Air quality in many Asian countries is deteriorating at an alarming rate due to increasing emissions of air pollutants from rapid urbanisation, industries, constructions, traffic, residential cooking, open burning of agricultural residuals and municipal waste, and other activities. Most countries are lacking the technical capabilities to manage air quality. Therefore, to build the capacities of the Asian countries on air quality management, a capacity building workshop (Capacity Development Programme on Air Quality Management and Emission Reduction of PM2.5 for Member Countries of ASEAN Haze Agreement and Malé Declaration) was organised by the Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific and partners during 19-23 September 2022 at the Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani, Thailand. This project has been supported by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) under its Capacity Development Programme (CAPaBLE).
Participants from member countries of the two Intergovernmental Networks of the Asian region, namely, the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and the Malé Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and its Likely Transboundary Effects for South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) were invited to the workshop.
The workshop was divided into 5 Modules, namely, (1) Air Quality Monitoring; (2) Emission Inventory Development; (3) Air Quality Modeling; (4) Impact Assessment; and (5) Policy Measures for Air Pollution Mitigation. To cover various aspects of air quality management of the 5 Modules, a total of 11 lectures/presentations were delivered, conducted 2 hands-on training or practical works, organized 2 visits to air quality monitoring labs of AIT and field visits to air quality labs of ERTC and PCD. 10 well-known resource persons from India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Philippines, Thailand, and the United Kingdom delivered the lectures, and conducted hands-on trainings and assisted in the field visits.
