UN international day highlights latest currents in the ‘air we breathe’

Tuesday, 24 March 2009 11:50

With an estimated two million people dying prematurely due to air pollution each year, the United Nations weather-monitoring agency is focusing on the movement of pollutants around the globe as it marked World Meteorological Day 23 March.
Under the theme of “Weather, climate and the air we breathe,” the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) used the day to draw attention to the work of its 188 members’ National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in air quality data, research and forecasts.

“WMO has been actively involved in international efforts to assess our evolving atmosphere in terms of air pollutants such as ground-level ozone, smog, particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide and dioxide,” WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said, noting that most of those result from the combustion of fossil fuels.

In a major initiative, networks of stations in the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) collect data on greenhouse gases – such as carbon dioxide and methane – and reactive gases, including ozone, nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide.

World Meteorological Day commemorates the1950 entry into force of the Convention that created the WMO, which became a specialized agency of the UN one year later.

(Source: UN)