Global Air Pollution Politics (GAPP)
Air pollution leads to 5m premature deaths around the world every year. Most of these deaths occur in low- and middle- income countries. The Global Air Pollution Politics (GAPP) team explores how political and economic context shapes pollution levels and what policies may be successful and feasible in reducing air pollution levels in high exposure regions.
The team has two ongoing projects. Funded by SNIS, the "external page Designing Environmentally Effective and Politically Feasible Policies for Cleaner Urban Air inthe Global South" project focuses on how individual-level factors influence protective behaviors and willingness to support measures to curb pollution. It further considers how to design policies to make them more publicly acceptable in resource-constrained contexts.
Funded by SNF, the "external page Clean Air Policy in Urban Areas of the Global South: Identifying and Explaining Variation in Monitoring Behavior, Pollution Levels, and Citizen Preferences" project explores the extent of monitoring, and how it may lead to reductions in air pollution in different contexts around the globe. It also examines how local air pollution monitoring affects individuals' awareness and policy preferences.
By drawing from large macro-level geospatial datasets, personal surveys and interventions evaluating people's perceptions, behavior, and policy preferences, the team provides new multi-level perspectives on the politics of air pollution.
A collection of reports examining public opinion on air pollution in Jakarta, Accra, Delhi, and Johannesburg is available here.