Headline:
Climate and Clean Air Coalition High Level Assembly Announces Ambitious Agenda
The Ministers of the Environment, CEOs and other senior officials of governments and nonprofit organizations released a communiqué in Oslo, Norway, celebrating 18 months of progress and laying out an ambitious agenda for the future in the fight to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). The communiqué emerged from the High Level Assembly of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC), which met in an intensive day-long session of discussion and negotiation. It encourages a global awareness-raising effort on the urgent need to prevent air pollution-related diseases, which account for more than six million deaths each year.
IASS’ Scientific Director, PD Dr. Mark Lawrence, also present in Oslo, explained why the IASS sees its collaborative work in Nepal as “a crucial case study for SLCPs”. As part of the IASS SusKat project, together with ICIMOD, the IASS has coordinated the first ever extensive set of air pollution measurements throughout the Kathmandu Valley, as well as at several other sites in Nepal and in northern India. Lawrence said: “Any visitor to Nepal quickly notices the very high pollution levels. Our measurements have now quantified these, finding for instance that the particulate matter levels were nearly always above the WHO recommended thresholds, often exceeding them by a factor of 10 or more.” An international workshop in Kathmandu, Nepal, jointly organized by the IASS and ICIMOD, last week kicked off efforts to use these measurements to use the scientific findings as a basis for evaluating and supporting the development of tailored mitigation and implementation policies. The IASS Scientific Director further added: “We at the IASS look forward to continuing to work on customized clean-air and climate solutions for Nepal and the broader South Asia region, in close collaboration with other Partners of the CCAC.”
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short Lived Climate Pollutants is a partnership of governments, intergovernmental organizations, research organisations, the private sector, the environmental community, and other members of civil society. The Coalition is government-led but is highly cooperative and voluntary. The IASS is a member of the CCAC since 2012.
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