Training Workshop on Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia

Major Conclusions and Recommendations

1. Training Workshop on Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET) was held in Niigata, Japan from 17 through 19 November 1998. It was organized by the Interim Network Center (INC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Environment Agency of Japan, and in cooperation with Niigata Prefecture, City of Niigata, and the Japan Environmental Technology Association (JETA).
2. The Workshop was participated by senior managers of the national centers of EANET and other relevant organizations in nine countries in East Asia, namely, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. It was also attended by the Interim Secretariat and observers such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Chiba prefecture, Niigata Prefecture, Fukuoka Prefecture, Niigata City and Japan Environmental Technology Association, in addition to resource persons.
3. The major outcomes of the First Meeting of the Interim Scientific Advisory Group (ISAG), and the Third Meeting of the Working Group of EANET, and methodologies on acid deposition monitoring were presented at the Workshop. Intensive discussions were also held on identification of training and equipment needs in respective participating countries, and on the elaboration of capacity building activities during the preparatory phase. Major conclusions and recommendations of the Workshop are summarized below.

   Identification of equipment and training needs

4. The participants recognized that the needs for monitoring equipment vary from country to country. For the preparatory-phase activities, the participants expressed their major concerns on supply of spare parts and consumables such as chemicals including certified reference materials and standard gases. Some participants pointed out the needs for ion chromatographs. In the future, more equipment may be needed for future expansion of the network monitoring sites.
5. According to the results of the questionnaire survey and the discussions during the workshop, the participants placed especially high priority on the training for soil/vegetation monitoring, and monitoring for inland aquatic environment. Concerning dry deposition monitoring, the participants felt that further elaboration on training programs would be needed, taking account of the progress on the Task Force on Dry Deposition Monitoring that had been established under the Interim Scientific Advisory Group. The participants also identified that data evaluation, operation and maintenance of equipment including calibration should receive high priority. Elaboration of training and other capacity building activities during the preparatory phase
6. The participants expressed their appreciation to JICA and Hyogo Prefecture for organizing the JICA Training Course on Monitoring and Control Technology of Acid Deposition during January-March 1999. They expected that the course would provide useful training opportunity for practical level of experts to implement the EANET activities. They requested the INC to further communicate and coordinate with the organizers on the modality to disseminate the course information and a more focused curriculum in order to make best use of the course for EANET activities.
7. The participants took note with appreciation of the information on various other training and capacity building opportunities, mainly by the Government of Japan through JICA, including training in Japan, third country training and dispatch of experts, as well as development studies. They requested INC to gather information on training activities in this area by other organizations, such as United Nations and other international organizations. They also requested INC to assist the participating countries in making best use of such training and capacity building opportunities.
8. The participants felt that the next training workshop by INC should have focused topics such as soil and vegetation monitoring, monitoring for inland aquatic environment or data evaluation. They also requested INC to consider a possibility to organize the next training workshop in some participating countries other than Japan. The participating countries would be requested to explore a possibility to host the training workshop. The JICA scheme for third country training may possibly be applied.
9. The participants considered that there are various capacity building activities other than training. They welcomed the INC technical missions to the participating countries from June through September 1998, and requested INC to undertake similar missions annually, so that intensive discussions could be held with various local experts.
10. The participants felt that the guidelines and technical manuals for EANET are the basis for further promotion of implementation and capacity building of EANET activities. They agreed that the participating countries should provide INC with the information on the difficulties that they face in following the guidelines and technical manuals whenever they have such problems. They also requested INC to make significant efforts for further elaborating the guidelines and manuals in close consultation with the experts in the participating countries. In this connection, they thought that electric media could be effectively used for the communication in this process.
11. The participants agreed to encourage the participating countries to develop and implement national training programs, taking account of the importance of such training activities, and country-specific needs. They requested INC to provide technical assistance to the participating countries that are willing to organize such training activities.
12. The participants recognized the importance of the certified reference materials (CRMs) and standard materials. They appreciated INC for its offer to provide the CRMs for wet deposition monitoring to the participating countries. They took note of the importance of the round robin surveys, recognizing that the round robin sample could also be used as reference materials.