Particulate Matter Regulatory Policies: National and Global Approach

Decreasing air quality has posed a great threat to humans health and environment. The rising concentration of particulate matter (PM) in the ambient air has made the condition even worse. PM includes smoke, fumes, soot, and other combustion by-products, and also natural particles such as wind-blown dust, sea salt, pollen, and spores. Rapid increase in the concentration of PM has been observed from different sectors, i.e., transport sector, household sector, and industrial sector. Various sectors have been dealt in different chapters of this book. In this chapter, various regulatory policies about particulate matter have been dealt in transportation sector. Various regulations, i.e., improved vehicle engines, fuel regulation, alternative fuels, traffic management activities, operating restriction and pricing, lane and speed management, traffic flow control, odd-even strategy, vehicle sharing systems, improved transit systems, and lane and speed management, are followed around the world. Standards play a crucial role in regulatory mechanism and need to be encouraged to reduce science-policy gap.