A few months ago, Porvorim saw a No Motor Zone (NoMoZo) on the inner main road leading up to the North Goa police headquarters. People from Porvorim and surrounding areas were invited to spend the day, doing all kinds of fun activities like cycling, painting on the road surface, Zumba and so on. Now, the WWF-India is planning a similar event for the citizens of Panjim on May 6 on a stretch of DB Marg. The event is called One Planet Streets For All.
Image credit – WWF-India
One Planet Streets For All
WWF-India in partnership with Corporation of The City of Panaji, supported by ICLEI-South Asia, will be organizing the One Planet Streets for All event.This public event is being held to raise awareness and gather support for adopting smarter and greener choices of commute. They hope to make the roads more inclusive for the benefit and safety of all road users.
Thanks to One Planet Streets for All, DB Marg will be car-free from 06:30 am to 09:30 am this coming Sunday morning (6th May). Citizens are invited to participate in various activities like cycling, walking, interactive games, fitness exercises, music and much more. The event aims to mobilize support from the citizens of the state for smart and eco-friendly mobility choices. There is a real need to ask city administration to adopt practices that help make Goa environment-friendly and sustainable in the long run.
CO2 emissions are at an all-time high and with the number of cars on the road, it is causing more and more people to suffer and die from air-pollution related respiratory illness. According to the 2017 Global Burden of Disease, some 1.1 million people in India die prematurely each year from diseases directly related to air pollution, making it the fifth leading cause of death in the country.
Goa has a high percentage of privately-owned vehicles. At 90%, the state has one of the highest car ownership densities in the country. All other possible modes of commuting such as walking, cycling, car-pooling, etc. are recreationally done and not the choice for mobility. This is due to the fact that the space meant for more sustainable modes are either encroached upon or being reduced due to increasing pressure of private vehicles. Sustainable urban mobility thus requires a mind shift: where private motorized vehicles give way to sustainable transport modes and better lifestyle choices, including public transport, cycling, walking or car-pooling.
The One Planet Streets for All is WWF-India’s initiative to promote sustainable mobility as part of its global One Planet City Challenge platform. ‘Streets for All’ represents the belief that roads are public infrastructure and everybody has an equal right to use them, irrespective of their mode of transport. The purpose of this event is to inspire people to Give Up on unsustainable modes of commuting to reduce their carbon footprint as well as, address mobility and safety concerns for pedestrians and cyclists.
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Information credit – WWF-India/ Think Geek Media
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