The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), and the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement a project on solid waste management, funded by the Wellcome Trust, U.K.
The four-year transdisciplinary action research programme, Clean Land, Equitable Air & Resilience (CLEAR), will be implemented in Chennai and Warangal in partnership with IIT-Madras, the Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (SRIHER), and Shristi Waste Management Services. The project aims to generate environmental and public health data to strengthen waste management systems and health system responses to waste-driven climate risks.
Speaking at the launch, Soumya Swaminathan, Chairperson of MSSRF and former Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization, said she hoped the initiative would become more than just a research project and help advance the field of environmental health by bringing together experts across disciplines. The project would link environmental monitoring with health data to help governments better understand pollution-related health risks and measure the impact of interventions, she said.
