Air pollution is set to become the leading cause of child mortality by 2050 (UNICEF, 2016). The problem has become so bad that the right to breathe clean air looks set to be elevated within the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 2021).
It might be easy to think that this an issue that affects other countries, and yet in the UK 3.4 million children go to schools in areas where air pollution levels are above World Health Organization recommended limits, according to research published in June to coincide with the Clean Air Day initiative (Global Action Plan, 2021). The authors found that 27% of UK schools are in high pollution areas.
And air pollution from car fumes and tyre particles contributes to 40 000 premature deaths a year according to the Royal College of Physicians (2016) which has highlighted poor air quality around schools as a real concern for children.
These warnings now sit alongside the pledges and promises of COP26 in Glasgow last month. The Department for Education's own climate action Sustainability and Climate Change draft strategy was published during COP26 (Department for Education, 2021), with the final version promised by April 2022.
It includes just one pledge relating to school travel: ‘Support the Department for Transport in delivering initiatives to increase active and safe travel to school such as Bikeability, Walk to School Outreach and School Streets, to improve wellbeing, reduce carbon emissions from the school commute and improve air quality.’
But, of course, the elephant in the room is the increasing numbers of cars on our roads. Ignoring the recent decline due to COVID-19, traffic on our roads has been steadily increasing for years (Department for Transport, 2021). This makes the work to protect our children all the more difficult.
Perhaps it is for local authorities and schools to take this issue more seriously. Simple strategies like closing roads around schools to motor traffic during drop-off and pick-up times can reduce pollution and encourage students to walk or cycle.
These so-called ‘School Streets’ initiatives often hit resistance as residents fear they will drive traffic on surrounding streets or create rat runs. But a research review last year (Davis, 2020) found consistent evidence that ‘traffic displacement does not cause road safety issues of any significance and that mitigating measures, where needed, have been applied successfully’. These measures include pedestrian crossings and ‘Park and Stride’ schemes to help improve safety on surrounding roads.
So while we wait for our government to come good on its COP26 rhetoric, we need to get busy locally if we are to protect children from the increasingly polluted air in our communities.