GLOBAL CO-OPERATION FOR AIR POLLUTION SCIENCE AND

POLICYRichard Mills

Director General, International Union of Air Pollution Prevention Associations

And

Kevin HicksStockholm Environment Institute

Paper presented at BAQ 2004, Agra, India

8 December 2004

IUAPPA

• Founded in 1964• To promote progress in the prevention and

control of air pollution• Member organisations in some 40 countries• Key current issues:

- Long-range transport of air pollution- Interaction of climate change and pollution- Transport and air quality in major cities

• Triennial World Clean Air Congress etc

OVERVIEW• A few words of history• What has changed in the last decade;

- Evolving pattern of emissions and impacts- Institutional developments- New and Emerging Issues

• Possible ways forward:- Regional networks- Hemispheric Co-operation- From regional to global

• Work of the Forum

Sulphur Emissions in Europe since 1980

Meanwhile Emissions in Other Regions are increasing, rapidly in some cases

REGIONAL AND HEMISPHERIC TRANSPORT IN THE USA

African Dust

Alaskan & Canadian Forest Fires

Smoke & Pollution

Asian Dust & Pollution

NEW AND EMERGING ISSUES• Increased concern in developed and developing

countries: Rising emissions in developing world increase concern there, while falling emissions in areas of developed world increase the relative importance of pollution from outside

• Increasing evidence of hemispheric transport – satellite and remote observation

• Key pollutants: Particles and Ozone – regional and hemispheric scales

• Reactive nitrogen – and disturbance of the global nitrogen cycle

• Interaction of climate change and pollution

INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSES

• Treaty-based systems – sometimes free standing, sometimes environmental chapters of wider agreements – CLRTAP, Malé, US/Canada, Mercosur

• Non-Treaty based inter-governmental systems – EANET, APINA

• Scientific based initiatives e.g. IANABIS, ABCAll three models can have valuable and mutually supportive roles. But formal treaty or protocol base likely to be necessary as reciprocal actions and differentiated obligations begin to emerge.

MAJOR INITIATIVES IN ASIA

Coverage now extensive and complex

• Malé Declaration, ASEAN Haze Agreement, [UNECE]

• EANET• Indoex, ABC, CAI-Asia

Malé Declaration on the Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and its Likely Transboundary Effects in South Asia

8 SACEP countries have agreed to cooperate

Network developed (annual meetings of FPs and NIAs)

Scientific assessment has started (monitoring network set up in 2003/2004)

EANET

Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in EAST ASIA

EANET aims to:

•Create common understanding about acid deposition in E Asia

•Provide inputs to decision making in the region

•Promote mutual cooperation on issues related to acid deposition

Monitoring network is current focus

UN Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)

Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP)

49 parties to the Convention

8 Protocols signed with commitments to reduce emissions of S, N, VOCs, HMs, POPs

Convention structure promotes efficient flow of science to policy and vice-versa: emissions officially reported using EMEP/CORINAIR manual, EMEP transfer model officially recognised, IIASA-Rains model used to develop strategies

MODELS FOR GLOBAL CO-OPERATION

• Co-operative Framework for Regional Networks• Hemispheric Co-ordination – Ozone• From regional to global regulation – POPs

Relevant interventions will depend on pollutant transport characteristics and will be diverse and over-lapping. To address the inevitably complex systems that result a more coherent global framework will become increasingly important.

TASKS FOR AN INTER-REGIONAL FORUM

• Explore common problems and share experience• Develop more consistent and compatible

systems and approaches;• Provide a co-operative framework within which

air pollution policies and measures at the hemispheric and global scales can be explored and integrated;

• Contribute to more balanced debate of the issues surrounding the relationship between air pollution and climate change;

• Help raise the public profile and understanding of regional and hemispheric air pollution issues.