28 November 2022 – Manila, Philippines

The Twenty-fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Meeting on the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (IG24) took place from 24 to 25 November 2022, in a hybrid mode, in Manila, Philippines. It gathered over 70 representatives from the EANET Participating Countries, the Secretariat and Network Center for the EANET, and observers from the academia and INGO, to make important decisions on the implementation of the EANET’s expansion of scope and new Project Fund, among other topics.

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The Twenty-fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Meeting on the EANET

Hosted and Chaired by the Philippines, the IG24 started with the Welcome Remarks by the Undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Philippines, Mr. Juan Miguel Cuna, followed by Opening Remarks by Dr. Isabelle Louis, Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, UNEP, and by Dr. Hatakeyama, Director General, Asia Center for Air Pollution Research (ACAP). Remarks focused on the longtime active collaboration of the Philippines as an EANET Participating Country, on the importance of the expansion of the scope of the EANET, and the establishment of the EANET Project Fund, with the ambition for the Network to contribute the collective efforts to lead both science and policy actions to improve air quality in the region. The IG24 Session Bureau was Vice-Chaired by Japan and by the Republic of Korea, and Cambodia as Rapporteur. UNEP’s Goodwill Ambassador for the Philippines and award-winning actress, singer, host, and environmental advocate Antoinette Taus also joined the dinner hosted by the Government of the Philippines.

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Extended Cooperation to Fight Acid Deposition and Air Pollution

Among the first agenda items, an update was provided on the approval status of the Supplementary Document (Annex) to the Instrument for Strengthening the EANET among the Participating Countries, with most of the countries having already completed this process. The Philippines reported this completion during the IG24 meeting itself, while Thailand completed it on 22 November as reported by the Prime Minister’s office in the Thai national daily newspaper Matichon. Through this Annex, Participating Countries agreed to work on an expanded list of air pollutants beyond acid deposition, including among others, Particulate matter and Volatile Organic Compounds.

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Nearly US$500,000 allocated to Projects supported by the EANET Project Fund

Alongside other important topics, the Session discussed and approved the first batch of “EANET Project Plans” funded through the EANET Project Fund, a new financial mechanism allowing collaboration with implementation partners and co-financing from outside the EANET Network.

The Estimated Income for Project Activities in 2023 is US$489,700, including funding from EANET, additional financial support from Japan (MOEJ) from the Republic of Korea (NIER), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and in-kind support from Japan (JARI, NIES), Mongolia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam (IMHEN, MONRE) which will allow the implementation of 8 projects. Focusing mainly on research studies and capacity building, these projects include work related to the effects of atmospheric deposition on ecosystems, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), Low-Cost Sensors (LCS), Particulate Matter source apportionment in major cities, training on monitoring, emission inventory and research fellowship program.

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The call for EANET Projects’ proposals for 2024 is open, find out more on the Call for Proposals page.

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Ways forward

In addition to these key decisions, the IG24 also approved several important documents, including the Work Program and Budget of the EANET in 2023, and the organization of key meetings in 2023 such as the Working Group Meeting in 2023 (WG2023), the 23^rd Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC23) and the 25^th Session of the Intergovernmental Meeting on the EANET (IG25).

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Read the Report of IG24, and discover the hybrid meeting’s pictures on Flickr.

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Photos credits: all rights reserved to EANET.