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GEO-6 Regional Assessment for Latin America and the Caribbean


the Regional Plan of Action on Atmospheric Pollution10


, as


an example for the development of national action plans appropriate to the particularities of each country with emphasis on technical exchange, capacity building and design alternatives to reduce air pollution (More…9).


This plan, which is the first of its kind in the world, recognizes the importance of the issue of air quality for the healthy development of the LAC population and the conservation of the environment, and encourages governments to identify the economic resources needed for the sustainability of the air quality monitoring networks as an essential and priority element for decision making.


The plan provides a guide for developing national action plans appropriate to each country to reduce air pollution. The ministers’ decision includes provisions to update the plan every four years and encourage governments to identify economic resources needed for maintaining air quality monitoring networks as an essential and priority element for decision making. It also commits to strengthening public- private dialogue and emphasises the role of all sectors and levels of government involved in the promotion of commitments and actions to implement the overall plan.


Short Lived Climate Pollutants


Because of their relatively short life in the atmosphere and high radiative forcing, substances such as methane, black carbon, tropospheric ozone and many hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) have been categorized as short-lived climate forcers (UNEP 2011b). Since black carbon, tropospheric ozone and methane affect air quality, these substances have also been called short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP).


In 2012, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) decided to undertake a major integrated assessment of Short Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCP) in LAC, to support and provide


10 http://www.pnuma.org/forodeministros/19-mexico/documentos/ decisiones/Contaminacion_Atmosferica/Decision_on_Air_Pollution. pdf


44


a framework for national action, underpin regional co- operation on SLCP mitigation, and provide a regional focus for engagement with policy makers, scientists, technical experts, and other key stakeholders. The report includes a review of the available data on SLCP and Criteria Pollutants for the region. In order to assess the emissions, the LAC region was subdivided into 13 countries and groups of countries. The estimates included in the regional assessment of SLCP constitute the first comprehensive emissions inventory for the whole region for all sectors and substances at a detailed level.


Air quality standards


The air quality standards situation is heterogeneous in the region. While it is encouraging that many countries and cities in LAC have set official air quality standards to protect health, some countries still lack such legislated standards. Even when standards exist they sometimes exceed the WHO guidelines (WHO 2006). In other cases countries do not have national PM2.5 PM10


standards for all countries are higher than the WHO air


quality guidelines. Most countries also have standards set significantly above the WHO 1-hour air quality guidelines or have no short-term standard at all, which is crucial, since the health effects of nitrogen dioxide are most significant with short-term exposure.


Air quality monitoring


LAC has a limited number of air quality monitoring programmes in place. Existing air pollution monitoring capabilities are restricted to some countries where air pollution is a serious problem, in metropolitan areas and a few other places. Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Santiago de Chile have good monitoring examples that could be replicated in other cities.


Air quality management plans at local level


Major cities in LAC have worked to implement air quality management plans over the past three decades. There


standards and both the annual and 24-hour


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