In recent decades, the HKH has seen rising emissions of air pollutants. This has raised concerns about the impact of pollution on health and visibility, atmospheric heating and cooling, cloud microphysics, the strength and timing of the monsoon, stratospheric pollution above the Tibetan Plateau, the deposition of light-absorbing substances on snow and ice, and the accelerated melting of the Himalayan cryosphere.

Since its establishment, AI, in collaboration with the governments of Nepal and Bhutan, established several state-of-the-art air quality monitoring stations in the two countries. To build the capacity of country partners, AI will hold a 14-day on-site training on calibrating, maintaining, and troubleshooting air quality instruments. Participants will receive hands-on experience with the equipment. In this workshop, participants will be taken to air quality stations in Nepal (in Lumbini, Chitwan, Dhulikhel, and Ratnapark) and will deal with site-specific issues. This is ICIMOD’s second training on air quality monitoring systems dealing mainly with trace gas analysers and aerosol measurement equipment.