Belmont Forum Collaborative Research: Combined impact of heat and air pollution exposure on human health in India: Evidence and solutions

This award provides support to U.S. researchers participating in a project competitively selected by a 55- country initiative on global change research through the Belmont Forum. The Belmont Forum is a consortium of research funding organizations focused on support for transdisciplinary approaches to global environmental change challenges and opportunities. It aims to accelerate delivery of the international research most urgently needed to remove critical barriers to sustainability by aligning and mobilizing international resources. Each partner country provides funding for their researchers within a consortium to alleviate the need for funds to cross international borders. This approach facilitates effective leveraging of national resources to support excellent research on topics of global relevance best tackled through a multinational approach, recognizing that global challenges need global solutions. Working together in this Collaborative Research Action, the partner agencies have provided support to foster global transdisciplinary research teams of natural, health and social scientists and stakeholders from across the globe to improve understanding of climate, environment and health pathways to protect and promote health. The projects will provide crucial new understanding into the health implications arising from the impacts of climate change and variability on; 1) decision-science approaches to adaptation and implementation, 2) food, environment, and biological security and 3) risks to ecosystems and populations. This award provides support for the U.S. researchers to cooperate in consortia that consist of partners from at least three of the participating countries to increase our knowledge of the complex linkages and pathways between the climate, environment and health to help solve complex challenges that face societies. populations. The COPE project aims to develop an advanced Early Warning and Decision-support Systems for the combined impact of heat and air pollution exposure on human health in two major Indian urban conglomerates – Delhi and Kolkata. These areas face long periods and frequent days of high heat often exceeding 40°C. These heat waves are particularly cumbersome to the elderly, children, outdoor laborers, and those with existing health conditions such as cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, face higher risks of heat-related illnesses than the general population. In addition, air quality in these regions has been consistently and severely deteriorating. Exposure to elevated pollutant levels negatively affects both public and ecosystem health. While the relationships between air pollution exposure and health effects, are well established, the health impacts of air pollution in these regions are understudied. While individual warning systems for heat and air pollution exist, the COPE project team will assess the associated health consequences to develop a health impact focused early warning decision support system for combined heat and air pollution. The research will be co-designed and conducted in collaboration with local communities, and stakeholder partners from health care sector and other governance actors. The outcomes of the research will be operationalized through partnerships with governmental agencies. COPE will identify health risk hotspots beyond the select cities and provide risk projections under different climate scenarios with a goal to establish guidance for early warning decision support systems in other areas prone to extreme heat and air pollution. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.