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Regional training workshop on
Atmospheric Watch Initiative
ICIMOD, Kathmandu Nepal
18 July 2022 to 04 August 2022
This regional training workshop on air quality management will build on previous capacity-building activities organised by ICIMOD under its Atmospheric Watch Initiative (AWI). AWI will be organise the training workshop in collaboration with Grimm Aerosol Technik, Aerosol D.O.O, Thermofisher Scientific, Ekonnect Knowledge Foundation and Real-time Solutions. We are expecting participants from government agencies, academia, and the private sector working in air pollution across the HKH region.
The training workshop aims to enhance the knowledge and skills of ICIMOD’s partners in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan to monitor air quality, analyse air quality data, and widen understanding of intersections between air quality and social and gender aspects. Furthermore, the event will facilitate South–South learning, knowledge, and experiences exchange around air quality management among partner countries.
The regional training workshop is expected to enhance air quality monitoring, outreach, and understanding of the gender and social dimensions of air pollution to support integrated and evidence-based policies and decision making – leading to air pollution mitigation for improved environmental and human health.
The AWI in collaboration with Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan government partners has established state-of-the-art air quality stations with aerosol and trace gas measurement instruments and is expanding the collaboration to other partner countries as well. Over the years, the AWI has been organising training programmes to ensure the operation of the air quality monitoring networks and quality data by enhancing the capacities of the partner countries in the operation, maintenance, calibration, and troubleshooting of the instruments in the air quality monitoring stations. The participants will receive a hands-on training with the equipment, guided by experts from the manufacturing companies.
The Environment Dust Monitor (or Grimm) is a primary instrument for the measurement of PM10, PM2.5, PM1, and total suspended particles in the air quality monitoring stations. Grimm requires regular servicing and calibration to ensure the highest quality of data. Thus, experts and engineer from the manufacturing company, Grimm Aerosol Technik, will be providing extensive training on operation, maintenance, and calibration.
Air quality monitoring stations need to be well-equipped with trace gas measurement instruments for the measurement of O3, SO2, CO, NO, NO2, and NOx. To ensure quality data generation from the instruments, a hands-on training will build skills on operation, maintenance, and servicing of the equipment by the manufacturing company, Thermofisher Scientific.
Aethalometer (AE33) is used for the measurement of black carbon concentrations. The experts from the manufacturing company, Aerosol D.O.O, will provide a hands-on training to maintain, troubleshoot, and calibrate the instruments for their smooth operation and quality data generation.
To strengthen partner countries’ capacity, the AWI has been providing training programmes on air quality data analysis for government officials and researchers involved in air quality monitoring and research. Building on previous capacity-building activities, the initiative in collaboration with Ekonnect Knowledge Foundation is providing a training on air quality data analytics. This training will cover a range of topics – from understanding data types to processing and visualisation.
Emission measurement is one of the key aspects to understand source contribution to air pollution. ICIMOD supports partner countries to develop emission inventories in different sectors to help the formulation of better mitigation policies. In this training workshop, ICIMOD’s experts will introduce tools and techniques necessary for emission measurements using Ratnoze.
As part of its activities on support data analysis, ICIMOD’s experts have developed a tool that augments the analysis of large quantities of data – especially the capability of abstracting the necessary air quality statistical parameters from a dataset. During this training workshop, the data analysis tool will be introduced to the participants.
The AWI has developed an integrated information platform linking air quality data from various platforms to support monitoring of the air quality in the HKH region. In this training workshop, in-house experts from ICIMOD will provide knowledge about air pollution monitoring, remote sensing, and atmospheric modelling associated with data communication and dissemination through the Air Quality Watch – HKH dashboard. The participants will work with the interactive Air Quality Watch dashboard to view remote-sensing based products and models, and in-situ measurements for the observation of selected air pollutants in specific locations of the region.
Air pollution information outreach is critical in shaping public perceptions as well as policies around air pollution. The topic is among the least reported issues, and reporting is mostly one-dimensional and sometimes even misleading. In this event, we are focusing on the importance of communication and outreach to build awareness and tackle air pollution issues.
Transferring and achieving data from air quality monitoring stations to the server system is another important component of air quality observation systems. Air quality monitoring stations are equipped with a real-time data acquisition system. In this training workshop, experts from Real Time Solutions will introduce the participants to data communication systems.
Air quality monitoring, data generation, and data dissemination for public consumption and policy making are crucial for air quality management. The partner countries have adopted various technologies and methods to overcome monitoring challenges and develop their understanding of air pollution trends for better management of air quality and mitigation of air pollution. In this training workshop, we will help the partner countries exchange their learning and experiences. This will help scale out and scale up best practices for air quality monitoring activities in the region.
This session is focused on intersectional and multidimensional aspects of air pollution and society. This session broadly covers interlinkages among air pollution, socioeconomic and gender implications, and access and use of information. The participants will have conversations on who pollutes, who faces the consequences of the exposure, what are the capacities to reduce exposure to air pollution, and how environmental justice can be brought to the forefront. Similarly, the transition to reducing air pollution can also have unintended negative consequences on vulnerable groups, thus bringing to the forefront the issue of just transition. This session will therefore touch upon these important issues in air pollution.
The AWI has been providing various training workshops on the operation, maintenance, calibration, troubleshooting, and interpretation of air quality monitoring instruments since 2016. From its establishment, the initiative has been working towards improving the capability of partner countries to expand their air quality monitoring networks, and assess and analyse the air quality trends to support science-based policy and strategy development across the HKH region.
The initiative is engaged with leading government agencies in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan to tackle air quality issues by promoting and expanding air quality observation, enhancing their capacity to assess air quality trends, developing evidence-based policies, and supporting decision making. In addition, the AWI has been providing technical support and contributing in the development of national-level air quality assessments and a sectoral emission inventory.
All time stamps are in Nepal Standard Time (NPT).
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