United Nations says more than two million lives can be saved yearly through the implementation of cost-effective measures aimed at reducing black carbon, methane and ozone emissions.
A report released by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) on Friday, provided a package of 16 measures that could not only save some 2.5 million lives each year, but also avoid crop losses amounting to 32 million tonnes annually.
The report said that the measures could help keep the global temperature rise below the two degree Celsius target over the next 40 years.
The measures target emissions of black carbon, methane and ground-level ozone, also known as short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs).
Their implementation would allow countries to save rather than spend resources and money.
According to it, this is in part because a lot of measures allowed for gases to be harvested as a source of clean fuel.
The report suggested measures to include cutting black carbon emissions by replacing inefficient cooking stoves and brick ovens, which would cut fuel costs for households and oven operators.
Others are upgrading wastewater treatment works to reduce methane emissions and improve sanitation and water quality.
But the report warns that quick and decisive action from governments was needed so that the measures could have an impact before it was too late.
The report quoted Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director as saying that it provided the analysis on SLCFs that governments required “to achieve some remarkable gains in terms of a transition to a low-emission, resource-efficient green economy over the near term.”
Steiner said that different countries could take advantage of the measures in various ways.
“For some countries, the most important benefits result from cost-effective improvements in air pollution and reduced illness and loss of life – black carbon, for example, could be controlled under national and regional air quality agreements.
“Other countries are also recognising the food security benefits in terms of reduced crop damage in a world of seven billion people,’’ it said.
The report noted that for others, it may be the regional and global climate benefits that are uppermost in their minds – whatever the motivation.
The report presented the costs and the benefits that could play their part towards a sustainable 21st century as governments head towards Rio+20 (UN conference on sustainable development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro) in June 2012.
The 16 measures identified in the report are divided into four categories, based on their cost.
It noted that all of them had been tried and tested to varying levels in different countries, allowing for expansion and adaptation in new regions.
For example, the report said that most European countries had already banned the burning of agricultural wastes, whereas more efficient cooking stoves are being introduced in West Africa, China and India.
The report also outlines national, regional and global actions that could accelerate the reduction of SLCFs.
At a national level it outlines strategies that range from tax incentives and regulation to public education and subsidies or loans to switch to more efficient technologies.
It explained that recommendations at a regional and global level included controlling pollutants such as black carbon under regional air quality agreements, and supporting international treaties, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The report said the global conference of parties to the UNFCCC kicks off on Monday in Durban, South Africa.