This site uses cookies, as explained in our terms of use. If you consent, please close this message and continue to use this site.
1 min Read
Air quality monitoring data is crucial in identifying problem areas to target programmes geared towards mitigation. On 6 May 2022, jointly with the Department of Environment (DoEnv), Government of Nepal, we inaugurated the Khumaltar Air Quality Monitoring Station (AQMS) and launched the Air Quality Watch – Nepal Dashboard. The AQMS is equipped with aerosol and trace gas measurement instruments and will also serve as a training and practice centre for our regional member countries (RMCs) and partners.
We have been collaborating with the DoEnv who began joint air quality in-situ monitoring by setting up a real time air quality monitoring station network across Nepal in 2015. Real-time AQMSs measure different air pollutant concentrations with high precision and low frequency in different environments (urban areas, industrial areas, and special nature conservation areas). To date, we have established 27 AQMSs for monitoring particulate matter (PM) in Nepal.
The newly launched Air Quality Watch – Nepal dashboard brings the AQMS data, other open-source satellite data, air quality models and emissions inventory datasets together in one integrated platform. This data availability and integration contributes to improved situational awareness and enhances effective decision making, making it easier for reference and opening possibilities to link the data to different policies.
What the AQMS measures
Our Director General, Pema Gyamtsho, while underlining the need for strong future collaboration, suggested that the establishment and expansion of the AQMS network indicates the growing importance that the government places on addressing air pollution. The chief guest, Gopal Prasad Aryal, Director General, Department of Environment, said that the Department is happy to be jointly generating real time data. He also highlighted the government and ICIMOD’s joint air quality monitoring efforts since 2015.
Share
Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.
Within hours after the earthquake struck Nepal on 25 April 2015, help from overseas started arriving at Kathmandu airport. Soon ...
In April 2016 and team of glaciologists and experts from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development’s (ICIMOD) and partner ...
What could be behind the deterioration in air quality in the Kathmandu Valley and elsewhere in the HKH? The HKH is ...
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) conduced its first regional workshop on Air Quality Instrument Operation and Maintenance ...
Business-to-business and government-level efforts between All Pakistan Brick Kiln Owners’ Association (APBKOA) and the Federation of Nepal Brick Industries (FNBI) ...
Rising emissions of air pollutants from urban, industrial, and rural sources have been steadily affecting the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) ...
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Central Nepal on 25 April 2015 and the more than 300 aftershocks that followed, ...
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain ...