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More than 1,000 experts would take part at the Better Air Quality (BAQ) 2008 workshop that will take place on November 12-14 at the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel in Bangkok in Thailand.
The BAQ workshops are taking place since 2001 and had brought together a growing number of policy makers and stakeholders to discuss how to improve air quality management in Asian cities. BAQ 2008 promises to be the biggest BAQ yet, with 1,000 expected participants from across Asia and other parts of the world.
This year’s theme ‘Air Quality and Climate Change: scaling up win-win solutions for Asia’ is a reflection of two important trends that are shaping the future direction of urban air quality management in Asia.
The BAQ 2008 workshop seeks answers to two important questions: (1) How far Asian Cities are in addressing air quality and climate change issues and are they integrating these issues? (2) What needs to be done to help Asian cities to address urban air quality and climate issues in a better and more integrated way?
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and the Pollution Control Department have in the past 15 years set an impressive example for other Asian cities and countries through their efforts to clean up the air in Bangkok and other cities of Thailand.
Both organizations have an active interest in the formulation of climate change mitigation activities and consider BAQ 2008 a critical event in their efforts to consolidate and further improve their AQM efforts and to get to terms with the threats posed by climate change.
CAI-Asia has in the last seven years become the main convener on urban air quality in Asia. It has adopted co-benefits as a leading principle in its activities on knowledge management, capacity building and policy development and it is currently planning new AQM projects in India, China as well as other countries that actively integrate the co-benefit approach.
UNEP and UNESCAP are both developing activities on climate change mitigation in addition to a broad range of already existing activities on air quality. BAQ 2008 is an ideal opportunity for UNEP and UNESCAP to engage with a broad range of stakeholders on their current and future programs.
Professor Amal S. Kumarage, Chairman, National Transport Commission, Anoja Herath, Assistant Director, Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources, Anura Dissayanake, Assistant Commissioner, Department of Motor Traffic, Anura Jayatilake, Director, Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources, Dr. Thusitha Sugathapala, Senior Lecturer, University of Moratuwa, B. Wijerathne, Commissioner General, Department of Motor Traffic, Dr. D. S. Jayaweera, Executive Director, National Council for Economic Development, Ruwan Weerasooriya, Environment Management Officer, Air Resource Management Center, Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni Colombo Municipal Council, Sugath Yalegama, President, Clean Air Sri Lanka, J.M. Badrani Jayawardhana, Commissioner of Colombo Municipal Council and Thamara Amarasinghe, Project Assistant, Clean Air Sri Lanka will represent Sri Lanka.
