With most people in the city turning a blind eye towards the campaigns of the Forest Department over importance of a green cover, the officials of Social Forestry Wing here have decided to conduct a study on the per cent of oxygen in the air at different parts of the city using which people can be sensitised over the need to plant trees.
The study will be conducted with the assistance of researchers in chemistry.
According to Unnikrishnan S, Divisional Forest Officer, Social Forestry Wing, Kochi, air pollution is a major issue in the Kochi and people should be made aware of the importance of green cover.
“We have held talks with the experts in the field who said oxygen level at several places in the city was less than what is actually required. If we urge people to plant trees, they won’t listen to us. So, it is better to have specific data about reducing per cent of oxygen in the city. For this, we have contacted some people who are doing research in Chemistry.”
With the assistance of these researchers, we will install pollution meters at different parts of the city by which the per cent of oxygen in the air and increasing pollution can be calculated. For this, the device has to be purchased. We are looking to conduct the study before monsoon season,” he said.
Unnikrishnan S said that by volume, dry air contains 78.09 percentage of nitrogen, 20.95 percentage of oxygen and rest other gases, including carbon dioxide. Due to air pollution, the number of pollution drops and quantity of other gases like carbon dioxide increases.
“Experts in the field say that in places like Kaloor and Vytilla, the per cent of oxygen was only around 15 per cent. This is due to increase in other gases, an aftermath of air pollution.”
In some industrial areas, the per cent of oxygen is even less than 15 per cent. The only solution for this is to plant more trees. The result of the studies would be used in our awareness classes and campaigns,” he said.
