The Asian Institute of Technology Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP) organized a training workshop on the “Capacity Development Program on Air Quality Management and Emission Reduction of PM2.5 for Asian Countries” from 13-17 September 2021 on virtual platform. The workshop was aimed to build the capacities of the Asian countries for better management of air quality and to enhance the technical capabilities of the Asian countries to support their national efforts for addressing air pollution issues in the countries including emission reduction of particulate matters (such as PM2.5).

The major focus of the capacity development program on Air Quality Management was to attract the participants from the member countries of the intergovernmental networks exist in the Asian region, namely, the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET), the Malé Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and its Likely Transboundary Effects for South Asia (Malé Declaration), the Asia-Pacific Clean Air Partnership (APCAP), and the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN).

More than 200 participants from 29 Asian countries and other parts of the world have participated in the training workshop. The participants included policymakers, air quality managers, and technical staff working with the pollution control agencies and meteorological agencies of the countries; air quality professionals working with various organizations including international organizations, NGOs, and private sectors; and academicians, young researchers, and students from various academic institutions of Asia. The participants from Thailand and India were dominated the workshop, followed by Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other Asian countries. Some participants from Europe, Central Asia, and African countries also participated.

On the first day of the workshop, more than 200 participants had joined, while during the rest of the four days about 150-200 participants had joined. The young researchers and students have been largely dominated the workshop by about 43%; followed by about 30% policymakers, air quality managers, and technical staff who deals with air quality management in the countries; followed by about 16% academicians including faculties who are involving in the teaching and research at the academic institutions; and 12% were air quality professionals working with private sectors, international organizations, UN organizations, NGOs and others.

A large participation of young researchers and students indicates that the interest to learn about air quality management increasing among young researchers and students and they are leaning toward making their career in the field of environment, in particular in air quality management.

Proceedings of the training workshop, which are available on the event page, were divided into 5 Modules, as follow:

• Air Quality Monitoring: This module covered ground-based air quality monitoring, air quality monitoring using low-cost sensors, air quality monitoring using satellite remote sensing, and air quality monitoring by continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS).
• Emission Inventory Development: This module covered emission inventory development of air pollutants, demonstration of Emission Inventory Tools, and source apportionment of air pollutants using models.
• Air Quality Modeling: This module covered air quality modeling by using chemical transport models including
  forecasting of air pollutants.
• Impact Assessment: This module covered impact assessment of air pollution on human health and the environment including models and tools used for the impact assessment.
• Air Pollution Mitigation Policies: This module covered air pollution mitigation policies and measures being implemented by the Asian countries at national levels including models and tools used for policy planning and co-benefits.

This training workshop was the first capacity building workshop to be organized as a part of two-year project on the “Capacity Development Program on Air Quality Management and Emission Reduction of PM 2.5 for ASEAN Countries” supported by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN). APN funded this project as a part of their Capacity Development Programme (CAPaBLE) and it is in line with APN’s thematic priority areas on transboundary air pollution and its impact on human health.

The Pollution Control Department (PCD), Thailand; the Environmental Research and Training Center (ERTC), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Thailand; the National Institute of Technology (ITENAS), Indonesia; the University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia; and the UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (UNEP/ROAP) serve as partners to this project.