellite images show fewer cars and therefore this is equivalent to less. However, fine particles from residential heating and agricultural spreading still remain. If traffic had not been drastically reduced due to containment, we would have experienced the pollution peak which has now become seasonal on Wednesday 18 March
Everywhere in the world we share a common concern— now a priority— urging us to recover the air quality lost due to extensive urban way of life, primarily responsible for its degradation. Paris, Londres, Bruxelles, Madrid, Milan, at the forefront of this fight, have brought European cities together to fight against this disease, which one of the causes of which is the fine particles generated by diesel. The mayors of these capital cities are strongly mobilized on this. We have seen the Mayors of Paris, Brussels and Madrid expedite an action in the European Court of Justice to win their case. We have also witnessed the “dieselgate” emerge in broad daylight in 2015, confirming scandalous detrimental actions against the health of citizens.
Indeed, the fight against diesel and urban pollution has become one of the main battles of the coming years. Meanwhile, many other cities have joined this irreversible virtuous movement, since air quality has become increasingly important for city dwellers.
In Paris, we have encouraged the deployment of innovative systems for fine monitoring of air quality at breathing height, such as Pollutrack, launched at the COP21 conference, which since then has been tracking fine particles smaller than 2.5 microns.
Full Article (En) : moreno-web.net