Regional science policy dialogue on air quality management in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Himalayan Foothills

Organisers: ICIMOD and World Bank

About the event

The 2^nd Regional Science and Policy Dialogue on Air Quality Management (AQM) in the Indo-Gangetic Plain and Himalayan Foothills (IGP-HF), held in Bhutan in June 2024 culminated in the Thimphu Outcome, which recommends a set of actions to improve air quality in the region that were agreed during the meeting. The Thimphu Outcome recommends an aspirational goal for long term air quality planning and charts the process for how to implement the Kathmandu Roadmap, which countries signed onto in December 2022.

Among the Thimphu Outcome’s agreed actions is the establishment of a Technical Committee (TC), constituted of officials from the respective governments, that would advise on a proposal for a regional cooperation structure for air quality management in the IGP-HF. This event is the first TC meeting to structure this regional cooperation to efficiently tackle the issue of air pollution in the region.

This meeting is organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the Himalayan Resilience Enabling Action Programme (HI-REAP), in collaboration with the World Bank.

Objectives

The main objective of this meeting is to identify a proposed structure to support regional cooperation on AQM in the IGP-HF. It is essential to clearly define and detail this structure in terms of both governance and technical content. This would then be discussed at the 3rd Science Policy and Finance Dialogue (SPFD) planned for May 2025.

The specific objectives of this meeting are therefore threefold:

• Discuss and recommend a regional cooperation structure for AQM in IGP-HF;
• Discuss and recommend an overall structure for the set-up of thematic working groups (TWG), their interlinkages and governance as well as a long-term roadmap for their development and implementation;
• Advise on the preparation of the 3^rd SPFD including proposed agenda, where this structure will be presented for potential endorsement by IGP-HF government representatives.

Background

An airshed is a common geographic area where pollutants get trapped and create similar air quality for the populations living there. Spanning Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, the IGP-HF airsheds are a collection of the world’s largest, most densely populated airsheds, and a global air pollution hotspot.

In many parts of the region, both urban and rural, air pollution has reached alarming levels, as seen during the recent air pollution crises that struck Punjab in Pakistan and India in late 2024. Several cities in this region are often featured among the world’s top ten most polluted cities. High levels of air pollution seriously affect the health of millions of people, particularly women, children, and the elderly; in each of these groups, the poor are the most vulnerable. Air pollution also leads to reduced economic productivity, with welfare costs equivalent to around 10% of Gross Domestic Product.

While governments in the IGP-HF region, both at the national and sub-national level, are taking actions to tackle air pollution – more needs to be done urgently, on air quality management planning and implementation. It is also critical that transboundary coordination and cooperation on air pollution is enhanced, as it can support adoption of common measures which can lead to cheaper, quicker, and greater air pollution reductions.

The first Science-Policy Dialogue on Air Quality Management in the IGP-HF airsheds took place in December 2022, in Kathmandu, Nepal, with the signing of the Kathmandu Roadmap for Improving Air Quality. The SPD process provides a platform for the countries sharing the IGP-HF airsheds to engage in coordination and knowledge exchange on national AQM challenges.

Air pollution is a complex problem; however, solutions do exist, and many countries have cleaned up their ambient air pollution, generating lessons learned that are applicable to the region. In addition, the pollution from one country, or subnational area inside a country, may have a significant environmental and human impact elsewhere. Therefore, it is vital for the countries to coordinate their monitoring, planning, and abatement design efforts.