Action Area B

Action for clean air

The Hindu Kush Himalayas is one of the most polluted regions in the world, with billions regularly breathing air that exceeds safe limits. Breathing toxic air has major health consequences for people, shortening life expectancies by years, with children particularly vulnerable. Pollution also reduces crop yields, and impacts water security by accelerating the loss of snow and ice in the mountains and affecting monsoon patterns and rainfall distribution across Asia. It damages forests and grasslands, acidifies rivers and lakes and harms animals. ICIMOD’s clean air unit is working to reverse the regional trend of worsening air quality. We work through partners to monitor, assess and communicate the scale of the problem and to build greater understanding of the links between pollution and climate change in order to increase the ambition of reduction targets and to speed up the adoption of solutions.