Tag: transport

Highlights from the EANET National Stakeholder Awareness Workshop in Cambodia

Posted on by Aurélia Lemoine

Bangkok, 17 April 2024

The EANET National Stakeholder Awareness Workshop in Cambodia – Understanding Air Pollution and its Sources, Weather, Climate, and Topography in Cambodia, was held in Phnom Phen, Cambodia, on 19 March 2024, in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Cambodia, and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), back-to-back with UNEP’s Cambodia Clean Air and Sustainable Transport Workshop, held on 18-19 March. About 30 participants joined the Workshop. The workshop aimed to promote the EANET’s achievements, gain insight into Cambodia’s specific needs related to air quality management, and foster the development of additional initiatives to assist in addressing acid deposition and air pollution.

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Opening Session

The meeting started with Opening Remarks from Dr. Chou Monidarin, Deputy Director General of the General Directorate of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Environment Cambodia, and the National Focal Point of Cambodia for the EANET, followed by an introduction to the EANET and to the objectives of the meeting by Mr. Bert Fabian, Coordinator, Secretariat for the EANET. Prof. Meng Fan, Deputy Director General of the Network Center for the EANET, the Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP) then presented the activities of the EANET on air quality and acid deposition management, air pollution trends in the region, and the main activities of the EANET including monitoring, capacity building and technical support to Participating Countries.

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EANET National Stakeholder Awareness Workshop in Cambodia
Group photo of participants on the first day of the workshop (photo by Clean Air Asia)

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Assessing Cambodia’s Air Quality Landscape, Dynamics and Initiatives

Mr. Chandath Him outlined Cambodia’s air quality, citing primary pollution sources as older vehicles and industrial plants. With over 6.6 million registered motorcycles and cars since 1990, along with 1,859 operational industrial plants, pollution also stems from construction activities and agricultural practices. He highlighted the significance of airborne dust due to unpaved streets and construction, and discussed ongoing initiatives on monitoring like satellite projects and Low-Cost Sensors (LCS). Cambodia is updating its air pollution laws, including new vehicle emission standards, fines, and industry controls, with Euro 5/V standards enforced from January 2027. He introduced Cambodia’s Clean Air Plan, analyzing pollutants and proposing mitigation measures to reduce air pollution and combat climate change, aiming for integrated planning and coordinated management efforts.

Dr. Chanmoly OR, Director of the Research and Innovation Center at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia presented an analysis of the complex interplay between topography, weather, and air pollution in Cambodia. Favorable wind circulation aids in pollutant dispersion, while factors including humidity, temperature, and precipitation also influence air quality. The presentation underscored the need for comprehensive research to understand pollution sources better coming mainly from the the transport and construction sectors in urban areas, and from open-burning and agriculture, in rural areas, including emerging concerns such as microplastics particle pollution.

Dr. Anantaa Pandey outlined the Global Green Growth Institute‘s (GGGI) efforts to enhance air quality in Cambodia, focusing on emissions inventories, public transportation improvement, and capacity building. The program aims to address challenges such as equipment maintenance, expand monitoring infrastructure, and develop emission control strategies tailored to Cambodia’s context.

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Strategies for Effective Air Pollution Management

The discussion segment saw active participation from experts and policymakers, emphasizing the urgency of addressing air pollution through multifaceted strategies. Participants highlighted the importance of upgrading vehicle emission standards, promoting cleaner fuels, and regulating industrial emissions. Challenges such as economic constraints and the high cost of fuel upgrades were acknowledged, with suggestions for phased transitions and international support.

The EANET meeting concluded with a consensus on the need for concerted efforts to combat air pollution in Cambodia. Key takeaways included the importance of robust monitoring infrastructure, innovative solutions tailored to local contexts, and international collaboration. The meeting underscored the critical role of initiatives like EANET in guiding Cambodia towards a cleaner and healthier future.

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Useful Resources

-Read the Panelists’ Presentations:

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Photo credits: cover photo of Phnom Penh (2022) by allPhoto Bangkok, group photo by Clean Air Asia.

 

Exploring the Impacts of Air Pollution on Health and the Environment: Highlights of the EANET Seminar

Posted on by Aurélia Lemoine

The EANET Seminar on the Effects of Acid Deposition and Air Pollution on Human Health and Ecosystems

Bangkok, 25 January 2024

The EANET Seminar on the Effects of Acid Deposition and Air Pollution on Human Health and Ecosystems was conducted online on 31 October 2023 and aimed to gain knowledge, learn from pollution reduction efforts globally, and foster a collective understanding among scientists and policymakers. Approximately 80 participants joined the seminar online, contributing to meaningful discussions on the adverse effects of air pollution.

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Opening Statements

Opening remarks were delivered by Dr. Shiro Hatakeyama, Director General of the Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP), the Network Center for the EANET, and Mr. Bert Fabian, Coordinator, Secretariat for the EANET.

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International Perspectives on Environmental Policymaking Related to Air Pollution and Health

Mr. Thomas Scheuschner, an expert from the German Environmental Agency specializing in ICP Modeling and Mapping under UNECE, started by presenting the: “Critical load assessment and its contribution to policy decision making in Europe.” In his presentation, he highlighted the key milestones of the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and then explained how Critical Load Approaches and analyses can be used for air quality management strategies, by presenting Critical Load estimation methods and the European Critical Load database, among others.

Dr. Dorota Jarosinska from the WHO Regional Office for Europe, European Centre for Environment and Health, WHO, followed with her presentation on “Experience of policy-making based on scientific evidence of the Task Force on Health under the CLRTAP and WHO with CLRTAP.” In her presentation, Dr. Jarosinska introduced the Joint Task Force on the Health Aspects of Air Pollution (TFH) established under the CLRTAP and its work plan, before explaining the importance of the new WHO global air quality guidelines, and how they are being used by policymakers in the European Union.

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Finally, Dr. Hiroaki Minoura from Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, presented his findings on the “Health effects study of in vivo and in vitro exposure to automobile emissions.” He explained the results from in vivo testing to assess health risks of emissions from transport, in vitro toxicological screening for automotive emission-related substances, and an epidemiological assessment of automobile-related health risks.

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Closing Remarks

The session concluded with closing remarks delivered by Prof. Fan Meng, Deputy Director General of ACAP. The seminar was marked by discussions among participants contributing to fostering a better understanding of the complex relationship between air pollution, human health, and the environment.

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Find out more about the EANET Project Fund.

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Useful Resources:
  • View the Seminar’s recordings on YouTube

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Photo credits: Cover photo by Joseph Gonzalez (2016); all other photos and videos: all rights reserved to EANET.

Intensive training for city government officials: EANET-Clean Air Asia Workshop on Emission Inventory Development for the Management of Emissions from the Transport Sector

Posted on by Aurélia Lemoine

24 November 2022 – Manila, Philippines

The Network Center for the EANET (NC) and Clean Air Asia organized the EANET-Clean Air Asia Workshop on Emission Inventory Development for the Management of Emissions from the Transport Sector, an intensive training for city government officials held on November 23, 2022, in Manila, Philippines, as a side-event to the 24th Intergovernmental Meeting (IG24) on the EANET. It was attended by more than 90 participants, in-person and online, representing 14 countries from the EANET Region and beyond, gathered to learn about the different tools to calculate emissions from the transport sector and discuss the importance of using data for policy.

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Developing an Emission Inventory

Developing an emission inventory is critically important for air pollution management purposes. The accurate estimation of emissions from various sources such as factories, power plants, cars, households, etc… allows the production of basic data, using scientific tools like environmental assessments, for policy-makers to prevent the adverse effects on human health and ecosystems of air pollution.

Presentations and panel discussion with Ms. Everlyn Tamayo, Dr. Didin Agustian Permadi, Dr. Shaojun Zhang, Ms. Kathleen Dematera-Contreras, Dr. Raymund Abad and Mr. Myron Alcanzare introduced the general principle of the emission inventory, outputs, and typical actions to be applied to policy development.

Participants also worked on an exercise on motor vehicle emissions by using a desktop program/application developed by Dr. Permadi with support from Clean Air Asia, allowing participants to apply the methodology to their respective countries/cities.

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Engaging Policymakers

Through the workshop, participants learned about the variety of methods and tools to calculate emissions from the transport sector, while noting that the final approach to be implemented would vary depending on the objectives and available resources of the personnel or city. Calculating emissions under different scenarios was recommended as it provides an overview of the impact of measures or policies. Finally, the importance of high-quality data was emphasized to build capacity and strengthen the engagement between policymakers and researchers performing the emissions inventory.

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Ways Forward

The development of an emission inventory is a powerful and essential tool for understanding the status of air pollutants emissions and considering the effectiveness of mitigation measures. EANET activities related to the development of emission inventories will continuously be conducted in the future. In 2023, EANET will organize a webinar workshop for capacity building on emission inventories related to combustion sources and explore all possibilities to strengthen cooperation with other organizations, including Clean Air Asia.

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This workshop was conducted as part of the EANET Project Activities in 2022. Find out more about the EANET Project Activities and how to participate in the EANET Project Fund.

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Photo credits: all rights reserved to EANET and Clean Air Asia.