Projects & Programs

Air Pollution in the Megacities of Asia (APMA)

Description:

APMA builds upon UNEP/WHO efforts on air pollution in Megacities under the Urban Air Quality Monitoring Programme (GEMS/Air), which formed part of the UN Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) to acquire scientific data and information on the environment through monitoring and assessment. The APMA project focuses on the development of policy to address urban air pollution in Asian Megacities. It aims to contribute to increase the capacity of governments and city authorities to deal with urban air pollution by working in collaboration with the Clean Air Initiative for Asian cities (CAI-Asia).

APMA will contribute to the following activities will be dependent on securing co-funding

Support AQM strategy formation in selected Asian cities

The aim of this activity is to support the development and implementation of comprehensive AQM in a selected Asian city with the APMA/CAI-Asia network. This activity will be in parallel to that undertaken within the Male activity, which provides a much detailed assessment of selected Male cities by employing rapid urban assessment techniques.
In the last RAPIDC programme, APMA in collaboration with CAI-Asia developed a Strategic Framework (SF) for AQM in Asia. The Framework was the result of a two-year process which involved two multi-stakeholder dialogues, four country consultations meetings and wide dissemination for comments. The SF identified the key challenges for AQM that are unique to Asian cities and outlined the key components of a comprehensive AQM system. Parallel to the SF a benchmarking report was performed in which the capabilities in AQM of 20 Asian cities were assessed. The cities where categorised according to their current stage in AQM development.

This activity will support the development and implementation of the SF in an Asian city selected from the benchmarking exercise. The selection will be based on those cities, which have been identified in the benchmarking report as having limited, minimal or moderate capability in AQM.

The activity will be undertaken in collaboration with CAI-Asia and city authorities, which are part of the CAI-Asia city network, and other stakeholders.

SEI will coordinate the activity in collaboration with CAI-Asia as part of the APMA project. For the selected city a project Steering Committee will be set-up including representatives from SEI, CAI Asia, World Bank, WHO Regional Offices, UNEP Regional Office, responsible Ministries (Environment, Science & Technology, Construction, Transport, et al.), EPAs, municipal administration, e.g., an agency responsible for implementation. The Steering Committee will supervise the assessment of the needs and development of action plans. The activity will involve collaboration with CAI-Asia city authorities and stakeholders from industry, trade, transport, media, NGOs. This will involve two network meetings with CAI-Asia city representatives, one to set the frame and the other one to evaluate and discuss the results. SEI will provide technical assistance in assessing the needs for policies (legislation, regulations, standards), strategies (command and control vs. market mechanisms) and tactics (inventories, monitoring, modelling, health and environmental impact assessment, financial resource commitment) of AQM and in the development of action plans.

AQM needs assessment in a selected city in Asia

The city will be selected in collaboration with CAI-Asia and will be dependent on its current stage of AQM capability as determined by the benchmarking exercise and their willingness to participate in such an exercise.
A needs assessment of AQM in the selected city will be undertaken with the aim of developing action plans to improve the AQM system including training needs and capacity enhancement.
The first part of the assessment will involve a survey of current AQM

Project Proponent:

Regional Air Pollution In Developing Countries (RAPIDC)

Objectives:

Funding Sources / Donors:

1. SIDA phase 1 and phase 2

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