How these countries successfully tackled air pollution: A lesson for Delhi

New Delhi, Nov 2: India is facing a tough time dealing with climate change and pollution and the country's capital is in an even more worrisome condition with air quality decreasing with each passing day.

Recently a ban on construction activities came into force on Thursday as Delhi's air quality was on the brink of turning "severe" due to stubble burning in the adjoining regions and unfavourable meteorological conditions. It is however, also believed that Delhi-NCR is expected to see severe air quality between November 4 and 9, owing to unfavourable weather conditions, pollutants entering the air during Diwali, as well as the ongoing crop-residue burning in Punjab and Haryana.

Now, let us have a look at the World's most polluted countries that have successfully tackled air pollution. While not all of those measures can be implemented in Delhi-NCR, some of them can be.

Paris:

Paris bans cars in many historic central districts at weekends, imposes odd-even bans on vehicles, makes public transport free during major pollution events and encourages car- and bike-sharing programmes.

Switzerland:

Zurich has capped the number of parking spaces in the city, only allows a certain number of cars into the city at any one time, and is building more car-free areas, plazas, tram lines and pedestrianised streets. The result has been a dramatic reduction in traffic jams, and less pollution.

Brazil:

The southern Brazilian Curitiba city of 2 million people has one of the biggest and lowest cost bus systems in the world. Nearly 70% of the city goes to work by public transport and the result is pollution-free air and traffic-free streets.

China:

In the capital city of Beijing, the administration has managed to reduce the concentrations of PM 2.5 by 54 per cent. However, this unbelievable feat can only be credited to China's draconian laws on air pollution which have been into force since 2013. Some of those measures included switching coal-burning households to electricity or gas apart from imposing strict restrictions to curb vehicular pollution.

Denmark:

Famous for the Copenhagen wheel, the Danish capital is likely to achieve their target of becoming carbon-neutral by 2025. Their efforts have resulted in a present scenario where a majority of the city's areas are cordoned off for four-wheeler motorised vehicles.

Mexico:

Mexico's capital used to be the most polluted city in the world.

Here are the list of concentration levels for the most polluted countries in the world today: