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What type of organization best describes you?
Non-profit -
We are a grassroots non-profit environmental organisation from India working in the Greater Himalayas. Our work focuses on protecting the fragile environment of these giant mountains and building capacity in indigenous communities to address local environmental challenges. -
Describe your organization.
Our organisation, Zero Waste Ladakh, works in one of the highest inhabited places in the world, Ladakh. This region is located at a staggering average elevation of 3500 metres above sea level. It has become a climate change hotspot in recent decades and experiencing its negative impacts firsthand. Furthermore, infrastructural growth and tourism have wreaked havoc on the ecology and biodiversity of the region. Our objective as an organisation is to bring to light the environmental issues of this remote and understudied region and to develop solutions that are tailored to the local context. We work together with local authorities and communities in the fields of environmental research, public awareness, policy advocacy, on-ground waste management projects, skill training and more. More information about our organisation can be found at www.zerowasteladakh.com. -
Describe your project.
We would like to initiate a project to monitor the air quality of Leh and Kargil, the two major cities of Ladakh region. With the cities growing at an exponential rate, air pollution is emerging as a concern. There are no government air quality monitoring stations or devices yet to generate data on air quality, making it difficult for both the government and civil society organisations to propose projects to reduce air pollution. To cite an example, there is no air quality monitoring device installed at the Waste Incinerators in the two cities, though the incinerators are located in the heart of the city, compelling residents to inhale the polluted air. As both of these cities are surrounded by high mountains and glaciers, the impact of air pollution is not limited to local communities but extends to rapid melting of glaciers and loss of biodiversity. We would, therefore, like to set up a robust system for continuous air quality monitoring in the two cities by installing a network of PurpleAir sensors. By tracking the ambient air quality, we intend to make the data on air quality available to both the government and the public. We plan to educate the local community, and push for better policies and new projects to safeguard public health and the environment. Our project would be the first of its kind in the Indian Himalayan region and can serve as an example for others. -
Which PurpleAir model(s) are you interested in and how many would you want for your project?
To effectively monitor the air quality of our project sites with higher spatial resolution, we would like to request 10 units of PurpleAir Zen and 20 units of PurpleAir Flex. With the help of these 30 sensors, we would be able to cover the two cities and generate the much-needed data to support our future actions to curb air pollution in the High Himalayas.
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