16 September 2021 – Bangkok, Thailand

The EANET Awareness Workshop in 2021 was organized virtually on Monday, 6 September, in partnership with the Republic of Korea, gathering over 200 persons from 16 different countries to discuss acid deposition and air pollution international cooperation.

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Opening Session and General Lecture

Dr. Dechen Tsering, Regional Director and Representative, UN Environment Asia and the Pacific Office, opened the EANET Awareness Workshop in 2021, followed by Dr. Shiro Hatakeyama, Director-General, Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP), and by Mr. Yongchul Lee, Vice-Governor 1 for Administrative Affairs, Gyeonggi Province.

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Ms. Siwaporn Rungsiyanon, Director of Transboundary Air Pollution Subdivision, Air Quality and Noise Management Division, Pollution Control Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand, and EANET National Focal Point of Thailand, delivered the General Lecture on “International Day of Clean Air for blue skies and EANET’s potential role to achieve this goal”. In the Lecture, she first presented an overview of the growing threats linked to air pollution in the Asia and Pacific. She also introduced the International Day of Clean Air for blue skies to the audience. In the second part, Ms. Rungsiyanon highlighted the EANET’s 20 years of efforts in acid deposition monitoring, capacity building, awareness-raising, and continuous engagement among EANET Participating Countries and partners.

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Panel Discussion on International Cooperation

The Panel Discussion focused on “International cooperation to fight against acid deposition and air pollution: What can we learn from the EANET’s experience, and what role could the EANET play as a regional role model in the near future?”

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Mr. Zhou Jun, Director of the Division of Asian, African and Latin American Affairs, Department of International Cooperation Ministry of Ecology and Environment, China and EANET National Focal Point of China; Mr. Mohan Kumar Sammathuria, Principal Assistant Director, Atmospheric Sciences and Cloud Seeding Division, Malaysian Meteorological Department Ministry of Environment and Water, Malaysia and EANET Scientific Advisory Committee Member; Mr. Jundy T. Del Socorro, Supervising Environmental Management Specialist, Air Quality Management Section, Environmental Quality Management Division, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Environmental Management Bureau, the Philippines and EANET Scientific Advisory Committee Member; Dr. Sangmin Nam, Deputy Head, ESCAP East and North-East Asia Office and Ms. Maria Katharina Patdu, Coordinator, Asia Pacific Clean Air Partnership, shared their views as Panelists during this session.

Mr. Tomi Haryadi, Coordinator of EANET Secretariat, and Dr. Ken Yamashita from EANET Network Center participated in the panel discussion as commentators.

The panel discussed EANET’s highlights of success, challenges, opportunities, and best practices.

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Special Session – sharing experience from the Republic of Korea in acid deposition and air quality management

The Special Session focused on “sharing experience from the Republic of Korea in acid deposition and air quality management,” and was co-facilitated by Dr. Imseok Chang, Senior Researcher, National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER), Republic of Korea. It included presentations from Dr. James Crawford, Senior Scientist for Atmospheric Chemistry at NASA, Langley Research Center, USA; Dr. Chang-Sub Shim, Chief Research Fellow, Korea Environment Institute (KEI), Republic of Korea, and Dr. Chul Yoo, Director, National Air Emission Inventory and Research Center, Republic of Korea.

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Ways Forward – From Capacity to Partnerships’ Building

Three key conclusion points were raised from the Awareness Workshop’s rich discussions. First, the EANET was recognized as a role model initiative, providing robust regional monitoring data, technical assistance, and analysis, disseminating its knowledge to key organizations across the region. Secondly, the importance of capacity-building activities was highlighted. Finally, as a way forward, the EANET will strive at enhancing stronger and more extensive partnerships to create synergy, strengthen programs and magnify the impact on beneficiaries.

 

Useful Resources

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Read a more detailed summary of the Workshop’s content in the EANET Awareness Workshop in 2021 Event Report

View all Workshop’s videos on the Secretariat for the EANET’s YouTube channel

Download the Workshop’s presentations:

• General Lecture presentation
• Special Session Sharing Experience from the Republic of Korea (Combined Presentations)

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Photo credits: All rights reserved to EANET.