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Registration is now closed, contact the EANET Secretariat for more info

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Background

Due to rapid economic growth and industrialization, many countries in East Asia are still facing serious threats from air pollution and acid deposition, in a more global context where almost the entire global population (99%) breathes air that exceeds the World Health Organization’s air quality limits, hindering populations’ right to a healthy environment.

The Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET) was established in 2001 as a regional intergovernmental network to promote cooperation among countries in East Asia to address acid deposition problems. In 2021, at the Twenty-Second Session of the Intergovernmental Meeting (IG22), the 13 Participating Countries of the EANET agreed to expand its scope to address wider air pollution problems and launched the EANET Project Fund to encourage cooperation with partners outside of its network.

In the last 20 years, the EANET has made excellent progress in acid deposition monitoring cooperation, including on particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone. The Network has fostered a regional monitoring network and scientific exchange platforms that contribute to solving acid deposition and air pollution problems in East Asia.

In November 2022, the Twenty-fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Meeting (IG24) approved the first batch of “EANET Project Plans” funded through the EANET Project Fund, with an Estimated Income for Project Activities in 2023 of US$489,700, including funding from EANET, additional financial support from Japan (MOEJ) from the Republic of Korea (NIER); and in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB); and in-kind support from Japan (JARI, NIES), Mongolia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam (IMHEN, MONRE) for the implementation of 8 projects, among which two projects focusing on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and Low-Cost Sensors (LCS).

In this respect, and in line with the efforts to facilitate the sharing of a common understanding of air quality and acid deposition issues, the EANET Awareness Workshop in 2023 will be organized on Tuesday, 30 May 14:00-17:00 (ICT) at the United Nations Convention Center in Bangkok (UNCC Theatre), Thailand, and in a hybrid format, under the name “ EANET Regional Awareness Workshop in 2023: a focus on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Low Cost Sensors (LCS)”, as part of the Climate and Clean Air Conference: Air Quality Action Week, organized by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). The Workshop is held in cooperation with the Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP).

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Objective and Participants

Objective: the EANET Awareness Workshop is expected to increase public understanding of air pollution and acid deposition issues through the lens of experts, policymakers, and other stakeholders from the EANET region and globally. The two sessions will focus on innovative and emerging topics, specifically on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Low-Cost Sensors (LCS) related opportunities, limitations, and good practices, and possibly generate future collaboration ideas.

Participants: the sessions will be attended online and/or in person by the EANET National Focal Points, Scientific Advisory Committee members, and other EANET members and partners, including policymakers, national researchers, and scientists mainly from the Network’s 13 Participating Countries. It will also welcome representatives of partner organizations working on related issues, as well as participants joining the Air Quality Action Week in Bangkok.

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Session description

Session 1: Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are a component of air pollution that includes a complex mixture of hundreds of carbon-containing gases. VOCs also include a wide variety of chemicals, some of which can cause short- and long-term adverse health effects. However, due to the unique characteristics of VOCs and the relatively high cost of measurement, VOC monitoring and its related activities in the EANET region are still at an early stage.

Session 1 will showcase issues and challenges on VOCs. Experts and stakeholders from the EANET Participating Countries will discuss how VOCs can be monitored and possibly mitigated. Two examples, funded by MOEJ through the EANET Project Fund and co-finance, of technical assistance to build implementation plans in Mongolia and the Philippines will be show-cased, considering how to replicate similar activities in the EANET region and beyond.

Session 2: The Low-cost sensor (LCS) technology to measure air quality has remarkably advanced in recent years and is now widely used by the private sector and provides information on the atmospheric environment to citizens through data communication networks. Noticing the cost-effectiveness of LCS, international organizations have started to promote the use of LCS in selected areas to strengthen the capacity of governments where official air monitoring networks are insufficient.

In Session 2, we will learn about the wide potential of Low-Cost Sensors (LCS), including the related limitations and opportunities. Panelists will discuss improving air quality monitoring networks, citizen-data, and the development of hybrid monitoring networks, such as through the HAQMN Project funded by MOEJ through the EANET Project Fund and co-finance, and finally data and quality standards’ requirements. A deployment plan in Viet Nam, in collaboration with the ADB and other partners, will be presented, allowing possible similar deployments in the region.

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Draft Programme (updated on 19 May 2023)

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Download the Concept Note and Draft Programme here (updated on 24 April).

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The Speakers (in order of appearance)

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Ms. Marlene Nilsson

Ms. Marlene Nilsson joined UNEP, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in April 2023 as the Deputy Regional Director. Marlene is an experienced staff member with a career spanning over 20 years supporting United Nations leadership. Since 2019, she held the position of Senior Programme Management Officer/Special Assistant in the Office of the UNEP Executive Director. During her 11 years at UNEP, she also gained substantial programmatic and management experience, having worked in the Executive Office, Ecosystems Division and Policy and Programme Division. Prior to joining UNEP, Marlene spent 13 years with United Nations Peacekeeping, working on crisis management, peace negotiations, and political affairs both in the field (Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan) and at United Nations Headquarters in New York. Marlene holds a master’s degree in Political Science.

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Mr. Bert Fabian

Mr. Bert Fabian is the Coordinator of the Secretariat for the EANET. He has been with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as a Programme Officer since 2013 as lead for the Sustainable Mobility Unit’s activities in Asia and the Pacific. He has supported more than 15 countries in developing policies on transport, air pollution, and climate change and managed projects worth about 13.5 million USD including about 5.6 million USD allocated for Asia and the Pacific. Mr. Fabian coordinated the activities of UNEP with the Global Fuel Economy Initiative and managed the Electric 2&3 Wheelers project in East Africa and Southeast Asia. He also managed projects on strengthening the air quality management community of practice in Asia and the Pacific and on understanding the relationships between COVID-19 and air quality impacts, policies, and measures in cities.

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Prof. Meng Fan

Prof. Meng Fan is the Deputy Director General in charge of the Network Center for EANET, Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP). Prior to this position, he has been Deputy Chief Engineer, Director of the Institute of Atmospheric Environment, and Director of the Research Department for the 2+26 Cities in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei of the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES). He has been conducting research in the field of air quality modeling, atmospheric chemistry, air pollution control policy, and synergistic control of air pollution and climate change. Dr. Meng Fan has been published as the author and co-author of over 80 papers in highly regarded, peer-reviewed journals and is also an adjunct professor and doctoral supervisor at Beijing Normal University and Tongji University of China.

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Dr. Zhu Meihua

Dr. Meihua Zhu serves as a Chief Senior Researcher in the Planning and Training Department & Atmospheric Research Department for Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP). Her research interests include regional environmental cooperation, air pollution regulations, and policies. Besides research, she also plays a vital role in achieving the goals of EANET and ACAP in improving air quality and addressing air pollution problems through international collaboration, capacity building, and training.

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Prof. Hong Li

Prof. Hong Li is a professor at the Institute of Atmospheric Environment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES), China. She is a Member of the First Standing Committee of the two Professional Committees (Ozone Pollution Control, VOCs Prevention and Control) of the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences and a member of the China Compliance Expert Group for the Montreal Protocol. She received her PhD from the China University of Geosciences (Beijing) in 1998. Her research fields include complex pollution formation mechanisms and synergistic control mechanisms of PM2.5 and ground-level ozone, VOCs Environmental Benchmarks, and source analysis and control strategies of ozone-depleting substances. Currently, she is leading a city-level PM2.5 and ozone synergistic control “one city, one policy” follow-up research project, and also is an Editorial Board Member of three international journals.

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Dr. Kessinee Unapumnuk

Dr. Kessinee Unapumnuk is currently an Environmentalist, Senior Professional Level, at the Air Quality and Noise Management department of the Pollution Control Department (PCD). She has been involved in Thailand’s Volatile Organic Compounds Management since 2007 and has been responsible for supervising the PCD’s VOCs monitoring network group and giving technical consultation for VOCs-related issues to PCD staff and others. Among other important projects, Dr. Unapumnak was previously the coordinator for the Thai-Japan Clean Air Partnership on Particulate Matter Reduction Strategy and Measures Development Project, a technical cooperation project between the Ministry of Environment, Japan, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand.

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Engr. Jundy T. Del Socorro

Engr. Jundy Tigley Del Socorro is the Chief of the Air Quality Management Section (AQMS) and a Supervising Environmental Management Specialist at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB). He is also a Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) member for the Philippines at the EANET. Over the years, he has participated in projects in the fields of Stack and Ambient Sampling Methods, Emission Inventory, Meteorology, Air Quality Dispersion Modeling, among others. He has authored and co-authored air quality studies in the fields of Industrial Mass Rate Emission, Impacts on Planetary Boundary Layer to Air Quality and other ongoing air quality research. He received his master’s degree in environmental engineering and Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering at Mapua University, Philippines. Engr. Del Socorro is a registered Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reviewer in the Philippines and has been a member of different Intergovernmental Technical Working Groups (TWG) in the formulation of key environmental policies in the Philippines.

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Dr. Akie Yuba

Dr. Akie Yuba is a Senior Researcher at Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP). She is working on the Hybrid Air Quality Monitoring Network (HAQMN) project to expand the air quality monitoring network in Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET).  She is also responsible for the monitoring and QA/QC management of the wet and dry deposition in Japan. She has 8 years of experience working on air quality issues in East Asia.

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Professor Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh

Professor Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, from the Asia Institute of Technology (AIT), is a member of the science panel of the Asia Pacific Clean Air Partnership (APCAP). She has 35 years of working experience in research, education, consultancy, and capacity building and is internationally recognized for her work on air pollution and climate in Asia. Aiming to provide comprehensive science-based information to policy-making, she focuses on the better characterization of air pollution issues in Asian developing countries through field measurements, emission inventory and modeling studies to assess the impacts on human health, ecosystems, and crops. She has published 2 books (ed.), 120 international peer-reviewed scientific papers and 50 book chapters, and over 60 important development reports.

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Dr. Le Ngoc Cau

Dr. Le Ngoc Cau is currently Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate Change (IMHEN). IMHEN is a public research institution affiliated with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) of Vietnam. Dr. Cau is also Vietnam’s National Focal Point for the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET). Dr. Cau’s core research interests include real-time mobile air quality monitoring, air quality management, waste management, low-carbon technologies for waste treatment, and climate change mitigation in the waste sector. Dr. Le Ngoc Cau graduated from Hanoi University of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in chemical and food processing engineering. He earned a master’s degree in environmental technology and management from the Asian Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. degree in environmental studies from The University of Tokyo, Japan.

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Ms. Karine Léger

Ms. Karine Léger is the director of Airparif, the air quality monitoring network of the Paris Region, France. Karine has both a technical and management background, linked with environmental issues (Executive master in management at Science Po, Advanced Msc. in environmental management and engineering at Ecole des Mines, Eng. in agriculture at ISARA, BSc in Biology). Karine has 20 years of expertise in air pollution, related to communication, partnerships, innovation, and international projects. She first started to work at Airparif as an engineer, and then as the head of the communication and international department. Karine was then in charge of the partnerships and innovation before taking the lead of Airparif in 2018, also in charge of forecasting and assisting the authorities during air pollution episodes. Karine takes part in regional, national, and European working groups on air quality, public information, and communication strategy, develops and contributes to the management and development of different international projects mainly with Airparif’s counterparts abroad, such as the Beijing environmental monitoring center, the AQCC of Teheran, and the municipality of Hanoi.

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Dr. Shiro Hatakeyama

Dr. Shiro Hatakeyama received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Tokyo in 1976 and 1979, respectively, and is currently serving as the Director General of the Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP), Japan. Before being assigned to ACAP, Dr. Shiro HATAKEYAMA worked for the Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, as President from 2016 to 2019; Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, as a Professor from 2007 to 2016, and now Professor Emeritus since 2016; National Institute of Environmental Science, as Scientist from 1979 to 2007. He also worked for NRC/NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA, as a Senior Resident Research Associate from 1985 to 1986. Over more than 40 years of his research career in atmospheric environmental science, he has made many achievements in the field of atmospheric environmental research, including publishing 217 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and 34 books (including co-authored books).

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For further inquiries, contact the EANET Secretariat.