Extensive plantations or urban green infrastructure is one of the more cost-effective options that cities can adopt to mitigate air pollution, urban heat island effects, etc. Designing better plantation strategies with Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) plant species is a beneficial option that will simultaneously improve health and air quality in cities. The APTI is a fundamental characteristic of plants/trees to regulate air pollution. Trees with a higher tolerance index rate can be used as a source to control air pollution, whereas the trees with a less tolerance index can be used as an indicator to know the rate of air pollution.

With the help of our assembled panel of experts, we will discuss the following issues:

• Green infrastructure design for air pollution mitigation
• Identifying high APTI species for urban plantation
• Role of urban green cover in reducing air pollution and improving public health

SPEAKERS

• Hemali Kalpeshkumar Boghawala, Hon’ble Mayor, Surat
• Banchhanidhi Pani, Hon’ble Municipal Commissioner, Surat Municipal Corporation (TBC)
• EH Pathan, Executive Engineer, Surat Municipal Corporation (TBC)
• PU Dave, Regional Officer, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Surat
• Puneet Nayyar, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Surat
• Dr. Chirashree Ghosh, Professor, University of Delhi
• Dr. Sweta Rajpurohit, Manager, GEER Foundation, Gandhinagar
• Dr. Ajay Singh Nagpure, Head, Air Quality, WRI India
• Dr. Darshan Desai, Chief Convener, PRAYAS Foundation, Surat
• Dr. Jigna R Desai, Assistant Professor, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat
• Dr. Ashwani Kumar, Professor, CEPT University, Ahmedabad
• Dr. Neeru Bansal, Professor, CEPT University, Ahmedabad
• Priya Narayanan, Manager, WRI India
• Vandana Tyagi, Senior Project Associate, WRI India (Moderator)
• Zahir Shaikh, Associate, WRI India (Moderator)