Asia-Pacific urged to combat air pollution

Collective action, strengthened partnerships and enhanced investments are needed to tackle the air pollution problem in the Asia-Pacific, as improving air quality has become fundamental to sustainable development in the region, a forum heard in Bangkok this week.

Air pollution causes millions of premature deaths globally every year, as well as declines in learning outcomes, productivity, and the weakening of human capital, experts noted at the 12th Better Air Quality Conference, which kicked off in the Thai capital on Wednesday.

Speaking at the opening session of the conference, Bjarne Pedersen, executive director of Clean Air Asia, an international nongovernmental organization advocating better air quality in Asia and the main organizer of the event, called for stronger partnerships across governments, funders, the private sector, technical experts, and civil society to catalyze transformative change.

Statistics from the United Nations showed that 92 percent of the Asia-Pacific region's population — about 4 billion people — are exposed to levels of air pollution that pose a significant risk to their health. Air pollution in the region is a major health risk, which also has damaging impacts on economic growth, the environment, and agricultural crop yields.

While existing laws and policies have made progress in reducing air pollution in the region, further action is needed to bring air quality to safer levels.

"As the initiator of the conference, we hope this year's meeting will underscore the urgent need for collective investment, strengthened partnerships, and meaningful action to reduce air pollution and unlock health, economic, and climate benefits for all," he said.

Yevgeniy Zhukov, director-general for the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Department of the Asian Development Bank, revealed that less than 1 percent of global climate finance is directed toward air quality actions, with a financing gap for urban air quality management in developing nations.

Collaborative action

The Better Air Quality Conference, which runs through Friday, brought together more than 1,100 participants from 56 countries to drive collaborative action for cleaner air and healthier communities.

As a model country in fighting against air pollution, China had experts from Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu share their air pollution control experiences, aiming to inspire and facilitate Asian countries and cities to move toward better air quality management and coordinated control of air pollution and carbon emissions.

Cases shared during the conference include Beijing's innovative regulation-monitoring-inspection mode, Shanghai's pioneering paradigm for industrial volatile organic compounds and its smart system for the supervision of heavy-duty diesel, and Chengdu's pilot near-zero carbon construction program.

"Dialogue (for) implementation of integrated air quality solutions across key sectors is very important. China's rich experience and its new technologies are very supportive of the regional efforts on air quality control," said Le Thanh Thuy, deputy head of the Environmental Management Division under the Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment in Vietnam.

Erni Pelita Fitratunnisa, head of the Division for Pollution and Environmental Damage Control of the Jakarta Environment Agency in Indonesia, said China's diversified solutions to tackle air pollution in different cities are inspiring. She expressed a strong willingness to cooperate with Chinese experts to provide tailor-made air pollution solutions for her country.

Cooperation between China and Southeast Asia has been seen in recent years. Last year, the Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau and the Environment Department of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration signed a memorandum of understanding on air quality monitoring and management cooperation.

Under the agreement spanning a time frame of three years, Beijing will share its best practices with Bangkok on battling air pollution, particularly in monitoring and reducing PM2.5 pollutants.

Over the past decade, China's PM2.5 concentrations across the country decreased by 57 percent on average, according to official statistics.

"Such significant air quality improvement is mainly attributed to emission reduction measures across industrial, power, vehicle, and agricultural sectors," said He Kebin, a professor from Tsinghua University's School of Environment and the chairman of the China Advisory Committee of Clean Air Asia.

yangwanli@chinadaily.com.cn